View Single Post
Old 10-02-2008, 09:46 AM   #52
Joe McParland
 
Joe McParland's Avatar
Dojo: Sword Mountain Aikido & Zen
Location: Baltimore, MD
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 309
United_States
Offline
Re: thoughts while on line at dunkin donuts for coffee

Quote:
Jennifer Smith wrote: View Post
Thanks
My apologies---especially if, at the late hour, I responded too harshly to your note

Alex said this: "There's a difference between thinking of attacking and realising attacking options. One contains intent the other doesn't." I was hoping to go a little deeper on this point.

In the sense of "If you're tired, sleep, and if you're hungry, eat," then, sure, "If you need to think, then think"---as long as you're consciously engaged. If that is what Alex meant by "intent," then I like it: He's consciously switched from the activity of standing in line waiting for coffee to the activity of considering attack options.

On the other hand (pun recognized but not intended ), if by "realising" (citing the word, not the spelling---I saw Great Britain's flag by his name) he means he finds himself thinking of attack options while he was previously waiting in line---an unconscious drift into thought---then I'd say the center is lost.

Not sure I made the distinction well here, but it's a start... In essence, if you're lost in thought, then you're lost in thought---whatever the flavor of the thought.

Through training, you first become very conscious and aware of the aspects of what you're training---there's thought. With more (and more and more) training, the aspects move out thought deeper into mind/body. This goes for sizing up a room too---realizing attack and defense options. Practice it enough and it becomes a subconscious activity---no thought; the options are available to you (realized) without the need to think about them.

Ugh---too many words...

  Reply With Quote