On Keeping Things Simple
Some days I wake up and my head is spinning. The diverse soup of information absorbed from podcasts, books, websites, Facebook, Instagram swims around, contradicting one another, playing games and eventually finding a comfy place to rest.
I’m hardly a social media tyrant, or much of a screen user in general, but these things are hardly the ‘simplicity’ of which I intend to speak…
Technology has given me so much, and still does in many ways; and yet, as I put pen to paper again this morning I’m grateful to have real physical objects between my fingers and to carry out this simple writing task that we’ve been doing as a species for thousands of years, without much really changing!
The author of ‘Anti-Fragile: things that gain from disorder’ (one of the best books I’ve read in recent times) speaks of an interesting litmus test concerning so called ‘natural things’ - the test being to ask ‘how long has it been around?’ 1 year? 5 years? 500 years? 5000?
An approximate answer will usually point to the ‘naturalness’ of the thing…
Eg: if it’s been around for centuries then it’s likely to be better for you than something that was invented last year (statistically speaking).
The world, actually, has remained largely unchanged: coffee, wine, conversation, cooking, sex, sleep, massage, meditation, music, poetry, movement etc have been the simple crux of society since human civilisation began.
Religious, spiritual, creative, ritualistic and even psychedelic endeavours are the story of human history. Ecstatic Dance, Instagram, Movement Culture, Yoga, Modern Mindfulness, Ebooks and Spotify are just the modern version of very essential, human things!
One of my favourite movement ‘scientists’, Steve Magness, highlights the problem/s with ‘majoring in the minor’ - meaning to give excess attention to trivial (or overly complicated) things. Generally, it breeds poor results and significant wasted time and energy that could be spent on the really important stuff.
Sleep, for example, as well as meditation, are free of charge, always available and, in the correct doses, support health and recovery far more than whatever new technologies and products have recently come on the market.
If you doubt this argument, just check out how many phases of health, medical and sports performance products have arrived in the last 2 decades only: sports tape, nutrition shakes, gel pads, compression underlayers, scandinavian saunas, modern running shoes, supplements, sports watches etc etc.
Some might have ‘some’ value, even if it’s just placebo, but have they actually improved our health, performance and well being? It seems not…
The bulk of our development as physical bodies and human minds, instead, has come largely from the simple stuff that’s been around since time immortal.
Often I wonder how our children might be better (and more affordably!) educated if we just stuck to what’s been around for centuries: classical novels, spiritual texts, simple meditation techniques, singing, running, climbing, swimming, wrestling…
And yet, when we look at Martial Arts practices today (as well as various Movement schools around the world), a lot of essential practices have, thankfully, remained and are even being reinvented in profound ways whilst holding into their simple, core essence.
Simplicity is therefore not about being old-fashioned or ‘stuck in out ways’. It’s about being genuinely useful.
Does your practice, and your daily life, actually serve you and others? To be ‘Samurai’, in fact, is exactly that: ‘to serve’.
When we major in the major then life generally takes care of itself. The foundations of our lives are nourished; our house is clean, our family is safe, our body and mind is peaceful and strong.
After that, there is always time left for a little dance or some poetry…
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