Myamoto - Wisdom of The Ages (Part 2).
First, an introduction to the series. Wisdom of the ages:
“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” - Winston Churchill.
This is true, not just for societies and cultures at large, across centuries and millennia, but across decades, years, months and days in and throughout our own individual lives.
If you fail to learn from the mistakes of your past, you will keep repeating them and they will, time and time again, halt your progress forward, upwards, to becoming a better version of yourself.
The great thing about the ancient times is, how similar they were to our times. Sure, they may not have had the internet, computers, television or even electricity, but the human mind hasn’t changed so much in the last few thousand years.
Societies and individuals today still struggle with frighteningly similar problems to the ones faced by people thousands of years in the past and across multiple civilisations around the world.
In this series, I will attempt to uncover the people, traditions, philosophies and ultimately solutions to the key problems people face today that the philosophers, sages, warriors, kings and pheasants figured out in eon’s past.
As you read through the articles I will post in this series you might, like me, be surprised at just how similar the lives of these ancient seekers of wisdom were to ours and how much more extreme their situations sometimes were.
Captivate your imagination and learn from the records of history as you take this journey with me, exploring the wisdom of the ages.
Miyamoto Musashi - Samurai Warrior, Philosopher, Artist, Calligrapher.
Miyamoto Musashi. More than just a Samurai. He had his first duel at 13 years of age. In the Edo period - which Miyamoto was born in - boys were considered men at 15 years of age.
Musashi would go on to win over 60 fights in his lifetime, many of them to the death. However, as we can’t go around challenging people to mortal swords fights these days, I thought I’d focus on Miyamoto’s philosophies and the lessons that he learnt over the course of his life.
Focus:
It’s one of the most important skills you can learn after discipline. In fact, it’s kind of a component of discipline on a microscopic scale. On a larger scale, discipline is being able to do what needs doing and avoiding what needs to be avoided regardless of how you feel.
When it comes to the actual execution of that however, you’re going to need focus. Musashi’s philosophy on this might be summed up in just a word: simplify.
Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.
Get rid of the clutter. In your routines, in your daily life, in your mind, thoughts and emotions. The more you can clear these things up the less interference you will have when you’re trying to get the work done. You’ll be less distracted and that will automatically give you more focus.
“Only focus on one thing at a time.”
When he said this Miyamoto meant that we should not be pursuing more than one goal at a time because then you’ll end up being pulled in many different directions and as a result, you’ll make less progress.
I only partially agree with this. If you learn to manage your time effectively then you can get many different tasks done through the course of each day and work towards perhaps as many goals as you like. Mind maps are a great way of doing this as well as task lists. I tend to use both myself to help me prioritise. That’s essentially all-time management is. You decide what the most important things are each day and then just carry out those tasks in order of importance.
There are free tools online that can help you do this and plenty of apps but really the best thing to start off with is just a paper and pen. Simple, add free and it doesn’t lose signal or run out of battery.
I’ll give you a quick summary of what has helped me a great deal:
- Make a mind map.
- Number the items in order of priority.
- Complete the tasks in the order you set.
- Cross out tasks as you complete them.
Here’s an example I drew up:
Solitude:
Without the noise of everywhere, you are free to hear yourself. You can hear your thoughts, feel your emotions, decide what you most desire and figure out the things that are most important to you.
Solitude lets you focus on what matters and never in history has it been more needed than now. In all the hustle and bustle of life, the rush hours in cities where you’re pack into tubes and buses like a sardine, you need to make having some alone time a priority each day, even if it’s just a little.
Miyamoto thrived on solitude. In an era and place where alliances meant everything to society, this ronin walked alone. But this is exactly what allowed him to become so great. Because he wasn’t allowing himself to train and pretty much become indoctrinated by the traditions of old, he was able to think outside of the box and develop new innovative techniques, strategies, and philosophies.
He was able to truly analyse himself at the deepest level and find out who he really was which led to him winning over 60 sword duels it allowed him to truly know himself and develop a foundation of unyielding strength, fortitude, and purpose.
Constructive anger
“Control your anger. If you hold anger toward others, they have control over you. Your opponent can dominate and defeat you if you allow him to get you irritated.” – Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto knew that if he did not learn to control his emotions then they would end up controlling him and in his line of work, that was the difference between life and death. Not gaining mastery over his emotions, therefore, was not an option. He had to learn and learn he did.
Anger is almost always though of as a negative emotion but to someone who is striving for self-mastery, all negatives must be turned into positives. Anger is no exception.
Anger, when controlled can be an extremely useful emotion! It can make the difference between success and failure at a certain task if for example you know you need to get something done but you just don’t feel like it, anger can help you overcome that laziness and get that task completed.
If you’re in a situation where you’re scared or in danger, anger can help you override your fear and push through or fight back. Like if someone is trying to rob you in the street or if your family has decided they’re all going bungee jumping and you’re standing at the edge of the platform wondering if this will be the time the cord snaps.
If the alarm goes off in the morning and you find yourself heading back to bed after turning it off, anger can be the force that stops you from getting back in and gets your day off to a productive start instead.
Learn to control your anger and steer it in the direction that most serves progress and you’ll be on the fast track to success. So, what can we apply to our own lives?
You don’t have to become a Samurai to benefit from Miyamoto’s life lessons and you also don’t have to become a hermit to gain the benefits of solitude. Introspection can occur or be invoked, even in the busiest of places like the tube or bus I mentioned earlier. You only have to go within, and you can decide to do that at any moment.
It’s something that, once practiced, will allow you to progress to your fullest potential because a big part of success is being able to say “No” and just focus on the task at hand. Focus, solitude, and constructive anger are three things that can help you do just that.
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