Shoka Magazine September 2023

September 1, 2023

“Mind Like Moon... Mind Like Water.”

Mind like water refers to the quality that a body of water possesses when it is completely still. It’s surface is like a mirror. It reflects perfectly everything that is happening around it. In the case of this month’s cover picture the water reflects the trees and skyline almost perfectly. This is the quality we strive for in our mind –to be perfectly calm. When we reach that state, we will respond correctly to all that exists, and all that happens around us. We train our minds to do this when we sit down to mediate at the beginning and again at the end of every class. Just as mind like moon, which we talked about in the August issue, allows you to be aware of all things, so too a mind like water allows you to remain calm in spite of all that might be happening around you. Right now, a huge wildfire has destroyed the town of Lahaina in the Hawaiian Islands. Imagine what must be going through the minds of the people who live there. In some cases, all that they have has been destroyed. How do you live with that? You live with it by calmly being aware of all that is happening around you. I know... easier said than done. But it can be done. This is what martial artists throughout history have learned to do. It’s a critical skill that will allow you to transition through the most horrendous parts of life.

Here’s what’s in it this month’s Shoka Magazine:

• Our cover: Mind like moon and Mind like water!

• Shoka News (our newsletter)

• Why the Hero’s Journey is Important to Understand

• Warriors are people of character who think of others first

• AI Language of Reality

• Karate Techniques

• Modern Day Martial Artist

• Carrie Chase and Kim

We regularly go out into the community to meet good people such as yourselves and to make our presence known. We recently became aware of a small non-profit, public, bi-lingual radio station, KBBF, that was founded here in Sonoma County 50 years ago. It is the oldest radio station of its kind in the United States. We were asked to make a donation, which we did, and then invited to attend a banquet that was given to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of it’s founding. Connie and I were greatly impressed with the energy and love that all who attended have for the station and the good work that comes from supporting it. We look forward to doing more with them in the future, and strongly suggestion that you check them out.

And, let us know if there’s an organization or event that you know of that we might work with.

Yours truly,

Shoka News

Shotokan Karate Leadership School® Newsletter

September 1, 2023

A BIG Welcome to our newest students!

v Jose Suarez, Saint Hill, Ana Rosete, Ronin McKeown , Mason Richardson, Noah Stickerod, Ethan Bushta, Anthony Rodriquez, Joshua Perez, Atticus Miller, Harper Barahona, Enoch Peretz, Star Bausley, Zoe Bausely, Jackie Bausley

Upcoming Events and Activities

Ø Monday, September 4th Labor Day, Dojo Closed

Ø Mon. & Tues. Oct. 16 & 17 Performance Exams

Ø Fri. & Sat. Oct. 27 & 28 Sensei Kevin Warner Returns Classes and Black Belt exams

Ø Sat. Nov. 4th Fall 2023 Finley Center Award Ceremony and Potluck Dinner

The Hero’s Journey: Act I – The Separation: Is finally here. Please pick up your copy and grab a few extra to give to your friends. It’s an interesting read about how Shotokan Karate Leaders hip School training and our Great Journey to Black Belt is a Hero’s Journey and why you want your child to take this journey. Act I will be followed by Act II – The Initiation, and Act III – The Return

Sensei Kevin Warner: will be back Oct. 27 & 28th to teach and give a Black Belt exam.

Shoka Magazine: We’re mailing it to your house. We hope you’re getting it. If not let us know. It’s also coming by email in an electronic format called Issuu. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Covid: It might be back. In which case do what you think best. If you’re not vaccinated wear a mask, please, and if you are vaccinated do what you think is best for yourself and your family.

The Hero’s Journey Act I The Separation

Why I wrote this book

Something was missing from my life. I was driven, but I didn’t know what was driving me. So, I went searching for answers. Among other things, I discovered The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell’s extraordinary book about the journey of the archetypal hero found in world myths. The book is listed among the 100 most influential books in the last 100 years. It is a comparative study of mythology and the journey a hero takes.

It struck a chord with me. I had already earned several degrees of Black Belt and I was an instructor. There was something about this that seemed familiar. The more I looked into it the more I knew I was onto something.

I had started karate because I’d been beaten up by a neighborhood bully as a kid and I was determined to never let that happen again. I became an instructor because I didn’t want to see other people go through the same thing I had gone through. This was my hero’s journey and over the years I’d seen thousands of students on their own hero journeys

So, if the hero’s journey is about overcoming challenges, righting wrongs, fixing what’s not working, saving the damsel in distress, or helping the hapless boy make something of himself, then the hero must possess something in order to do this. That something is who they are and what knowledge and skills they have gained through their journey. In hero’s parlance, this is the Reward which they earn

The hero is not a hero until they overcome the challenges, reach their full potential and gain the reward that is rightfully theirs. Then and only then will they be able to accomplish great things for their people. I’m sure you know adults who lack discipline, or confidence, or focus, or the motivation to make something of themselves. Adults who have failed to reach their full potential.

So, the vast majority of those thousands of students that I have worked with gained something but they didn’t earn the Reward. They didn’t gain the incredible knowledge and skills that were available to them, and they didn’t become their best self From a teacher’s perspective this is disheartening It is disheartening to see a student (young or old) on the journey and then get derailed. The Reward of course is Black Belt and Beyond.

So, I wrote this book for them and for the thousands of students on their own hero’s journey and for the thousands of parents who are tasked with guiding their child on their hero’s journey. All students on their hero’s journey need a mentor, a teacher, and a guide, and parents play an integral role in this process

So, parents, learn all you can, and answer this call for your child. Supporting your child on their Great Journey, their Hero’s Journey is the best gift you could ever give them.

AI and the Language of Reality

Everyone knows that language is powerful. If your parents addressed you as a child with loving, supportive words, your life by all odds has turned out better than someone whose parents used abusive words. But this effect is magnified hugely by AI in fact, language lies at the heart of AI, because through so-called “large languages” AI models reality.

This needs a little explaining to grasp the full impact this can have. AI works by imitating how the human brain functions, and the human brain works according to how consciousness functions. Right now, you are not seeing reality as it exists. You are seeing it through the lens of your consciousness. Two people seeing the same sunset, for example, will find it beautiful, boring, depressing, garish, or of total indifference depending on the state of awareness being applied.

Now go a step deeper. If the two people watching a sunset consist of an ancient Egyptian worshiping the sun god Ra and a modern astronomer researching solar flares, two divergent models of reality clash. The religious model of the ancient Egyptian has no relevance to modern astronomy and vice versa. We all possess ingrained models of reality that we mistake for reality itself. If person A is a miser or racist or afraid of the dark, while person B is generous or tolerant or a night owl, reality must comply with the model imposed on it we are talking about someone’s personal reality.

AI uses the power of super computers to switch to any model instantly. It has no conditioned model from the past. This kind of flexibility is inherent in the human brain and therefore in consciousness. You have the potential to shift your model of personal reality by going to the source of every personal reality, which is language. This notion that language is the very source of personal reality forms an amazing link between AI and the ancient rishis, or seers, of Vedic India. They were the first to trace not just personal reality but the infinite scope of reality itself back to the subtlest vibrations in Nature.

Quantum physics also traces reality back to the subtlest vibrations, or ripples, in the quantum field. But there’s a critical difference. In the Vedic model, these vibrations have meaning. They aren’t random but constitute the building blocks of a human universe. The universe is human because the only cosmos we can experience, either directly or through scientific instruments, means something to us.

When you ask an AI bot a question, it organizes it into the suitable large language (or constellation of words) that apply. Let’s take a simple example that is already in use in a suicide

prevention program known as Never Alone. A caller phones in and begins talking. The words being used will indicate to a computer program how serious the suicidal threat actually is. If the words are only pink flags, help can be given at the level of AI feedback. However, if there are red flag words, immediately a human therapist comes on the line to help.

This procedure imitates what we do all the time. In a relationship arguments can occur within the bounds of a healthy, happy relationship. If too many arguments occur, and they become more serious, hurtful, or stubborn, the model of the relationship changes words have shifted to a new reality for both partners. If the arguments become red flags (let’s say that one spouse has cheated on the other), then words once again shift each person’s reality, and if the breach isn’t healed, divorce will occur because two people no longer share the same reality about their relationship.

AI is modeled on the workings of the brain, but this is only the tip of the iceberg, because consciousness transcends the brain’s mechanical functions. Babies are born with extraordinary predispositions from day one, when the brain hasn’t even fully matured. Musical and mathematical geniuses, potential schizophrenics, future visionaries, unfold as the brain matures, guided by a predisposition, even though psychologists and geneticists cannot explain how or why.

Beyond such extremes, every child exhibits a set of predispositions, such as being introverted or extroverted, which will last a lifetime. How does this relate to language? Depending on your innate traits, you will hear the same words differently from someone who isn’t the same as you. Your personal reality will be shaped by the words you hear versus the words you ignore.

Then a second filter is triggered. What weight do you ascribe to the words you hear? Say “bad girl” to an introverted three-year-old, and it can be emotionally devastating, while to an extroverted child the same words might be laughed off.

Let’s take a leap past individual examples. Everyone needs to accept that their personal reality was shaped through the interpretation of words. Without a word for it, experiences can’t exist. Homo sapiens as a species doesn’t just use language; we are language, and so is everything we experience.

The problem is that everything we’ve discussed so far happens unconsciously, which is where AI comes in. AI can make you conscious about words in a way that is masked by your unconscious conditioning, habits, predispositions, social influences, family upbringing, education, and more. By asking the right questions, you can sort out the model of reality that you have been obeying, generally without even knowing it. The next step is to reshape your personal reality by investigating the words you want to encourage and reject those that are selfdefeating, harmful, and toxic.

There’s much more to say about this subject, but one thing is clear already. Even at this early stage of AI impacting normal life, the potential for transformation is vast. AI can be your research assistant, personal confidante, healer, or guru. It all depends on the level of selfawareness you aim for, and if we are lucky, as AI unfolds it will usher in higher consciousness for untold millions of people.

Modern Day Martial Artists Perceiving the Truth of Life.

Shotokan Karate Leadership School®

Kim

Our very kind student, Carrie Chase, is doing all she can to support this her friend, Kim. Here’s the letter she sent me.

Hello Dear Neighbors and the Shoka community, I am posting in honor of a beautiful lady named Kim who needs your help. I was deeply blessed to meet Kim. I met Kim through Michele Pipkin who many of you have kindly helped already. Kim is currently homeless. The fight goes on to help to protect, safeguard, defend, and honor womyn that are vulnerable. Please help me to help this great lady who has fallen on hard times to get back up strong on her feet again. Please show Kim that she is a valued member of our community and is deeply cared about.

Kim's needs: Please let us help her to find a safe large parking space for her large trailer that isn't expensive for herself. She was gifted a trailer and what she needs now is a wonderful safe space for the trailer.

We are also hoping to get a new car for Kim as her current one is quite broken. Her son keeps attempting to fix the car but the car really needs a part that is very expensive. We would really love for dear Kim to have an actual home, or an apartment, with an actual roof over her head would be lovely. That is what this great lady deserves. She has so much to give, she would be a Blessing in any home. We now have a Gofund me account for herself. All financial contributions are most welcome.

https://gofund.me/f37d57ba Please feel free to reach out to me if you would like to be of help to dear Kim. My phone number is (707) 774-5294 and Kim's phone number is (707) 396-3880. Also, Carol Lynn Weston is advocating strongly for Kim at this time. (707) 481-2679. So, if there is any problem getting hold of Kim her advocate Carol Lynn Weston may take calls as well. Financial contributions are most welcome and would be most helpful for Kim, https://gofund.me/f37d57ba Even five dollars makes a difference! Imagine this, if every single person in our community contributed five dollars what a difference that could make. A little more to say about Kim: This lovely sweet lady can often be found at the Farmer's Market, sweetly helping me to bag veggies and fruit, and ooooing and ahhhing over all the cute little babies, kids, and dogs! With her strong work ethic, one can always count on Kim to help others in any way that she can. I'd like everybody to meet this great lady who can be found at the Farmer's Market each Saturday. Please help me to make a strong fighting stance for this good lady, and help her to get the good help she so deserves! Thank you all very much.

There is a beautiful African proverb that says "It takes a village to raise a child" I say it also takes a village to truly raise and lift a good womyn back up onto her feet again" It takes each and every single one of us to a love a womyn into a better and happier place!

In Gratitude, Carrie and Kim