Resilience in a noncombative situation follows similar principles of rest and engagement that apply to combat situations. These have been made explicit by Sun Tzu in THE ART OF WAR and, on an individual level, by Miyamoto Musashi in THE BOOK OF FIVE RINGS. Musashi was one of Japan’s most famous duelists, having won all of more than sixty encounters. The internal principles are explained in martial settings in the Bhagavad Gita and also in the prophet Muhammad’s work, described as the “greater jihad”, mastering oneself.
In combat or noncombat, in order to feel oneself to be active and sharp, persistence is necessary. Refusing to act is like wishing for death. This is the deployment of one’s attention towards self-defeat–which is always possible to accomplish. (In certain philosophies, self-mastery has been inaccurately presented as self-defeat, overcoming the self, or annihilation of the self. These interpretation are not necessarily incorrect, but they are at least confusing in translation.) Reluctance to act is like leaning towards refusal–one’s attention slides towards defeat. Refusal and reluctance, then, are similar but not the same.
When one cannot conceptualize intentionally resting as active, one slides towards defeat. When one cannot act with an untroubled mind, activity moves one towards exhaustion.
In order to avoid exhaustion, people often try to understand their situations and control themselves by feeling frustrated. Feeling frustrated is an instinctual, habitual, and most often wasteful, strategy. When seen as a strategy, frustration can be addressed and overcome. When made intentional, conscious, one can question whether it is an effective strategy for the situation one is in. Frustration keeps us focused, but wastes energy.
Success cannot be avoided into. Trying to avoid avoidance or avoid frustration is tiring. Most people have a sense that exhaustion leads to defeat, so people try to avoid exhaustion, avoid defeat, and avoid frustration. Avoidance does not lead to success.
The battle, then, is to overcome belief in one’s sense of frustration because believing in frustration directs attention to defeat or exhaustion. Actually overcoming frustration itself, though is accomplished by acting. Acting makes refusal to act secondary, unimportant, which makes reluctance to act tertiary, less than unimportant.
How does one overcome beliefs? Each particular belief may be countered by knowledge or observation, but belief itself can be overcome by doing, by investing one’s attention wholeheartedly or completely in action. Many people exhaust themselves in attempting to address each separate belief consecutively. This is like swinging a stick at the leaves of a tree instead of cutting the trunk or the roots. There is lots of activity in this monkeying around, but little effect. A single, singular motion, though, cuts off the problem. The Japanese samurai culture is perhaps the most recognizable example of this type of singleminded activity.
Even if singlemindedness is understood, resilience must still be practiced. When people believe, incorrectly, that resilience is a repeated overcoming of frustrations or difficulties, they exhaust themselves in their believing and decrease their energy for acting. They mistakenly hold onto frustration and a focus on problems instead of simply meeting their circumstances actively. Resilience is correctly seen as the repeated return to singlemindedness. It is important to be persistent with intention rather than with force. When one attempts persistence with force, one exhausts one’s energy. Force is to be applied sharply, decisively, accurately–not ubiquitously or constantly or wastefully. As Muhammad Ali said it, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”
In order to apply force accurately, it is necessary to be able to rest. If one is not resting naturally, it becomes necessary to develop the ability to relax. One does not relax in a psychological state of reluctance; reluctance is psychologically bivalent and actively moves one’s attention towards defeat, refusal, or frustration. We relax in clarity. Clarity may be forceful or serene, but either way, it is untroubled. With clarity, beliefs are not problematic–they are either dealt with directly or left alone.
When one attempts to change the external world in an idealistic or unfocused manner, the work is unending. If one believes in this work, the psychological demands are also unending; if one is unendingly reluctant about this unending work, the psychological demands are unending. The greater jihad is not won with unending demands, but with clarity. This involves relinquishing the belief in–or endorsement of–one’s right to reluctance (the right may remain, but reluctance is recognized as a losing strategy) as well as the belief in constantly exerting force. Clarity is the active maintenance of intention as opposed to a constant exertion (or extension) of force.
When intention is salient, act. When intention is salient and clear, actions are singleminded–cohesive, decisive, direct. Clarity is awareness of intention; if this awareness is not occurring naturally, practice singleminded concentration. Lack of clarity manifests as a misapplication of force, misdirected energy. Reluctance is a lack of clarity. Frustration is a misapplication of force. Committing oneself to acting with open, singleminded intention is peaceful and clear whether the action appears forceful or appears serene. Resilience, the repeated return to singleminded intention, results in an untroubled state of mind.
Copyright Todd Mertz