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Old 08-02-2007, 10:46 AM   #13
Timothy WK
Location: Chicago, IL
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 187
United_States
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Re: Mechanics of mushin

I've experienced a number of different states of mind that could maybe be called Mushin. (Or maybe they have different names.)

The first is the state mind associated with meditation. In this state, the mind is calm. You simply "are". There's states of meditation where you lose track of time and of a sense of self, and then there are states of meditation where you're fully aware, but absent of any thought or feeling. I'm not sure if this is the same thing as "losing oneself" in a good book/movie or while driving.

The second state is one of extreme focus. I used to work as a bike messenger, and as you would expect, it required extreme levels of focus and awareness. During that job, there were a few times when I was SO focused, and there was SO much stimuli coming at me, that I simply didn't have room in my brain for conscious thought. One time, I was zipping down down the street so fast, dodging cars, that when I jumped off the bike, it took me a second to remember what it was I was suppose to be doing at that building.

Third, again, when I was a messenger---I was so comfortable on the bike, that I no longer thought about how to ride it, or even how to dodge cars and such. But my mind was active all the time. I would be looking two or three blocks down the road, plotting out my path. So I would be thinking about what I WOULD BE doing, not what I ACTUALLY WAS doing. (Maybe this was what Josh was calling "fudoushin ".)

And lastly, there have been those times when something happened, and I just reacted. Like when a car was about to hit me while I was on the bike. I didn't think about what I was suppose to do, I just reacted. I was, again, fully aware of what I was doing, I just didn't think about it.

Last edited by Timothy WK : 08-02-2007 at 10:50 AM. Reason: bad grammar

--Timothy Kleinert
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