Synesthesia

/
Synesthesia

Sitting in the back seat of a relative's car, I picked up a copy of Oprah Magazine.  The magazine was filled with articles about how to have a happy-go-lucky life.  The first article I read was called, "How to Be More Creative."  The gist of the article is that creative people cultivate synesthesia.  Poets for instance, actually try to feel the sadness in rocks and trees, or the temperature of a rainbow.  (I couldn't find that article online, but I did find this excellent one about musician Pharrell Williams and his synesthesia.)  

Read More

On Doing Research

/
On Doing Research

Ben Judkins just had my friend Daniel Mroz write a piece on the doing martial arts research, check it out.

My first reaction to the title "Choosing a School: Affinity, Danger and Compliance," is that missing something.  That's because I memorized the Daodejing many years ago.  There is a chapter about the student teacher relationship that I will paraphrase below.

 

    Read More

    Chakras

    /
    Chakras

    This is a good read on Chakras from Tanrikstudies.org.  While the author doesn't go beyond Sanskrit texts, the back and forth between China and India between the 6th and 10th Centuries was vigorous.  Thus, it is not surprising that these ideas about a visualized and somaticized inner body transcending time and space would show up and develop at that time in both places with a huge variety of characteristics.  I might also point out that the so-called "emotions" he refers too could also be thought of as theatrical expressions of mood in the South Asian context.  That is, solo ritual expressions of mood were, like deity visualizations, connected to theater and dance as pervasive cultural narrative.   This post is just a teaser for my next big post on Monday...Oprah and Synesthesia.   

    Read More

    HAPPY YEAR OF THE FIRE MONKEY

    /
    HAPPY YEAR OF THE FIRE MONKEY

    I've been reading Daoism in the Twentieth Century, Between Eternity and Modernity, by David A. Palmer and Xun Liu.  It is excellent and deserves a full review in the coming weeks.  For today I have a juicy quote from the introduction which is by Kristofer Schipper:

    The linkage between communities that are established and reinforced through the institution of fengxiang[carrying incense ashes from one temple to another creating a network] are important, and many historical networks such as the Mazu temples of maritime merchants are clearly linked to China's commercial expansion.  But the economic role of temples was not limited to this function only

    Read More

    Daoyin Reimagined: A Comparison of Three Embodied Traditions

    /
    Daoyin Reimagined: A Comparison of Three Embodied Traditions

    I am happy to announce the publication of the Journal of Daoist Studies volume 9 (2016), available at Three Pines Press.  It is $25 for the paper book and $15 for the digital book.  

    Oh, and my article Daoyin Reimagined: A Comparison of Three Embodied Traditions, co-written with Daniel Mroz, is in it!

    Read More

    Martial Arts Social Movements

    /

    A new (composite) thought about martial arts social movements.

    There are three types of martial arts social movements.  For the sake of neat categories we will call them Nationalist, Universalist, and Trader.  I will explain each in turn.  Each type of social movement contains a unique value system and has identifying characteristics that can allow us to understand most of the conflicts that happen between them.  

    Read More