C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part 20 Respect Buddha and the Gods Without Relying on Their Help Statue of Fudo Myoo - deity of Shingon Buddhism - at To-Ji Monastary in Kyoto (courtesy Wikimedia) I have a small confession before we begin this particular maxim of the great sword-saint Musashi: this is my favorite by far of all of his precepts in The Dokkodo .  I "confess" this, of course, because - as you should well know if this isn't your first piece in the series - the Budo Zen  of Musashi means that we must learn to "not pick and choose" and that the key to the success of the warrior is to "have no preferences."  All that aside, it's still my favorite.  But I hope you understand why  exactly that is so as you continue to read, for there is so much to "mine" from this, especially when you consider the number of "religious" people that may be offended by this maxim.  But I'm sure Musashi offended more than his fair ...

      Although my posts on Stoic philosophy are not as popular as those on lifting (or drinking beer, or good literature), I am going to continue with them nonetheless.      For those interested in lifting weights – whether you’re a bodybuilder, powerlifter, or just casual lifter (or, hell, even for you Crossfitters) – Stoicism is the philosophy par excellence.  Lifting weights, particularly hard and heavy lifting, can teach us a lot about how to live our lives, but we have to learn to listen to what our lives have to tell us.  For some, the art of listening is a little more difficult.  This is where philosophy comes in.      This particular piece comes from Seneca.  Seneca has long been my favorite of the Roman writers on Stoicism.  Perhaps this is because he is not just a Stoic, for he borrows on other philosophies of antiquity when they serve his purpose.      This piece on dea...

     When I started this blog several years ago, it was with the intention of making it an “integral” blog – hence the name “Integral Strength”.  At the time, I was quite enamored with Eastern philosophy – Buddhism in particular, having practiced strains of both Theravada and Zen for some time – and so I thought it would be a great way to combine my love of lifting weights and philosophy, not to mention martial arts – a passion of mine that has existed since childhood – into one website.  Add into the fact that I was also reading quite a bit from the “integral” philosopher Ken Wilber at the time – some of my earliest posts that you can still find on here attest to this – and you can see why I thought that Integral Strength would be such a cool, not to mention accurate, name.  (Let me say this right off the bat, however: I don’t care much for Wilber or his philosophy any more.  I think it is, on the whole, quite reductionist, and actually has many of ...

     I am sorry that it has been so long since I last posted something here.  It has been a few weeks.  I will try my best to do better with more frequent postings.  That being said, I hope you enjoy my latest (slightly philosophical) rant...      There are a few things in life that I love.  I love studying philosophy.  I love the feel of a new book in my hands—along the same lines, I love discovering a new author, for it is a deep joy; and I worry deeply about people who do not understand the joy to be found in such a discovery.      But there are still greater things that I love even more.  I love God [1] .  I love cold beer [2] (and worry even more deeply about those who do not understand how great a thing a beer can be).  I love holding my wife in my arms.      Last—but certainly not least—I love the feel of deep squats with a heavy barbell on my back....

      I have long been enamored of ancient Greek philosophy – but of Stoicism in particular.  The truth is, I have long been a Stoic, even when I didn’t realize what exactly that word meant.  Its philosophical thought rings ever true in my ears.  It is, in many ways, so similar to the Buddhist and Taoist philosophy that I have practiced – to both greater and lesser degrees – throughout much of my life (and it is, also in many ways, a bridge that helped me to crossover from eastern philosophy to Orthodoxy).      But Stoicism – despite what many modern “stoics” say in various books or in places on the internet – is not “Buddhism in Greek garb.”  The truth is that the Stoics were very theistic, as is evidenced by this wonderful, always delightful (and forever ringing with the sounds of Truth) essay by the great Stoic philosopher Seneca.      Seneca is best known for his work “Letters to a Stoic”, but, personall...

     “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to contemplate, to enjoy, to love.” – Marcus Aurelius      The Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius, of Seneca, of Musonius Rufus, and – yes – of Epictetus is a philosophy of life.  As William Wallace says in the movie Braveheart, “Every man dies, but not every man really lives.”  How many people do you know who waste their lives on things that have no purpose?  The truth is this: the vast majority of the people of this world waste their lives on trivial matters, on concerns with “fun”, on things outside of their own lives.  Let us not do this – let us return to Epictetus so that we may learn how to live, and how to imbue our training with philosophy itself, let our training be a place where we can apply philosophy so that it carries over into all of our life outside of training. Epictetus on the Importance of Training Our Minds: ...