Turning Negative into Positive

TURNING NEGATIVE INTO POSITIVE

I didn't get it. How could I turn feeling negative into feeling positive? All this talk by my Jiu Jitsu instructor made no sense - turning negative energy into positive energy.

Over time, however, something happened: I began to see I could do it. Here is an excerpt from a Q&A from my Instructor Certification Written Exam, in 1995.

Q. What Does the "Dynamics of Teaching" mean to me?

A. … They remind me to accept who I am, where I am, and what I know - and to feel good about that. They provide me with inspiration - such as "be positive". I find that phrase early in the day. I'm working that point, including the seeming contradiction of turning negative energy into positive energy. This concept [of transforming the polarity of energy and attitude] seems to violate basic principles of engineering and physics. But I'm doing it!

So, what was I learning about? It was like learning how to take a river which could flood homes and businesses, and turn it into something positive - like a producer of electricity. It was learning how to take the negative of a physical attack, and transform it into something better.

I was learning that the way to overcome negativity in the world began with learning how to overcome it within myself, and how to - in a very real sense - become one with it, become one with the attacker. And it wasn't about simple affirmations, like "be positive." Simple affirmations don't work when someone is taking a swing at you. But that affirmation was a trigger each day, to help place me in a Jiu Jitsu mindset, a mindset represented these days by The Monastery of Nothingness.

I was learning about universal principles. At first it was mental, a lot of intellectualizing. Next, I began finding ways to apply them in my everyday life - along with continued intellectualization  But over time, the intellectualizing stopped, because over time the everyday, practical applications seeped in. They became part of who I am.

In martial arts it is said that it takes 3,000 to 5,000 repetitions for something to become a conditioned reflex. So, I did my everyday life repetitions. I practiced far more off the mat than on the mat.

And after a lot of years and thousands of hours of study and training, some life lessons have emerged. For example, a question arises - what am I practicing? And is it taking me in the direction I am needing to go?

The facing of life and death

THE FACING OF LIFE AND DEATH

To find increased health and well being in death, we must see ways to be healthier and have well being even when considering death. To do this, think of dying and living in the moment you are currently in. Decide what you want to surrender and what you want to attain. Place yourself in the moment in a position where you can conceive the letting go of the negative and the embracing of the positives.

Practice doing this on some basic ones first. Choose something negative and positive and position yourself between them. As you let go of the negative, embrace the positive. As you move into the positive, let go of the negative. Convert the negative into positive.

This is the facing of life and death and your practice can evolve into more substantial examples. This is the point of Arjuna facing the battle in conversation with Krishna. This is the Medicine Buddha's practice. This is the Christian conversion. This is the focus point within the heart and eye where we center our awareness.

The point is not to die and face death. The point is to live when facing death and to die when facing life by letting go of the negative, embracing the positive and centering in the moment to continuously engage in further practice.

When you practice, choose practical examples. Get to truly know the practice and evolve your applications. Don't limit the practice, but do make it practical and real.

--- Great River Institute, October 14, 2009, Scott Walter, Sensei

"Chew and Swallow Now"

The Master's stroke is right. Each stroke contains the Truth. How many strokes are in a conversation, how much Truth can one endure? 

And when one has endured as much Truth as one can endure, then one has absorbed the Truth to the limits of the Laws of Absorbency. 

When those limits are exceeded saturation has occurred, and when saturation has occurred the whole question arises: Is this person, whose level at absorbing has reached saturation, been outfitted with the benefits of a well engineered design? 

Specifically (and I might add there should be great appreciation for the specific), is this person outfitted as a bypass or thru-flow filter? Because if they're bypass, then after saturation additional Truth will pass them by. However, if they are thru-flow then additional Truth will flow through them. 

And what a wonderful thing it is when one has the benefits of thru-flow design and the Truth is flowing through them.

Obviously, this opens up additional issues of ethics and the applications that will result as the Truth passes on into one's environment, the individual's nature and inner relationship, specific goals (positive or negative), and corruption or honor-based influences of the inherent design. 

Sensei says, "Chew and swallow now." 

Sensei. "The Master's Stroke". Field Note, Advanced Class. Montvale: Great River Institute, 8 March 1997