Let's talk Jedi.
I just published a meandering thought piece (a bearable, perhaps even enjoyable 10-minute watch) on Jedi and what they can teach us about the path to mind-body mastery. It’s fun. It’s relevant. And you can watch it here if you so desire:
And if you don’t desire, but love lists and bullet points and things, I got you covered. Below, three key insights from the video as they relate to false assumptions that many carry today.
These are assumptions that have deeper implications, and generally lead to a postponing, a quitting, or a pivot from one’s personal goals in the mind-body and personal growth domains.
Without further ado, let’s do.
False Assumption 1: I can reduce stress by eliminating stressors. Don’t have none, won’t be none.
Reality (and core Weightlessness tenant):
We must add weight to unburden.
While one of our 'selves' experiences peace and presence, the other self is built for sacrifice, for discomfort, and for delaying immediate gratification for future payoff. It’s the latter self (in all of us) that is the gate keeper to the former. Few paths but Weightlessness design this progressive path from stress to integration within the training process.
One doesn’t get the gold without the dragon.
False Assumption 2: Personal alignment is about doing what feels right to me in the moment – that which minimizes internal conflict.
Reality: The Jedi achieves mind-body mastery and non-resistance within actions and activities that the rest of us would perceive as highly stressful, not because they just like doing it, but due to diligent training - facing fears and doubts and discomforts - over time.
There are pressures of self-improvement that one only overcomes by facing them and developing relevant skills. Ignoring them leads to short term peace, until one truly needs the skills and competence acquired by the self that didn’t quit when things got tough.
Growth requires discomfort until competence arises.
False Assumption 3: If I just let go, everything will get easier, cause hey… the universe, man.
Reality: While there is merit to relinquishing control, embracing nonattachment, and trusting a process meant to develop you, the assumption above is rarely qualified, and generally applies to situations where people feel like they’re trying too hard, they’re frustrated, and not seeing results.
Knowledge/use of the force isn’t about letting go. It’s about transcendence. While these may appear the same from the outside looking in, on occasion, they couldn’t be farther apart in the training process. Letting go is about surrendering to externalities. Transcendence is about silencing externalities through effortless ease, through competence - the byproduct of technical mastery of (name your craft). Externalities still exist, but their impact is nullified.
The former is a strategy of hope, and one that may be thwarted with devasting pains. It works in situations that exceed one’s sense of self-control by a little, but not by a lot. The latter - transcendence - is a strategy of conscientious effort, and if thwarted, will lead to greater self-awareness and refinement of technique/skill over time. It works in all situations, honoring the precept: You either win or you learn.
Caveat: What might be false for the Padawan learner (an apprentice Jedi), might be true for the Jedi Master. Without a circumspect process that objectively qualifies one from the other - master from student - many mistakenly take on Jedi Master precepts before they can be of any use. A simple litmus test for the unsure:
If you’re not sure you’re a Jedi Master, you’re not a Jedi Master.
The rest of us need to focus on process, on the nuts and bolts of self-improvement, until the force manifests and guides as it should. To believe a) that one already has the force and b) knows how to use it, is, well... a Padawan error.
Baby steps you must take, on the trecherous path to mind-body mastery.
May the force be with you. And...
Be Weightless,
Tom
The Weightlessness Process | 12-Week Mind-Body Performance Program