How do you expect your soul to blossom
And fingers paint with blood fragranced quill?
How do you expect your life to flow
If you can’t keep your mind still?
-W.E.
The title has to be credited to the movie, The Last Samurai.
In the movie there is a scene. Tom Cruise, is playing Nathan, an army leader who is now being held captive, albeit graciously by the Samurai.
They engross him in their lifestyle and traditions and he grows to learn that they are refined and cultured people and was misled into thinking they were savages who were out to overthrow the government.
The scene in reference is when Nathan is exercising in the art of Kendo which is the version of practising swordsmanship with wooden makeshift swords. The Samurai are even teaching him their art during his captivity.
With all his western bravado, he is using as much machoism to try and defeat his opponent and keeps coming off on the wrong end, getting defeated and being hurt. Finally, sick of seeing him hurt so much, a younger Samurai walks up to him and explains to him in his broken English with obvious translational discrepancy purposefully embedded into the movie, “Too many mind”, the reason why he couldn’t defeat his opponent.
Too many mind is his erratic mind trying to use logic, strategy, theory, aggression, ego and more. All of it, hindrance in the purity of the art form.
Life is no different, you must quieten the noise, you must quell your thoughts, filter them down and sift them into fine nothingness.
Practise your arts without ego, practise being who you are without frivolous decoration, without the noise of mind, without too many minds.
Listen to and hear all the things you take for granted but don’t let them take centre stage in your mind.
That stage has to be empty, then you know you are a theatre ready for a grand performance.
-W.E.
lonerloaner 