Life is relationship, as great teachers have observed. We are in obvious relationship with partners, family, friends, and co-workers, but also wider relationships – cultural, religious, political, national, international, virtual and more. We are related to Mother Earth and all her creatures and living organisms. That is not idealism, but an increasingly apparent fact, though still difficult to comprehend for many. Ultimately, our most important relationship is with our Real Self.
I have long described Relationship to my students and three daughters as a kind of conduit, channel or pipe, which permits flow between 2 entities. We can try to persuade, blame or coerce the person/ parties at the other end, but we cannot change them if they do not want to be changed.
Ultimately we can change only ourselves, which requires self-knowledge, particular tools to facilitate our transformation and the on-going Will and perseverance to achieve Real Change. At the Tai Chi and Meditation Centre (TCMC), we offer such knowledge and tools. If we keep our end of the conduit clean, it is the best that we can do. It should facilitate flow and reciprocity, but does not guarantee it. The party/ parties at the other end of the conduit must also do their own “house cleaning”. If they do not, the conduit/ relationship may remain blocked and stagnant, resulting in various consequences, usually negative. Life by nature wants to flow.
The Buddha advised 2500 years ago, “Better than a man who conquers in battle a thousand times a thousand men is he who conquers himself.” The Battle is never-ending.
Submitted by Andy James
