“The Art of Boxing”
by Kelvin Chin
Life After Life Expert & Meditation Teacher
I'm watching a boxing movie, “Southpaw” right now as I’m writing this essay. And Forest Whitaker just said to Jake Gyllenhaal, “boxing’s not about this (punching) — boxing’s about this…" (pointing to his head).
The non-physical, not the physical.
The problem on our planet as human beings is we forget that basic principle. We get caught up in the physical so much so that we ignore and eventually completely forget about the non-physical — the mind, thinking, attitudes that form our behavior and affect our physical.
Just like Forest Whitaker as the boxing trainer pointed out to Jake Gyllenhaal, my role on the planet this lifetime is to remind us not to forget that basic principle.
That’s not to say that we ignore the physical. We just must remember that it does not start with the physical. It starts with the mental, the non-physical.
And when we remember that, we can then begin the long journey of understanding our minds better — more deeply — its complexity more profoundly.
COMFORT AND FAMILIARITY WITH OUR OWN MINDS
I think this is one of the main reasons why most people fear death. Their experience of their minds is basic, not profound, not open to the complexity of the mental possibilities of human experience. We tend to be very comfortable with a relatively small portion of our mind, what I sometimes refer to as “the supermarket aisle” mind that each of us uses regularly on a daily basis — the “Do I need peanut butter, olives, milk today?” …the decision-making part of our mind.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s an important part of our mind — it keeps us from bumping into walls, and getting into accidents driving through intersections. But it represents only a tiny portion of our minds.
The rest of the mind that tends not to be used, all the various channels and avenues of mental experience that are also possible for each of us to experience — our innate intuitive capabilities and especially our ability to sense and experience the unseen beyond the physical world — tend to go completely unnoticed by us, and therefore unexercised.
And therefore, when we have experiences in those areas of our minds, maybe triggered by a drug, hypnotism, or some other external stimulus, the experience is so unfamiliar to us, that a feeling of being “out-of-control” dominates our awareness, may even overwhelm us — meaning, it is so unlike the “supermarket aisle mind”…so unlike the physical control we seem to have over our bodies — that we experience confusion and sometimes deep anxiety as a result.
It’s just like the boxer who has entered the ring physically prepared, but mentally unprepared. And when something does not go according to plan, when something unexpected happens, the boxer is overwhelmed and confused. Relying merely on his/her physical skills is not enough.
THE SOLUTION
So, what’s the solution?
Whether we are literally or figuratively a boxer, if we practice “turning within” on a regular basis through some effortless form of meditation or other inward mental process, we can open our awareness gradually to a wide range of previously unknown areas of our minds. And by doing this in a natural way — without using artificially-created external stimulants (drugs or other means) — the nervous system automatically self-regulates, can adjust and acclimate comfortably to the new experiences of the mind. And in this process, it will develop a familiarity with them so that when we do experience them again — perhaps in an OBE (out-of-body experience), NDE (near-death experience), or even in death itself — our minds will be so open, so aware and awake, and moreoverso familiar with these various other avenues that exist within it, that there will be no fear, no anxiety, no feeling of “being out of control.”
Because by then, we will have experienced enough of a comfort level with those experiences that they no longer feel overwhelming — or foreign.
So, getting comfortable with the non-physical starts with recognizing that the physical is only a part of our reality — it is not the “be all and end all.” As easy as it is to get distracted — even seduced — by all the flashing lights, pyrotechnics, smells, tastes and touches of physical reality, we must not forget that. And thus, while the physical and non-physical most certainly “share the stage” in our lives here as humans, the non-physical is ultimately what is crucial for the quality of our experience. The mind, in other words, is where that starts.
For us to be successful as a boxer, it starts between our ears, so to speak. It starts in our mind, our attitude, our understanding. And from there, our physical abilities become honed and effective. That’s how we become effective boxers.
That’s how we become effective “livers of life” in physical bodies on planet Earth.
Kelvin H. Chin is a Meditation Teacher, Life After Life Expert, and Author of “Overcoming the Fear of Death.” He learned to meditate at age 19, and has been teaching Turning Within Meditation and coaching others in their self-growth for 40 years. He helps people understand their life challenges through their individual belief systems, and helps them find their own solutions. His past life memories reach back many centuries, and he accesses those memories in his teaching and his coaching in the same way all coaches draw on their own available experiences for perspective and effective analogies. He can be reached at www.TurningWithin.org.
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