The 4 Lessons Of The Sword

First a quick explanation about what moment this particular blog post is being grown in. 
I'm off today, got up and did very hard work out. Had my bi weekly carb up which I feel like I needed but of coarse like everything else the moments before Christmas are often better than the moments after. I'm now at the park in the sun shine. I have been to this park a hundred times and I have never come over to the spot i'm sitting in and it was surprisingly difficult to get my brain to make a new path over here but I did it. Here I am. i wish I had brought a cup of coffee and I'm listening to my good friend Conor Oberest (who I have never met but spend a massive amount of time with) ok on the post.

I have been trying to figure out how to make the things I'm learning practical. I've tried to strip it down for myself. Everything can be made more complex but sometimes making the complex simple is more impressive. ​

Lesson 1 - Learn
Lesson 2 - Discernment 
Lesson 3 - Action
Lesson 4 - Patience 

Lesson 1 - Learn - I mean information here - learning to learn is a good place to start
This involves figuring out what you don't know but want to 
Learning is like picking up a sword and learning how to use it. This is a long process and will take years for mastery if that is the goal. The skill must be learned. This is the how.

Lesson 2 - Discernment - this is what has been on my mind lately
It is not enough to be a sword master but then you have to be able to know when, where and in some cases who to use the sword on if at all. Sometimes the greatest power is having the ability to use a sword and to not use it. This is very different than not using the sword because you don't know how even though neither one is using a sword. 
Remember in the analogy the sword is truth, your truth. Most people never learn the truth of themselves, if they do they then may struggle with lesson 2 not realizing that even though a truth is truth it may not need to be used on someone else at a certain place or time. It is for you alone and if it is true it doesn't need to be externally defined so if you find yourself defending your ideas realize that you are showing where the weaknesses are (yes this blog post is for me) 

Lesson 3 - Action - using the sword - once you know how to use the sword of truth and when to use it (far less than the ego would like) you use it even if you use it on a stone - it must be kept sharp a sword that isn't used is not a sword but maybe a paper weight instead. Take action in your life. This involves personal responsibility. You know what you can change and what you can't. A short person can react to being a short in any number of ways. He can get a ladder, he can learn to jump, he can accept his situation for inner peace ect. The one thing he can't do is magically grow tall. Only you know what you can and can't change about yourself. There is nothing worse than having a tall person tell a short person you just aren't believing enough to grow taller. Know yourself and don't let friends or society or social media or your past self tell you about your process. They don't know your insides and my guess is that a person who builds ladders will suggest ladders to a short person even if the short person is in the middle of learning to jump. It is up to you to go back to Lesson 2 and use discernment to know what you really want. 

Lesson 4 - Patience 
You have learned how to use the sword, when to use the sword, you have used the sword now you wait. This process must be repeated and the final lesson is the patience to let the this build into mastery. I have talked alot about a brain being like a tree in past blog posts and the tree must have time to grow. 
I had a friend once who would constantly mention how she quit smoking weed for a month 4 years ago so she didn't have a problem with it. I didn't care that she smoked but it clearly had become a burden to her and "quitting" a thing for a month four years ago is at best a vacation. You see there wasn't enough patience to let the stopping grow into quitting. 

Why these 4 Lessons? because every time I think about my situation and what I am frustrated with or don't like I have to ask myself am I applying these 4 lessons. I need to keep learning, I need to keep discerning, I need to keep doing and I (hardest lesson of all) must be patient enough to wait for the first 3 to grow in my life. 
Knowing this 4 lesson process it also helps me to know that some things just aren't worth it or aren't worth it right now. I am not closed to who I will be in the future but also am aware of my practical time, energy and recources at this moment. You are the only one who know what you should be doing. Maybe suruviing is what these 4 lessons should be apllied to. maybe thriving? Only you know yourself. I myself have no excuses for my life. There are many swords and I dont know how or when to use very many of them but I am and will have fun doing these 4 lessons ...there is always another truth sword so have fun with it. 
This is the best way to use the sword of truth in your life. Respect it. It will cut you just as easily as it cuts someone else. But this life is filled with lies that require a truth sword to not get deceived and lead into a a trap where you have to lie to yourself and everyone else to survive the reality of the situation you find yourself in. 

Often the process of learning these 4 lessons is a lonely path. People perfer the known to the unknown. Stay true and keep your sword sharp. 
If you are reading this thank you for being a part of my process.