Step Forward and Unite with the Sword

Step Forward and Unite with the Sword? Stepping forward I can do; uniting with the sword is not so easy. I mean, how do you unite with a sword? I can't truly merge with it, and I'm not a sword swallower. The best I can hope to do is to make it a useful part of me as I make this journey toward . . . if not complete enlightenment, a least diminished dimness.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of uniting with a sword is the old notion of falling upon one's sword: opting for an honorable suicide rather than facing a worse fate. I don't think I need to die literally before I set out; to do so would prevent me from progressing further. But I do think a part of me needs to be skewered: my ego, the part that thinks I know things.

So I must step forward deliberately, fall upon my sword, and pierce my ego. A difficult enough thing to do knowingly, it's made more difficult by the fact that I'm holding the sword in my left, less coordinated, hand as I start. So even if I commit to performing this maneuver, my natural clumsiness will make it awkward. I will fail many times—maybe every time, as the ego is a slippery thing that does not want to be run through. Yet I

step

and

begin.

Preparation

This blog is a project to commemorate my 10th anniversary of serious study at Twin Cities T'ai Chi Ch'uan. Each post will be inspired by a posture in the T'ai Chi sword form.

Since the postures of the sword form represent points along a student's journey toward enlightenment, my hope is that my essays will do the same. While I don't expect to achieve Enlightenment through these writings, I do hope to enlighten myself somewhat about my practice.

Please feel free to click the Comments link on any post to add your thoughts. I would appreciate hearing from you.