TRIPLETS
The Three Gates have limits. There are times it becomes impractical to apply "kindness" without deep philosophical consideration. Under stress, your primary obligation is survival. Applying them to the Three Centers
Hmmm. Being out of integrity with the Three Gates strikes me as similar to being out of balance in the Three Centers. Let me investigate that.
Let me posit that my best, healthiest, most successful and happy life is balanced between the Three Gates and Three Centers. That there is a useful relationship between them. Under stress, we can get out of balance. Look at this in terms of the stress-strain paradigm: it isn't stress that hurts you, it is STRAIN. That it isn't that "what does not kill me makes me stronger" but "that which doesn't kill me, that also doesn't exceed my body-mind's capacity to adapt, makes me stronger."
How, then, can we tell when we are struggling with stress, that it is approaching our maximum capacity?
And something just hit me. Look at the physical arena. When a yoga pose exceeds your capacity to perform correctly, you violate the triumverate of breath, movement, and structure. BREATHING will be the first to get funky.
I know that there are times--maybe MOST times, when for most people they cannot have perfectly balanced days, with family, career, and body all cared for perfectly. Even defining what that would BE can be difficult.
But if you exceed the amount of stress you can handle physically, it will disrupt breath, movement, or alignment (structure.)
Hmmm. When life stress exceeds our healthy capacity to cope with it, do we, might we, re-align or re-jigger our balance to cope with it? Might that require that we step into imbalance in order to GAIN balance? That balance becomes dynamic, like running down a hill, rather that static, like a three-legged stool? We all do this at times, and health will be a matter of re-balancing as rapidly as possible. When training for an athletic event, you might sacrifice work or family a bit. When dealing with a family emergency (or vacation!) you might step away from business, or miss workouts and eat outside your dietary pattern (food is fun!). And when there is an emergency at work, or you are training for an advanced credential, you might pull all-nighters and not see friends for weeks.
It makes sense. But you don't STAY there. And people who remain in that unbalanced state break down.
So…what of the Three Gates? Could we say that when we are dishonest, cruel, or inefficient this is a sign that our stress is outpacing our healthy capacity to cope with it? That you might well have to step into the shadow, but you don't STAY there, and you understand that this was not optimal.
Now…if you accept a structure that is "Three Gates/Three Centers" now you have a more complex balance, a more complex machine. But would excessive stress in any one arena lead to problems in others? What if that was true? If they are all linked…then the moral dimension (Truth, Kindness) meets the practical Body, Career, Relationships, at "Usefulness." Or "efficiency/effectiveness" at the least. Honestly, I think Truth and Kindness also connect to the practical world.
I don't know. This are just early steps in an inquiry. But I'll tell you something: IF IT WERE TRUE (thinking deductively) then one thing I'd expect is that controlling the breathing would keep us from experiencing strain, which would keep us in the "zone" in terms of the Three Gates…yes?
In other words, just controlling the breathing would make one more honest and kind and efficient. The implications are massive, and I know no direct theorizing on this. What I can do is try and suggest the experiment.
Breathe. Every hour on the hour, for sixty seconds of deep, slow, diaphragmatic work. Once integrated…do you feel kinder to people? Do you feel less fear, which enables you to speak your truth? Do you find your efforts increasing in effectiveness? Get more work done, with less resistance?
Because if all this stuff is linked…it should.
And IF THAT IT TRUE, then these Triplets: Body, Career, Relationship; Honest, Kind, Useful; Breath, movement, structure…
What they are is ways of describing the ineffable. If followed, they give you glimpses of a deeper, wiser, more spiritual and yet more practical way of being.
Now, "if" is a big word here. I don't know. But I'm going to keep digging, because if I'm right…
Its massive. It's Musashi's "perceive those things that cannot be seen."
Namaste
Steve
