Moving Beyond The Monkey Mind

Moving Beyond The Monkey Mind

By Richard Lander

Copyright 2013 Richard Lander

Smashwords Edition

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Acknowledgements

For content that covers my whole life and more, acknowledgements would go on for ever. So as well as the human drive to develop knowledge and skills and to position humans in a position beyond any other life form (sorry visiting aliens) on earth. All the people who I have met and not met living or dead, real or imaginary I thank you. Thanks for thinking and writing and talking.

Being more specific I thank Jon for helping translate my manuscript to English, but of course all errors are my own. To my Tai Chi teachers, elders, colleagues and friends, the inspiration, help, guidance and tolerance have been essential for my journey. Thanks to Craig my first Tai Chi teacher and Sifu, thanks to John Higginson in Manchester and Nigel Sutton who himself and his organisation Zhong Ding have helped me learn, practice and make friends world wide.

Cover Photo courtesy of stockfreeimages.com.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part 1 Roots

Performance

Strategy

Science and Technology

Science and Statistics

Religion and Philosophy

Chinese Principles

Applications of Chinese Principles

Part 2 Applications of Principles

Health (Individual)

Health (National)

Business (Individual)

Business (Industrial and Political)

Martial Arts and Self Defence

Military

Education

Sport

Life plan

Conclusion

Appendix 1 - Where to Now

Preface

At the time my formal education was OK, there were little ups and little downs but I just kept on keeping on. Now I look back and see a waste of a lot of time. I did not succeed in education, I was not effective in the system and it provided little for me outside and after that system. The system still operates for purposes other than education and providing for the children and the country. Bright kids could do secondary school in a year, others are so not catered for, twenty years would not be enough. Why was never answered, why am I being taught this, why now, there was no explanation, there was no relevance.

My luck though is that I started to teach myself; ask questions and find the answers. I have had a go at things not just accepted the formal system. The skill people most often do not practice is thinking, they act on guesswork, they start the sentence 'I just thought....' when it's clear they did not do any thinking what so ever. This juxtaposition between speech and action and then justification was apparent to me early on. It undermined much credibility adults had. This book is a self help to thinking. It is not 'the system's' textbook it covers a gaping whole within it. I have spent a lot of time looking at the Chinese tradition at the same time looking at science. My sport science background allied to Chinese martial arts are all about what works and what does not, success and failure and eliminating false belief and unhelpful actions. They are two approaches that highlight how to succeed and fail. They are talking about the same thing from two different perspectives.

This book is a starting point for thinking. A guide I never had but which contains a lot of directions for thinking that are not within, or are poorly explained within the formal system. Each chapter could be a book and each sentence a chapter. It is a book of clues for further research. I have tried to bring the Eastern and Western traditions together as an introduction to both, but also bringing them together under the theme of being more effective. The principles of science and the knowledge and its theories are essential in the modern world, but the Eastern principles that pervade its societies and world view are useful and contain truth that can be used with science, to improve understanding. The difference between Eastern and Western traditions and the similarities illuminate. A Chinese saying talks of roots and branches. This book has the roots that can be branched out, but roots and branches have principles and concepts of how they grow, hopefully these are included. Once understood, many problems become familiar and related to others rather than millions of problems and millions of tools. Principles and concepts become multifunctional and simplify the world to make it more survivable.

Basically the book should be used as a starting essay for questioning and further research, while at the same time applying the ideas to see what works. After time you become aware of understanding, but it only comes from hours of practice. Personal education can provide this where formal education rarely does. The opportunity to think, plan, act and review and follow your own path. This book contains a lot of what my path has brought up since I was a child watching Monkey, a badly (but inspiring) dubbed version of an important Chinese novel Journey to the West until thirty years later where I can also twist a staff around and repeat Monkey's phrases (in the same accent) having gained some of the wisdom that Monkey learned on his journey.

The aim is not to be precise and grammatically correct but to leave the next question open, tidiness does not always mean completeness and the cleanest desk does not mean the clearest mind. The need to open your mind and look or wait for clarity is started here.

Now continue with your journey!

The aim of this book is to help with thinking about how to be effective. There are many books offering a method or guidance on how to be successful, you may find a method that works for you, but these are simplifications. This book is a starting point to combine Western thought with Eastern. The world is changing from a Western dominated to one with a large Eastern presence, using both tradition's methods of thought can increase the chances of being successful. Each chapter could easily be a book on it's own and each sentence a chapter. This can be the beginning of a journey into understanding better the East, understanding how to be effective, and bringing two perspectives together.

Introduction

Just do Tai Chi or just do more Tai Chi has been my problem solving advice for over 10 years now. Apparently it needs more elaboration as to why this will help. Tai Chi is very encompassing itself and leads down many avenues of knowledge. Every step leads to answers and more questions! My earliest Eastern influence was undoubtedly Monkey on TV. But it fired up my imagination. I always needed more input to learn about the East especially fighting (I was a boy after all).

Now I look to the East for many ideas, explanations and stimuli. I will straight away say, I do not mean become Chinese, that is best left to the Chinese themselves! The West has made vital, essential developments that must not be ignored. Science has done just too much to be ignored. It is the cross cultural blend that gives advantages overall.

We all want to be effective and get results in whatever we do. I have found a lot of answers and guidance through the East but also the West. Using both perspectives helps to become better at getting results. It is not possible to be perfect or to know the complete truth, but it's as good a target as any. The East is much better holistically where the West have reached higher, faster, bigger and more powerful, the East has gone for balance, harmony and sustainability. Of course this is a gross generalisation. In fact I often discover something in the eastern tradition and then realise I had already known of it. Later I would find out where it had been discovered or discussed in the West. I now use both sometimes in the same sentence!

This book should help as a general guide to the beneficial elements of the Eastern tradition from the Orient, whose general perspective enhances the Western perspectives and approaches. Integration of both approaches will be more effective than just one. A sharpened awareness (Michele Thomas) of your own culture can be gained with perspective. So an introduction to Oriental ways for those that know that China is growing faster then anywhere else as well as the Chinese influenced cultures of the East. Knowledge of them will help to compete. For those with an idea of the East will see in the second section how the Eastern approach can be applied with the Western in several areas.

Science of course is now not the preserve of the West, but it built up especially during the industrial revolution to meet the challenge of knowledge and real world problems. No other approach has got a machine the size of a small car to land on Mars and then do research, or land another on an asteroid. Science/scientists were the reason that now in the west very few women die in childbirth where as in other areas of the world with more superstition they still have high rates. Science and technology obviously are impossible to ignore in the quest to be effective, at just about anything. Science provides the bricks to build with. Very specific and named.

The traditional Oriental approach can be useful. The use of empirical evidence over a long history is increasingly backed up and explained by science. Although proof of how something works using concepts such as Qi (Chi) are not scientific, they can still be used as tools to help. The history of China is one of 2,500 years of a more homogeneous society, writing and other technologies have been the consistent for a large number of people over a long time period. They have differing assumptions and processes to the West, although most can be found somewhere in European history, in pagan or non-Platonic Greek for instance. Their civil service has been very meritocratic over this period, and they provide a more mortar like quality, more open to interpretation and process orientated to science's things (bricks).

To be effective needs not only abilities but also efficiency. Waste, whatever the resource, including raw materials and time, cost! Swimming is a good example of the importance of efficiency. As the water is thicker (more viscous) than air; the streamlining through good technique is more influential than power; on speed through the water, especially if you want to swim for any length of time. Protecting the knees for a runner is vital if you want to keep running more than a couple of years. Manufacturing has worked on reducing waste with Kaizen and JIT practices. And all businesses have downsized to eliminate workforce who work hard perhaps without adding much actual value to the business operations. A clear objective needs to be kept in mind. There is though a warning not to over emphasize a single goal or to over slimline the activities. Balance is important. Here I will look both to the Chinese approach and to the current complexity theory in maths.

Plan beats no plan is a saying that highlights who will win most of the time, over the long term. Effective people and organisations have the end in mind when they start and they often work backwards from where they want to be to where they are at the start. Prepare to win or prepare to fail is another phrase. So it's no secret. The East look at the world in the long term, looking at hundreds of years not the 5 year plans of the west. 5 years is the longest the west get. The democratic system keeps politics where the national strategies are developed up to 5 year cycles. The most important time to have a plan is when something goes wrong (it will!). At the emergency you will have a better understanding of where you are and how to remedy the situation, you may even have a plan for the emergencies if your planning allows this foreknowledge. Of course bad planners will use this excuse to not plan. But the planning has to be done before the emergency!

You just cannot achieve excellence without hard work, hard thinking and making mistakes (and learning from them). You will not win an Olympic medal without the hours of preparation. Kung Fu (Gung Fu) can be translated-ish as the result of hard work, it does not mean martial art. The important thing is the hard work that gets the results. Warren Bennis's phrase of Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity. The lessons of the ordinary are everywhere. Truly profound and original insights are to be found only in studying the exemplary. The planning done needs to be comprehensive to think broadly of all eventualities; it has to be towards goals, if you want to copy someone else copy the leaders not the average. These people are well known in most areas and stand out and of course often write books (or at least ghost write). Finding a role model who is like you can help you be effective. Knowing the goals and having vision, help draw the successful forwards. Keeping the effective people persistent.

Life can appear massively complex, mankind has seen patterns everywhere and used them to make sense and predict events. Some things just appear again and again and can be seen as governing principles, these are universal and can be understood and practised in thinking and acting and can be applied in many areas of life. For me Tai Chi is exercise for health, it is self defence, it is a journey mentally and spiritually as well as the physical. These principles and concepts are multi-purpose. The Eastern pattern spotting came up with constant change and Yin Yang and going with nature and being indirect as well as direct. These can be researched and applied in many situations. Of course the West has developed the principle of science, a method of evidence based discovery where research must be logically valid and reliable. This builds on itself and gets bigger but also deeper in its understanding and its ability to predict, becoming increasingly more useful. Finding the principles to make action and thinking efficiently save time on these activities but also with learning from mistakes.

Tai Chi is a long term project, it is so full and deep that the aim to become the ultimate warrior or chi master is just not possible. The average person does not make their 80th birthday. There is only so much time! You cannot have everything. A lot of people get confused between the means and the end itself. You must identify the most important elements to work on, the cause of something is more important than the effects. Sometimes you have to prioritise and do the best you can, here maths can help identify the risk or factor that has the most influence. This will probably coincide with a principle. A lot of people obsess on one thing and do not see the journey. It is easy to get caught up in something and not notice that the goal is now wrong, as more information comes up or something changes. Balance of the action is of course rest and sleep for effective health and thinking can not be ignored. Lots can be missed out on with over focus and over work.

Problem solving is an art at times when the expert uses things you know to answer all sorts of problems, where you did not know even where to start. Technical understanding is the key element of problem solving in specific areas. Many experts do though look outside their field to find possible solutions. Presently biologists are talking to physicists sometimes in quite open discussion with the possibly already solved problem in one area that is unknown in another. There are of course general problem solving skills. The first is prioritisation. Do you need to solve the problem? Science is looking to be precise and to know the truth, but do you need to know the exact figure? Maths in schools look at estimation and approximation, sometimes this is enough. Maths is applied in most areas that helps prioritise but also problem solving in most areas. And yet maths skills are lacking in a lot of adults, who guess and then explain starting with the words 'I think..' with of course no evidence that any thinking has occurred. Lots of problems have already been solved either scientifically or at least effectively. Science will look at things even if 'it isn't broke' but you do not have to all the time. Learn the lessons of others!

There are lots of intelligent people around. Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences offers a useful perspective of people's abilities. Societies favour some abilities in terms of status and abhor others and yet the history of civilisations show that different abilities and performance are necessary at different times. This can be seen in