Slow Down

Reclaim reality through slowness.

The world is going mad. So I wake up, I practice my Tai Chi. I work on a section of the form over and over and over. I get stronger and more flexible with each repetition.

Moving slowly to pay attention to the world. You cannot see anything at speed. You have to slow the world down in order to truly understand it. And slowing down is entirely within your power.

If I write a word on my palm and instantly open and close my fingers, then you won’t be able to read that word. If I slow down the open and close, then you have time to actually see the word.

Now, here is the thing slowness breeds awareness. Speed breeds unconsciousness. Advertising loves speed because it forces you to go on autopilot and buy things without thinking about them. Politicians love speed because to forces you to agree with them emotionally rather than thinking about things.

At this stage someone will argue that our attention spans have shrunk. “There is too much information to keep up with.”

And you are exactly right. And this is on purpose. The constant streams of information give us the illusion of omnipotence. But it’s not power. It is sedation. We have to slow down and think. To pay attention to things.

We need to slow down the art, the fighting techniques, the writing, the process of anything and actually see. Without clarity, without experienced truth, there is no purchase on reality. If we do not live in reality then we cannot actually live. We exist only in endlessly racing programmed thoughts.

Martial arts for me are a vehicle for growing my awareness. You start with forms, completely static constructs that never vary. You then do controlled applications. Then you introduce more and more chaos into the mix until you are free fighting and pressure testing. This is a process, not a binary. You must master memorized forms as well as mixing it up with uncooperative opponents. And many martial artists talk themselves out of one end of the spectrum thus they never achieve what is truly possible.

We live in a world where our thoughts are curated carefully by algorithms aimed at brute extraction. Our attention is milked from our eyes and ears and emotions with astonishing efficiency.

If that disturbs you, good. There is hope. Choose one thing to slow down today. It’s gonna feel weird. Let the world continue burning. You can’t do anything to save it if you are connected to the milking machines that serve it. Take that one thing and really consider it. Think about it. Slow it down more and more and more. Slice it into finer and finer bits of awareness. For no other purpose than slowing down. That is the skill, that is the practice.

In doing this, you reclaim reality itself. You regain agency. You can use the form to ground yourself before re-entering the chaos. We have to embrace both. Otherwise it’s just escapism or helplessness. You are better than that.

Slow down. Choose your focus. Allow yourself to reclaim your existence.

I love you.