Tai Chi and Learning to Live without Fear

We talk a lot in Tai Chi about theories. Theories on this, theories on that. Theories on how to disarm a rampaging rhino with Ward-Off Left. Theories on how to disarm a nuclear North Korea using just the Tai Chi Fan Form. Some may rightly point out, that this means Tai Chi people talk too much, that they should learn to listen more. Others point out that learning a martial art is only viable, when you live in a society that is founded on fear. But are there other ways to combat fear that learning to overpower others?

Mencius and Living Without Fear

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"Make time, act and always reward people for the things they do,  - for this is how to implement change. It’s easy and you can begin right now."

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​So how do we live without fear? How do we:

• Nurture greater generosity in ourselves and in others
• Impart greater trust
• Eschew dominance
• Ask rather than answer
• Listen rather than speak

Easy words to utter, I know. It’s easy to throw out catchy phrases and quotes, easy to post a Lao Tzu slogan on Pinterest, or to commit to social change by signing an online petition. But this is not what Mencius is saying. You don’t need to go on a retreat, subscribe to a cult or join a philosophical school to find answers. You don’t need to earn Bill Gates' fortune to become generous.
​These qualities depend on as much as what you don’t have, as what you do,
Forget grand gestures, grand donations - focus instead on the small moments.
For we are small people after all, on a small planet, in a rather small solar system. Recognising our smallness can help in taking action. Taking small steps in showing people we care, showing how to share, showing how to engage in this life of unpredictability.

The unpredictability of life
The Chinese philosopher Mencius wrote that every day, events happen to us. These events are often outside our control, despite our best plans, despite writing a most thorough to-do list, despite designing the most detailed of spreadsheets. Some things just happen. And these things don't always turn out well.

• The strangest of people get elected into power.
• Foods contain the most unwelcome of ingredients.
• Referendums are prohibited in some countries. Celebrated in others.
• Some people die too early. Others live too long.

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Mencius called this the unpredictability of life, and although, we cannot always control these events, we can control how we respond and how we interact with such endless streams of unpredictability.
Unless we learn to do this, he said, we will live life controlled by the things that happen to us  - the things we cannot always control or predict - and “our fate will be to die in shackles".

Lets look at an example
In most martial arts we learn that when someone strikes out, we block, parry or we instinctively strike back. It's the trained reflex. The conditioned response: If you press your nuclear button, I'll press mine. This training  -  to respond in kind - Unleashes the worst in ourselves, and in turn unleashes the worst in others. But in Tai Chi we are taught something else, we are taught a 3rd option - and that is to yield.

Yielding is an interesting concept. It doesn’t mean, that when someone strikes you accept it, It doesn’t mean you take a blow to your head by absorbing a punch with your teeth or eye. But neither do you strike back, unhesitatingly, instinctively, as a reflex.

These responses are what Mencius called standing under a falling wall and then saying it was your fate to be killed by that wall. Instead. He suggests we learn to step out from beneath the falling wall. To step out from its shadow and live in the light. In Tai Chi that is called yielding.
Now....combine the element of Yielding with the philosophy of timing, known as Wu Wei, and you get to choose not only how to respond, but how to live.

Mencius said. Learn to work with everything that comes your way.
Make time, act and always reward people for the things they do,  - for this is how to implement change. It’s easy and you can begin right now.

• Not only after the party has voted on its policies
• Not only when the myth of trickle-down economics finds its slippery way into your pay packet
• Not only after the king resigns and a republic is formed
• Not only when the referendum goes your way
• Not only when supermarkets finally agree to implement sensible packaging.

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But now.

Mencius said we must  resolve to become the best human being we can  be - not because of what  eventually we will get out of it, what we will earn, or for the thumbs up we will receive. But simply in order to do good, and in the act of doing good, set an example to others around you. Little by little - small token effort by small token effort - nothing grandiose - just small actions we can take each moment of each day - and turn that moment into a general good,
For Mencius, one person can indeed affect change: think Martin Luther King, think, Gandhi, think Jon Snow
And together - well together - by choosing unity over division, by seeing what we have in common over what separates us, we can choose a life without fear.
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3 MORE AUDIO DELIGHTS

Listen Now

Listen

Listen Now

​1. - Virtual Not Distant Podcast
Listen to the Interview on 21st Century Work-life with the mOnk talking about Teaching, Online Activity and Tai Chi. 
2. - 50 Questions Audio (and ebook) 
Why listen to a book on Tai Chi? Surely it should be read, studied, analysed for postures and elbow angles? Not with the mOnk, -better to forget about the geometry until you have mastered the concept. 
3. - Second part of the podcast: Don't Die in Shackles 
Finally, the long-awaited 2nd-part to the podcast series on FEAR - in which the mOnk scratches the surface of Mencius and his ideas on the unpredictability of life and how to live with generosity. Listen to Part 1 here and Part 2 here. - or (if you insist on using your eyes) read the abridged summary below.