Posted on 09/07/2009 3:26:44 PM PDT by blueglass
A genetic thing; kind of like the entire population being nearsighted. Readily corrected in modern times of course.
We kick ass because we learn new stuff then apply it. This mind training may have potential.
I’m always willing to defer to those more trained than I, don’t get me wrong but ask yourself, exactly how good was it for them. They are toast.
Nothing insidious about mental training, but it helps to have some background of what is involved, what is achieved and why it is useful.
People all over the world teach their children from infancy to “talk to themselves” in their heads. The reason for this is that mental quietude is necessary for the attention to either become focused, or unfocused, for any great length of time. When you talk to yourself, it prevents you from mentally getting either too focused or too unfocused, by bouncing you back and forth between the two states.
In ancient times, this was very useful, because being either too focused or too unfocused is not a good mental state to be in when you are in a survival situation, like being pursued by a tiger. But today there are far fewer tigers, and free time in which being in a focused or unfocused mental state can be useful, or even valuable.
A problem exists when someone talks to themselves so much, that it is hard for them to accomplish things, because they are so distracted. Such people can sound stupid, like “surf bums” or “ditzes”, because they can hardly speak a sentence without their attention drifting.
And this is where mental training comes into play. All it accomplishes is to give a person more control over these three states of mind. It does this through the simple means of being able to turn off and on the talking to yourself.
For example, just by being able to concentrate on a written test without distraction, people do much better just because they can maintain their focus on the test longer.
Alternatively, relaxing, in an unfocused state of mind, allows the mind to be more creative and inventive, which is very useful to complex and difficult problem solving.
This ability, this self control over talking to yourself can likewise increase the intensity of prayer for the religious, so a person is not distracted between their prayer, the football game they are missing, and what they are having for lunch, along with other things that just disrupt their prayer by “popping into their heads”.
That is why there is little or no objection to it by those that practice these techniques. In the final analysis, it is not learning something new, but unlearning mental training you were given since you were a baby.
There are a bunch of techniques that achieve the same end, but they do so by the simple means of your not talking to yourself for longer and longer periods. Just by being able to do this comes the self control, until it is like a light switch in your mind, that you can turn on and turn off your talking to yourself at will, for minutes, or even hours.
Depends on the subliminals behind the music.
I have a hard time imagining Miyamoto Musashi looking at his belly button. If I recall his "Book of Five Rings" he promoted strategic and tactical knowledge as most important.
Aristotle taught Alexander how to think logically. He damn near conquered the world. I doubt Hannibal looked at his belly button. Instead, he drew upon experience and observation of his enemy.
Belly button watchers are good con men. They talk a good game for the weak who are afraid to test these ideas, I hope this is an untrue account of the direction of our soldiers.
“She also delved into the science behind mind training to analyze how meditation tactics could help treat - and maybe even help prevent - post-traumatic stress disorder”
In other words...the hit the liberal jackpot...A FEDERAL GRANT...
“she hit.....
This sort of mind control experimentation has the odor of New Age gobbledygook and Ivan Pavlov.>>>>>>>>>>
I think you are right about that. Not because the linegaes of profound warriorship practises do not work, but because New Age podunks convert the lineages into their own New Age bunk.
Genuine training in warriorship is rare, even in the east. If it was ever truly and genuinely presented to our military, we would have accomplished a wonderful thing,But the fact is that there are too many New Age podunks who sell what little they know, and to sell they jazz it up and ruin it irrevocably.
You want to see a real samurai warrior? Visit here:
In his context, what these new age idiots are doing with this so called warrior training is idiotic and it is exactly what many say: “brain washing” or as you succinctly put it,”New Age gobbledygook and Ivan Pavlov.”
This disempowers our military, another Obama inovation.
> I seriously doubt a little session of Zen meditation is going to turn you into a jackbooted thug.
It sounds to me more like “Bushido” (the Way of the Warrior) done once-over-lightly, rather than “Zen”.
If it is “Bushido” then it would be highly beneficial — however, it’s not the sort of thing that can be learned in a few sessions. It is the culmination of key learnings from the whole range of the Japanese Martial Arts syllabus, and it is a lifetime study.
As presented, this new program sounds like a gimmicky wank.
What they really should have said was “martial artist” or “bushido” mind training. And as we both know the mental techniques of martial arts still have application today.
I’ll have to disagree with you on this point - Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the great daimyo unifiers, was born a peasant. While he was unable to assume the role of Taiko due to his blood line - he was never the less samurai. Ironically he implemented many of the policies which cut off future generations from making this transition during the Tokugawa period. Even then there were rare occurences.
I will agree that they should not have used the term Samurai in their descriptions.
Uh, exactly how many of our soldiers do you expect to follow illegal orders to attack their countrymen on US soil?
Relax, and keep your eyes on the attempts to start the “civilian security force” Obama wants. Not only is it well within the legal rights of ALL soldiers to refuse ANY order that is illegal, it goes against every single thing that every member of our military stands for.
“As the power of these regional clans grew, their chief was typically a distant relative of the emperor, and a lesser member of either the Fujiwara, Minamoto, or Taira clans.”
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