Come on, light my fire
Published: Wed, 08/21/19
One of the activities we practiced at the Runes and Trees Retreat was fire lighting. I recently discovered modern flint and strikers for fire lighting and I wish we had had them when I was in the scouts. Matches won’t work if damp, and both matches or lighters are difficult to use if there is a wind. But if you have the right tinder then sparks from a modern flint and striker will get a fire going very effectively. On a damp and windy evening last week at Druid camp I was able to light a fire to heat the stones for a sweat lodge very successfully. The trick is to use exactly the right tinder, cotton wool is a very good choice. The cotton wool needs to light finely cut and dry kindling wood and the kindling needs to be directly under the smallest pieces of fuel wood. Once the fire gets past a certain point the wood can get larger and larger until substantial logs are burning. A well prepared wood fire allows for this process
right from the start.
The process of lighting a fire provides a metaphor for the process I have been exploring over the past four posts which you have received. Information, knowledge, thought and understanding are all readily available but somehow do not lead to successful results. Another factor is needed and that is actually getting started and (to mix metaphors) totally immersing ourselves in the process we are interested in. Once a process is broken down into small enough stages, like a spark and some tinder, then it will be possible to get started. I find writing very difficult and I can find it very hard to get going. So, I set a timer for 20 minutes and write for that time regardless of what seems to come to me. Very often I have to strike out the first paragraph as that was just my warm up but the rest will usually be of some use. Even if the first 20 minutes never gets read by anyone else it has got me started for whatever comes in the next
session and so on. Writing a whole book seems like an incredibly daunting task to anyone who has ever attempted it. Yet thousands of people manage it every year. How do they manage it? One word, one paragraph, one page, one chapter at a time, there is really no other way. It is also necessary to be fully immersed in the process at the time you are actually doing it. The same applies to martial arts practice, making, building or repairing something, preparing and delivering a lesson or a performance, even driving a vehicle, sailing a boat or flying an aircraft should absorb you in the same way.
It may seem hard allowing yourself to be fully engaged in a project or activity. But it is a lot harder to be successful if you don’t immerse yourself.
So, what do you need to achieve in your life? There must be something. Stop trying to gather any more information on the subject, you probably know enough already. Actually you don’t have all the knowledge you are really going to need, but that is okay, the answers to the important questions will come just in time. Your mind is going to tell you all kinds of things from massive over optimism to utter despair. Just observe the process and remember that your mind is not you, just a process you need to deal with. Do your best to keep things simple. But remember that simple or complex is not the point. You have to make conceptual leaps from confusion to understanding. Once you understand something it is as simple and as complex as it needs to be. Finally, just get stuck in. I have quoted Yoda before. ‘Do or do not, there is no try.’
regards
Graham
PS Some years ago a friend of mine directed me to Andy Shaw’s Bug Free Mind books which I bought and studied. It is powerful stuff and I am still on Andy’s email list. This series of five messages has been inspired by a programme he is currently offering and I think it is only right to give credit where it is due. If you want to read the post that inspired me then the link is below. Yes, he does try and sell you a programme at the end of it and it is probably very good. No one is forcing you to buy anything and the first part is well worth a read http://abugfreemind.com/success-made-simple-videos/5-elements-text/ No, this is not an affiliate programme, I am just giving credit where it is due.
PPS In September I will be relaunching the Foundation Programme for members of Ice and Fire Stav in a new and massively expanded format. More details very soon.