John Kevin's Journal: HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Monday, December 22, 2014

HAPPY MONDAY!!!

WASSUP FAMILY!!!

DEAR DIARY:

It's almost Christmas... and I'm ready for it. I had a great capoeira lesson yesterday, and I didn't sweat that much. I'll tell you why, right after this message from Humanity's Team.

HUMANITY'S TEAM

When we say conscious light we refer to a state of mind and heart that offers thoughts, words and feelings of deep appreciation, joy and gratitude. These vibrations 'lighten up' the density of the collective energies, the emotional chaos generated by those who do not realize the impact of their words, thoughts and emotions. Those who push against add energy to the very thing they oppose. They misuse their creative power as a being of light.

You call yourself a light being or a being of light without truly realizing that it is a fact. One aspect of the evolution of humanity is that this will become a recognized reality. We have often shared with you about this aspect, acknowledging you as a light being, and we will continue to reinforce this awareness.

--Field of Coherent Light by Peggy Black and the ‘team’
FROM HUMANITY'S TEAM
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE HUMANITY'S TEAM NEWSLETTER

Now this week, I was in for a surprise! You see, there's this club of horse riders who make a 6-hour ride through the griffith park area, and they come down and rest their horses where we practice. I remembered Charles told me once that a woman horse rider mistook the berimbau he was carrying for a bow and arrow one year, but I didn't know there was a whole big group of them.

Anyway, here they are coming into the picnic area, just before Charles arrived...

Once Again, it was just Mr. Williams and myself.

In this class, he gave me an in depth instruction on how to string a berimbau. He first taught me how to make an arame...

No, he didn't bring an old tire to the park, but he did bring some wire that he cut from an old tire. we cut off the rubber, rubbed the wire with sandpaper until the remiander of the rubber was off, and he showed me how to put the wire on the berimbau. Then, I worked on stringing it...

Yeah, he makes it look easy, but it's fucking hard! It took me about 10 tries before I stringed it enough to get a decent sound. and on that note, I need to get something off my chest.

When people see Capoeira, for the 1st time, or any martial art for that matter, they usually see a demonstration like this...

They take one look at something like that, and they think, "Wow, that's very beautiful, but I'll NEVER be able to do that, not in a million years. But they don't realize that a journey of 100 miles begins with 1 step. No woman in the history of this planet has ever given birth to a Capoeira Mestre, or a Pendekar of Pencak Silat, or a Karate Master. EVERY SINGLE Martial Art Master in the world started off as a beginner, DREAMING of being able to do what their teachers, and senior students can do. And they worked hard, busted their butts, and persevered for a long time to become the masters that THEIR students dream about being one day.

For example...

The point of this clip is you have to work, sweat, endure some pain (Now don't get me wrong, if your instructor is making you kick something you both know is gonna break your leg, then you seriously need another instructor), and you have to push yourself, to get good. It's not gonna be overnight of course, but the more you work at it, the better you'll get, and pretty soon, you'll be doing things that others will think is impossible.

Until THEY take that 1st step.

And of Course, that applies to most everything else in life too, right?

Look, the point I'm trying to make here is,

Anyway, after we worked on the berimbaus, we played for a wile, and just when the lesson was just about over, a friend of ours came over and we had a nice half-hour discussion.

After I got off work, I got a ride to Grand Park, and I just couldn't help myself...

O.K. now guys, Check this out!!! I found this YouTube this morning before I went to work. 2 mestres from different schools... well, watch the video.

Published on Aug 16, 2012 Extended version of the short dance documentary featuring Mestre Joao Grande and Mestre Poncianinho; two capoeira artists separated by generations. United by passion, ritual and respect... Bertie Films for Channel 4 as part of the Big Dance Shorts and Random Acts series. All rights reserved Bertie Films Ltd. Not to be copied, duplicated or uploaded by non-authorised parties. Category Film & Animation License Standard YouTube License

Now, I'm gonna end this blog with my teacher, Charles Williams, playing some capoeira on the mountain, with the most beautiful song in the whole, entire world, playing in the background.

If any of you out there are interested in learning Capoeira in ALL it's aspects, Mr williams teaches at THE AGAPE CENTER @ 5700 Buckingham Parkway Culver City, CA 90230 on Saturday mornings from 9:30 to 10:30, and on Sundays, he teaches at Griffith Park, across the street from the golf course, near the Greek Theatre, on Vermont Canyon Road going up towards the Observatory.

Come join us!

Detachment is so powerful because when we learn to detach, we respect the forces of nature, which means we also respect the changes in our life.
~don Miguel Ruiz

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What is a Warrior?

I see through different eyes.

I see a bigger picture when others see only grey skies.

Though many can’t conceive it,

I stand... facing the wind.

My bravery not from fighting,

but from my strength within,

I am a Warrior.

I will walk the extra mile,

Not because I have to,

Because it’s worth my while.

I know that I am different,

When I’m standing on a crowded street.

I know the fullness of winning;

I’ve tasted the cup of defeat.

I am a Warrior.

They say I walk with ease.

Though trained for bodily harm,

My intentions are for peace.

The world may come and go,

But a different path I’ll choose.

A path I will not stray from,

No matter... Win or Lose.

If you've been in the Martial Arts for a while, you'll find many people who would like to believe in the idea that just because they practice the Martial Arts, they are some kind of Warriors.(I like to call them Wannabee Warriors).

But what exactly is a Warrior? I mean, throughout history, there have been many different types of warriors, all having different Codes of Honor that they live by (And in case you're wondering, yes, there is a Warrior Creed that I follow and try to live up to also...) . But if you really try to define what a warrior is, there seems to be no one answer to that question. In fact, there seems to be many answers, almost as many answers as people you ask.

So, what I did was provide some links to some different websites about different warriors and types of warriors throughout history. Hell, I even posted links to web sites about Dan Millman and Carlos Castaneda for you "Spiritually Aware" types. Perhaps if you look through them, you'll find a good definition of a warrior for yourself...

And for you Wannabee Warriors out there... Some of the links I put up are to Law Enforcement & Military websites. If you really want to be warriors, Check out those links and become a police officer, or go join the armed forces. They need you!!!

FROM WIKIPEDIA, THE FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA: Silat is a collective word for indigenous martial arts of the Malay Archipelago and Malay Peninsula of Southeast Asia. Originally developed in what are now Indonesia, peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand and Singapore, it was also traditionally practiced in Brunei, the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. As a result, it is closely related to other Southeast Asian martial arts including krabi krabong and eskrima. Practitioners are called pesilat. The Chinese fusion of silat is known as kuntao.

There are hundreds of different styles but they tend to focus either on strikes, joint manipulation, bladed weapons, throws, animal-based techniques, or some combination thereof. Silat is one of the sports included in the Southeast Asian Games and other region-wide competitions. Training halls are overseen by separate national organizations in each of the main countries the art is practiced. These are Ikatan Pesilat Indonesia (IPSI) from Indonesia, Persekutuan Silat Kebangsaan Malaysia (PESAKA) from Malaysia, Persekutuan Silat Brunei Darussalam (PERSIB) from Brunei and Persekutuan Silat Singapura (PERSISI) from Singapore.

Below, I added some links to various websites and video clips so you can get a better understanding of what Silat is about.

One of the gravest disservices we have done to the people of our world is to have provided them with a poor education. We do not teach students to think.

If you do not learn to effectively process information (and it is a learned skill) then you will always be at the mercy of people promoting their favorite dogmas.

The problem is, that all kinds of people would like you to uncritically believe what they are telling you about the way the world is. Many of them pretend that such uncritical belief is "faith", which it is not.

If you do not have the tools to discover what a given person or group is really trying to sell you, then you are libel to be making some really wacky presuppositions about the world, which will in turn become the heuristics by which you operate.

About half of what we perceive as "intelligence" is the ability to process information effectively, so if you want to be "smarter" then all you have to do is improve in that area.

While this is pretty simple, it is not necessarily easy. In my experience, most people are conditioned to a way of thinking already comfortable to the individual. When a person tries to change the way they process information they run a good chance of evoking a "threat response" from within themselves.

The wonderful thing about the internet is that you have access to so much useful information. If you're reading this, then you are able to self-educate on any number of subjects to a remarkable degree, and do it almost for free.

And that's what this section is about. I added some links here so anybody with a brain can study and learn to use it.

Remember 2 things people:

"I NOT ONLY HAVE THE RIGHT TO THINK AT ALL TIMES, BUT THE RESPONSIBILITY TO DO SO."

"IF I DON'T THINK FOR MYSELF, THEN SOMEBODY ELSE WILL DO IT FOR ME".

There are over 10,000 different religions in the world, 150 of which have at least 1 millions followers. Which one is the truth? "Christianity!" someone says, but even Christianity alone has over 38,000 different denominations. So which interpretation is the TRUE one?

Religion is not the anchor-point of truth. The truth always existed. Religion is man-made, meaning that the truth existed prior to both man and religion. Religion may be an effective catalyst for some individuals who desire to invest their minds into ideological association for whatever reason, but it is not a necessary nor a sufficient condition for a relationship with God, and understanding of the Creator, or the inner workings of the self.

Spirituality is not a belief. It is a state of consciousness, a mental framework with which you approach the world. Spirituality is in fact what birthed religion through the attempted organization of experience and wisdom, which ended up being the hierarchical stratification of various belief systems that we call religion.

Don't let the commitments you have to a religious belief system in your mind take you away from your natural state of Being with all things. You were a human before you learned religion. God's light existed in you before you learned this through some spiritual guru. Does this mean don't read or believe what Jesus of Buddha had to say? Of course not. Just make sure you take the time and effort to experience the rose instead of just believing in the accounts of others. This is not an attack on any religion by any means, and religion has brought many people happiness and the experience of being close to one's creator, but don't let it cause segregation away from our inherent unity.

As for my religious beliefs, well...

I'm a CHRISTIAN, in the sense that I believe that personal redemption is feasible for everyone and that universal love makes that salvation possible.

I'm a MUSLIM, in the sense that I believe that there's only 1 GOD, ans that all are equal under this one GOD. And, althought I'm not jewish, I do have a respect for JUDAISM.

I'm a BUDDHIST, in the sense that the seeds of enlightenment are within all of us as an integral part of our DNA, and that we are capable of reaching the Absolute through our own efforts.

I'm a HINDU, in the sense that I believe that GOD takes many shapes and forms to reach out to mankind.

I'm a TAOIST, in the sense that I have a total belief in the reality of Yin & Yang Energies.

And I also have a total belief in the world of spirits, and what we can learn from them, so I guess that makes me an ANIMIST.

I never want to tell someone what to think, for ones spirituality is a private matter between that person and their creator.

My goal here is only to show all of you the history and traditions of the many, many ways the people of the world have reached out to god.

Monday, December 22, 2014

HAPPY MONDAY!!!

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