"He stood a while, breathing slowly of the keen air, willing his pulse rate down, mentally reciting the formulas which drugs had conditioned him to associate with calm. The Academy could train you well if you had the foresight and persistence to cooperate." (p. 337)
Did we know that drugs could be used for this purpose? Zazen, which I have practiced since 1985, is not cultivation of calmness but "just sitting" with whatever comes up within whether that is calmness or turmoil. Of course, "just sitting" takes us somewhere worth going or we would not continue to practice it but it is not a technique for calmness as such. Maybe some such techniques would be helpful as well? Flandry adds that foresight, persistence and cooperation are necessary. Something within each trainee has to respond to whatever training is offered. Maybe persistence is most important. Either we have it or we do not.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And too many of us don't have the patience and persistence to think ahead as much as one week, never mind years or generations!
And of course Flandry was also drawing on the advances made during the thousand plus years separating his time from ours.
Ad astra! Sean
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