Wuwei

Above: Haarlem, 52° 24' 3.7656'' North and 4° 38' 22.7148'' East, today.

"So it is said, he who practices the Way does less every day, does less and goes on doing less, until he reaches the point where he does nothing, and yet there is nothing which is not done. [...] Wuwei does not produce by effort or force but accomplishes trough allowing what wants to happen." (1)

"[ Wuwei ] is [...] a course of action [ free from ] any purposeful motive, gain or striving [ it is ] 'inaction'. Zhuang Zi himself [...] repeatedly cautions against a misconception of wuwei. When people hear about wuwei, he says, some think that "laying down is better than walking". They have missed the point completely [...]" (2)

"One must be able to let things happen. I have learned from the East what it means by the phrase "Wu-wei": namely, not-doing, letting be, which is quite different from doing nothing. Some Occidentals, also, have known what this not-doing means; for instance, Meister Eckhart, who speaks of "sich lassen," to let oneself be. [ W ] ait for what the unconsciousness has to say about the situation [...] A way is only the way when one finds it and follows it oneself." (3)

"Laziness of which a man is conscious and laziness of which he is unconscious, are a thousand miles apart." (4)

"When you are learning something the universe keeps giving you opportunities [ for practice] [ Mark Divine: Every emotion has a corresponding breathing pattern, right? ] The breathing wants to click into this pattern; [ so ] why don't we just use this breathing pattern and see if it triggers the transformation? And voilà, the technique was invented! You don't need a psychotherapist or psychiatrist or some expert. We try to keep the process simple […] just stay with the breathing, keep relaxing until it [ the transformation, healing ] resolves itself." (5)

"I’m lazy in principle" (6)

Above: picture of Anne Frank, dated 10 October 1942, reads: "Dit is een foto zoals ik me zou wensen, altijd zo te zijn. Dan had ik nog wel een kans om naar Hol[l]ywood te komen. Anne Frank 10 Oct. 1942" (This is a photo as I would wish myself to look all the time. Then I would maybe have a chance to get to Hollywood). Learn about Anne Frank: http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/

Above: Haarlem, today. Clicking on Image will start sound: Dutch Anthem performed and recorded by The United States Navy Band. 

General Dwight D. Eisenhouwer's Proclammation: "Proclamatie. Nederlanders: De dag der bevrijding is aangebroken. Er ligt een lange harde weg achter u en ons. Tot nu toe hebben wij gescheiden van elkaar de strijd gevoerd Gij op uw wijze wij op de onze tezamen met onze heldhaftige Russische bondgenooten aan het Oostfront. […] Nu kunnen wij met Gods hulp gezamenlijk den vijand uit Uw land verdrijven en de eindoverwinning behalen. Onze soldaten zijn daartoe de Uwe en de Uwe zijn de onze." (Proclamation. To the people of The Netherlands: The day of liberation is close. There is a long, tough way behind you and us. Until now we have fought separately. You doing it your way and we on ours with our heroic Russian Allies on the Eastern front. […] With God's help we will join forces to defeat the enemy from your country and claim victory. Our soldiers will serve you, as yours will serve us.")

Above: Haarlem, May 4 (Remembrance Day), 2000 Hours.

See Original 1945 affiche: http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/nl/items/NIOD01:48348

The United States Navy Band: http://www.navyband.navy.mil/national_anthems.shtml

 _____________

(1) Zhuang  Zi, quoted by Michael M. Tophoff on page 31 in 'Chan Buddhism: Implications of Awereness and Mindfulness-Training for Managerial Functioning', published in 2003

(2) Ibid, page 31 

(3) C.G. Jung quoted by M. Esther Harding on page 44 of 'Psychic Energy', first published in 1947

(4) Ibid, page 45

(5) Dan Brulé, Unbeatable Mind Podcast with Mark Divine: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/unbeatable-mind-podcast-mark/id955637330

(6) From a conversation with Director of Photography Robby Müller: here (in English: here)

SAR_14_along_the_way

Above: FP SAR 30K BL. Running is very boring, is it not? [Silence]. Why do you go? To train; training creates unity, unity leads to acceptance of change. To keep doing it, training needs a code, a way. I would call it: the barefoot way -- [so, why?]  to train the barefoot way.

Perspective: command your brand™

Dune/beach training, today. Foreseeing trough awareness [ devil is in the detail ]

Min/max temperature: 2°C/6°C; humidity: 100%; precipitation: 0 mm, sea level pressure: 1019 hPa; wind N 5.0 km/h; visibility: 9.0 kilometres; Clouds overcast 1493 m.

Once upon a time, in an episode of a magazine ('Elan', approx. 1991 - 1992, untraceable today): "Corporate identity is expressed trough (its) employees".

It speaks for itself; it is a proven truth

Lucid dreaming

Kennemer dunes 360° today. Catch [ the edge ]

Min/max temperature: 4°C/12°C; humidity: 55%; precipitation: 0 mm; sea level pressure: 1028.33 hPa; wind: SSE 22.0 km/h; visibility: 10.0 kilometres; Clouds: Few 426 m.

"Lucid dreams are also symbolic -- yet in quite a different way […] Their symbolism takes the form of beautiful landscapes -- different luminous phenomena, sunlight, clouds, and especially a deep blue sky. In a perfect instance of the lucid dream I float through immensely wide landscapes, with a clear blue, sunny sky, and a feeling of deep bliss and gratitude, which I feel impelled to express by eloquent words of thankfulness and piety. Sometimes these words seem to me a little rhetorical, but I cannot help it, as it is very difficult in dreams to control emotional impulses. Sometimes I conceive of what appears as a symbol, warning, consoling, approving. A cloud gathers or the light brightens. Only once could I see the disc of the sun […] I awoke fresh and cheerful, better in spirits than I had been for a long time."

Frederik van Eeden in the first extensive English-language scientific report on lucid dreams 'A Study of Dreams', published in the 'Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research', Volume 26, 1913

"[T]here is the story of the great Taoist master Chuang Tzu who once dreamt that he was a butterfly fluttering around. In his dream, the idea that he was a person was alien to him: he was only a butterfly. Suddenly, he awoke and found himself lying there, a person once again. But then Chuang Tzu thought to himself, "Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being a man?"

Manfred Kets de Vries in 'The Hedgehog Effect', page 53, first published in 2011 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd., United Kingdom

"In whatever the domain, the movements of a good, accomplished practitioner do not appear fast. For example, there are messengers who cover forty or fifty leagùes at the run in a single day, but they do not run fast from morning till night. Whereas, a beginner cannot cover such a long distance, even if he has the wind to run the whole day. […] Whatever the domain, the movements of an expert never appear hurried."

Miyamoto Musashi, in Kenji Tokitsu's 'Miyamoto Musashi. His Life and Writing', page 192, 193, first published in 2000 by Editions Desiris in Francepage

"[A]thletes need to gird themselves against […] contamination. Humility and gratitude seem to be the only effective shields against the onslaughts of […] exploitation. Athletes in the traditional martial arts employ specific exercises to overcome any tendency towards egotism. The dedication of one's skill, performance, or career to a higher principle provides the only absolute protection. [P]ower is characterised by grace, sensitivity, inner quit, and paradoxically, gentleness in the non-competitive lives of even fierce competitors."

David Hawkins in 'Power vs Force', page 182, first published in 1995 by Hay House UK Ltd

Capitalise on our own reinvention™

Isnello, Sicily, a few days ago. Physical training is mental training: the mind is but an organ to experience experience [Why let bad stuff in trough 'TV' and poisonous food?]

"Recent research has shown that our moods are far more strongly influenced by the people around us than we might think. All of us, as part of the Palaeolithic heritage (where we needed to be on the lookout for predators at all times), have a tendency to converge emotionally. We all seem to be programmed to be receptive to other people's emotions. And all have a tendency to recognize and feel emotions that are similar to our own. [T]the urge to mirror others is hardwired into our brain trough a neural feedback mechanism […] because cooperation leads to more food, better health, and economic growth for a community. [W]e automatically mimic and synchronise facial expressions, vocalisations, postures, body language and other behaviors with those of other people. We also experience the emotions associated with the particular behaviour we are mimicking. [T]he moods of friends of friends, and of friends of friends (people three degrees of separation away from us whom we have never met) can influence us trough our social network like a virus. A diverse range of phenomena are transmitted trough networks of friends in ways that are not enterily understood: happiness and depression, obesity, drinking and smoking habits, ill health, the inclination to turn out and vote in elections, a taste for certain music or food, a preference for online privacy, even the tendency to attempt or think about suicide. [T]hese feelings ripple trough networks like pebbles thrown into a pond. […] In a team situation, it is often the mood of the leader that sets the tone. If the leader is upbeat, the mood of the other team members will rise. But is if he or she is down, everyone is down. And these changes in mood can occur very rapidly. […]
A shift in attitude and behaviour culminates in the redefinition, and even reinvention, of our self. […] However, even when there are clear signs that change is required within an organisation, it is often resisted because people know it will involve moving into the unknown. Some of these resistances can be unconscious, and can even contribute to self-defeating acts of sabotage. For any organisation to change, the degree of dissatisfaction has to be greater than the degree of resistance. […] Nelson Mandela said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world," but it can take time to educate people about the benefits of the change process. The company may have been drifting -- with many employees feeling like helpless bystanders, watching the situation -- and now is the time to give them "voice", to make them feel that they can be involved in making a difference. [Here] is a good example of learning and unlearning, of rules and norms that have become institutionalised, to the extend that the team members can no longer trace their origins [ , ]

Once upon a time there were six monkeys living in a cage. One day they awoke to find a ladder had been positioned right in the middle of the cage and from the top of it a bunch of bananas dangled invitingly from a rope. One of the monkeys immediately climbed the ladder, but as soon as it reached the bananas, ice-cold water was prayed down on all the other monkeys. This happened every time a monkey climbed the ladder and tried to grab the bananas. Very soon each monkey was on the lookout for one of its companions to climb the ladder. Whenever one of them tried, the other monkeys would stop it. As time went by, the monkeys simply learnt to ignore the bananas. Nothing would tempt them to try to get them, even after the bunch was lowered and within easy reach. The monkeys stayed well away: the last thing they wanted was another freezing shower.
Then one day a new monkey arrived in the cage. When he saw the bananas and tried to scale the ladder, all of the other monkeys attacked him and trashed him severely. The new monkey quickly discovered that the bananas were taboo. As time went by more monkeys from elsewhere found themselves in the cage. Each in turn learned their lesson: stay away from the bananas. When they tried to climb the ladder, the others (including the newcomers) would attack them. Typically, it was the most recent victims that punished the new transgressor most.
In fact, the monkeys were so busy punishing each other that they failed to notice that despite the regular appearance of newcomers, their numbers mysteriously remained the same. For every new monkey that appeared in the cage, one of the originals was removed. It didn't take very long before all the six original monkeys had been replaced. Nevertheless, no monkey ever tried to climb the ladder again, despite the fact that all the original monkeys had gone and none of the remaining ones had ever received the icy shower. Ignoring the bananas had simply become a fact of life. If the monkeys could have replied, when asked why they attacked anyone who went fro the bananas, their answer would almost certainly have been: "Well, I don't really know -- it's just the way we do things around here." As can happen to many of us, the monkeys had gotten stuck in their ways, and change was no longer an option. They had reframed the situation and the organisational system had gotten the better of them."

Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries in The Hedgehog Effect', page 100, 101, 102, 173, 174, 176, 177. First published in 2011 by John Wiley and Sons, USA