Blog Dis
Peaceful Warrior
2024-08-29
Apparently, we're not supposed to go looking for inspiration, in the truest sense of being inspired. The real inspiring moments and people are those that come to you without your conscious act of seeking them out. In other words, go about your life and do your best and be good to people and, if in the process of coping, a particular event or person inspires you to become a different person or to do something out of the ordinary, you've been inspired.
Inspiration is like a surprise. It can't be premeditated to the point of waking up one morning and deciding I'm going to become inspired today. Maybe that's what you might tell yourself. I think writing is a fine analogy when it comes to inspiration. You can plot your novels and stories until black crows line up in pretty straight rows, but unanticipated inspiration may cause you to change plot direction. I call this the organic process. The story takes on its own life, literally inspiring you to follow along, to make it believable.
Well, I've seen enough movies in my life to stack them high enough to reach the bloody sky. I mean it. I've seen loads of movies. And, I've watched them with great fervor too since I was old enough to know what I wanted. Becoming a cinephile for me is attributed to having spent a lot of time alone when I was hired to babysit, beginning at the age of 11 years. I had to pass a babysitting course before I could be hired out. I sure did love earning my own money and, when you babysit kids, so that parents are empowered to stay out until all hours; commonplace in the 70s, your evenings were limited to reading or watching TV, after putting the kidlets to bed.
I read plenty of books too; just ask my growing stack of books that appear to be breeding like bunnies when I sleep. I travel when my budget affords. But the bonus of movies is they give you the latitude of learning about other countries that you may not necessarily have the means to visit. The last paid day off, which occurred on the Civic Holiday weekend in August, I crossed paths with a gem of an obscure movie with Nick Nolte called Peaceful Warrior, an adaptation from the Dan Millman novel Way of the Peaceful Warrior. I had zero preconceived notions of this movie and decided to watch it bcus a friend mentioned it in passing that I'd probably find it inspiring. There's that word again. 😂When it pertains to the wisdom of mysticism, many are natural skeptics bcus mystical wisdom often seems trite and a tad too saccharine. This wasn't the case with Peaceful Warrior. Simple premise, like many mystical tales: a talented young man wastes his potential, loses everything only to find himself thru the wisdom of an older man who, by all appearances, seems washed up and going nowhere. The older man teaches the young man to view life from a new perspective, returning him to harmony with his world for the better.
I shan't tell you too much about the film bcus I wholly recommend that you watch it for your own enjoyment. But I shall leave you with the three pearls that pertain to taking a simple yet direct approach to life: Paradox, Humor and Change.
Simplicity taunts complexity.
Paradox: Life will forever be a mystery so don't waste your time trying to figure out its ultimate meaning.
Humor: The greatest gift and weapon you have is the ability to laugh at yourself.
Change: Nothing or no one stays the same.
After watching this flic, I slipped into a fresh pair of board shorts, a singlet top, clipped up my hair, and then barefoot, I refreshed my ice-cold glass of water and added plenty more ice-rocks, laughing out loud at the obvious simplicity of these pearls of inspiration, more like rules to pin to your inner-bulletin board in your mind. This, my friends, is how mysticism works; behind the scenes, burrowing into your imagination, to be recalled when you hit that wall and feel as though no inspiration has come to you, that it's neglected you, that maybe you're blocked and are the root cause why inspiration isn't able to forge a path to you. Know that inspiration hasn't forgotten you; it merely moves from one instance to another, like an activity you engage with robust enthusiasm, until boredom settles in and pushes you onward in search of a new form of inspiration.
More often than not, I lose myself in the detail. I forget to appreciate the moment, when all I really need do is remind myself that there are no ordinary moments. Every. Single. Moment. Counts. You are alive! Each time you breathe, smile, fart, burp, swallow, eat, think, laugh, make love, argue in defence of a loved one, you are living life to the fullest, even if you don't know it.
Inspiration is like a surprise. It can't be premeditated to the point of waking up one morning and deciding I'm going to become inspired today. Maybe that's what you might tell yourself. I think writing is a fine analogy when it comes to inspiration. You can plot your novels and stories until black crows line up in pretty straight rows, but unanticipated inspiration may cause you to change plot direction. I call this the organic process. The story takes on its own life, literally inspiring you to follow along, to make it believable.
Well, I've seen enough movies in my life to stack them high enough to reach the bloody sky. I mean it. I've seen loads of movies. And, I've watched them with great fervor too since I was old enough to know what I wanted. Becoming a cinephile for me is attributed to having spent a lot of time alone when I was hired to babysit, beginning at the age of 11 years. I had to pass a babysitting course before I could be hired out. I sure did love earning my own money and, when you babysit kids, so that parents are empowered to stay out until all hours; commonplace in the 70s, your evenings were limited to reading or watching TV, after putting the kidlets to bed.
I read plenty of books too; just ask my growing stack of books that appear to be breeding like bunnies when I sleep. I travel when my budget affords. But the bonus of movies is they give you the latitude of learning about other countries that you may not necessarily have the means to visit. The last paid day off, which occurred on the Civic Holiday weekend in August, I crossed paths with a gem of an obscure movie with Nick Nolte called Peaceful Warrior, an adaptation from the Dan Millman novel Way of the Peaceful Warrior. I had zero preconceived notions of this movie and decided to watch it bcus a friend mentioned it in passing that I'd probably find it inspiring. There's that word again. 😂When it pertains to the wisdom of mysticism, many are natural skeptics bcus mystical wisdom often seems trite and a tad too saccharine. This wasn't the case with Peaceful Warrior. Simple premise, like many mystical tales: a talented young man wastes his potential, loses everything only to find himself thru the wisdom of an older man who, by all appearances, seems washed up and going nowhere. The older man teaches the young man to view life from a new perspective, returning him to harmony with his world for the better.
I shan't tell you too much about the film bcus I wholly recommend that you watch it for your own enjoyment. But I shall leave you with the three pearls that pertain to taking a simple yet direct approach to life: Paradox, Humor and Change.
Simplicity taunts complexity.
Paradox: Life will forever be a mystery so don't waste your time trying to figure out its ultimate meaning.
Humor: The greatest gift and weapon you have is the ability to laugh at yourself.
Change: Nothing or no one stays the same.
After watching this flic, I slipped into a fresh pair of board shorts, a singlet top, clipped up my hair, and then barefoot, I refreshed my ice-cold glass of water and added plenty more ice-rocks, laughing out loud at the obvious simplicity of these pearls of inspiration, more like rules to pin to your inner-bulletin board in your mind. This, my friends, is how mysticism works; behind the scenes, burrowing into your imagination, to be recalled when you hit that wall and feel as though no inspiration has come to you, that it's neglected you, that maybe you're blocked and are the root cause why inspiration isn't able to forge a path to you. Know that inspiration hasn't forgotten you; it merely moves from one instance to another, like an activity you engage with robust enthusiasm, until boredom settles in and pushes you onward in search of a new form of inspiration.
More often than not, I lose myself in the detail. I forget to appreciate the moment, when all I really need do is remind myself that there are no ordinary moments. Every. Single. Moment. Counts. You are alive! Each time you breathe, smile, fart, burp, swallow, eat, think, laugh, make love, argue in defence of a loved one, you are living life to the fullest, even if you don't know it.
