Tales From The New World #9…Seeing

They say when you arrive in new place photograph the first thing that strikes you . Don’t study it, just take the picture and save it. When I arrived in Leesburg, Florida this was my first.

There’s a book by Miyamoto Murashi, called The Book of Five Rings, which are chapters. He was a Samurai who in 1643 was Japan’s greatest Swordsman, remaining undefeated with over 60 hand to hand duels. His manifesto for a Samurai’s approach in war, also became a popular read for many Japanese businessmen and executives today.

In one Ring, he refers to a moment when you come face to face with your opponent, at sword’s length, and in that moment you stop to think out your next move, rather than just trusting on your instinctive reactions, those that come from all your training and experiences, as well as the familiarity of the sword in hand. That hesitated moment he calls Mind Stopping, and In combat, the first one who Mind Stops looses.

Looking back at my travels, I have to wonder how many images I lost by Mind Stopping, over thinking what I’m seeing, questioning what it is, pre-judging and often moving on without taking action. How often have I not trusted my inner voice who knew and recognized a given situation?

I don’t know what it was that drew me to this image, still don’t…but I like it every time I see it. Somewhere it talks to me even if I can’t decipher its language. However today whenever I pass by this scene, I’m glad I didn’t Mind Stop, and took this picture.

Now centuries later, I hear his message. Thank you Miyamoto for the lesson.