Harmony: Birth of a Roadmap
Harmony: birth of a roadmap
The Seven Fundamental Principles for Standing in the Face of the Truth
Introduction
This short essay:
Focuses on the term ‘balance and harmony’
Distinguishes that the two terms are not synonyms
Places it’s primary emphasis on the word ‘and’
Balance and Harmony
When we don’t have harmony in our lives and our world, we are suffering from some kind of imbalance. As we strive to improve our relationship to the world and within ourselves, we reach out to family and friendship, to exercise and nutrition and hobbies, and to religion and meditation for solace. We sense our imbalance and these things promise restoration.
Once we regain our balance, we naturally seek a more restorative state called harmony.‘ But how do we get there? How do we both regain our balance and then transition to harmony? Balance and Harmony’ is an often-used phrase that sounds good on paper but isn’t always so easy to achieve.
Interestingly, quietly residing between those two seven letter words lays a simple three letter word — ‘and.’ As we shall see, it’s all in the ‘and,’ because hiding in that modest conjunction are five secret principles to improved balance and harmony. The power of the ‘and’ reveals how to transition from Balance to Harmony.
The brilliance of the ‘and’
Years ago my teacher (Sensei) related he had been thinking a great deal about the term balance and harmony, noting that the phrase is tossed about quite a bit. He had been observing how people often have a hard time finding balance in their lives, and that they have an equally hard time - perhaps much more difficult - transitioning to harmony. He emphasized that while the two words are often used as synonyms they are actually two completely different principles.
Pondering what was preventing people from finding balance and then making the transition to harmony, his questions turned into a lengthy study. He found himself wondering what it was that resided between balance and harmony. In a succinct moment of realization, he began to focus on the three letter word ‘and’.
Soon after he had a realization. It was that a seemingly insignificant word actually represented five principles, and that the word ‘and’ was itself a transitional word in a much larger sense then had ever been imagined. For within that word resided five naturally flowing universal principles that reliably serve the role of transitioning us from balance to harmony. If we are not in harmony, it is because we are stuck on one or more of these other five principles.
The principles were rolled out to correspond with Great River Jiu Jitsu’s colored belt training program. Each principle, beginning with balance at the white belt level, was studied in conjunction with the respective belt’s Jiu Jitsu techniques and requirements. The martial arts curriculum provided a solid, hands-on opportunity to prove out the concept.
The Seven Fundamental Principles for Standing in the Face of the Truth
Balance — to be centered
Adaptability — a willingness to change to a more balanced position relative to the environment
Interaction — to relate with the environment
Mechanics — structures, forces and motion
Movement — to change
Ki or Energy — the universal energy
Harmony — to live according to Nature
With an understanding of how the principles work, including their interrelationships, there now existed, perhaps for the first time, a roadmap to achieving better harmony in our lives. Eventually, these principles became known as The Seven Fundamental Principles for Standing in the Face of the Truth.
Brilliantly ordered and crafted, these principles teach us how to stand in the face of the Truth, including how to face our inner demons and outer critics. Each principle successively reveals that we can not only be successful navigating the unknown, but that we have a universal, principle-based ‘GPS guidance system’ to take along anytime we go there.
Editor’s Note, 11/26/22: the monastery will be providing short essays explaining each of these principles including how they work on their own and how they tie together. In terms of perspective, we believe these particular principles are positioned at the beginning of the practices required to navigate the unknown… which begins by being able to stand up to or endure the Truth.