Harmonious - Integrated - Balanced

Harmony - Symbiosis - Equilibrium

Three words my wife provided regarding her garden. The professional she borrowed the words from said that to have a perfect, as perfect as humans and nature can achieve, garden it must be harmonious, integrated, and balanced. This struck a cord with me and my studies in the FMA and ancient classics of China.

Lets take a look at the literal meaning of those three words, related words I have used in my postings on the FMA.

Harmonious (Harmony): exhibiting equivalence or correspondence among constituents of an entity or between different entities; existing together in harmony; compatibility in opinion and action; a harmonious state of things in general and of their properties (as of colors and sounds); congruity of parts with one another and with the whole; agreement of opinions, etc.

Integrated (Symbiosis): formed or united into a whole; formed into a whole or introduced into another entity; make into a whole or make part of a whole; become one; become integrated; consolidation: the act of combining into an integral whole, etc. ; Of, or relating to symbiosis; living together; Of a relationship with mutual benefit between two individuals or organisms; term for the interdependence of different species, etc.

Balanced (Equilibrium): being in a state of proper equilibrium; proportion: harmonious arrangement or relation of parts or elements within a whole; symmetry; an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; Exhibiting symmetry; having harmonious or proportionate arrangement of parts, etc.

The entire purpose of the FMA is to provide the tools to, first, teach self protection, i.e. civil protection, which equates to street protection. This is not true combative protection of the kind the military has to deal with but one where we as citizens might, strong on might, have to protect ourselves. This applies to two separate forms of self protection, one is the monkey dance or what I call the school yard scuffle and two the really violent kind.

Then those who desire to go beyond the mere physical can achieve a better life and living by the singular form of practice that achieves body, mind, and spirit development where we learn to harmonize, integrate and balance out the three.

Where this begins is in academia or acquiring the knowledge. Train the mind, store the data in the brain and then go to the practical aspect which is also stored in the brain/mind so when perceived appropriate actions are taken.

Three is a significant number in the Ancient Classics such as the Analects and the Book of Changes. As a matter of fact mathematics are significant in all of it. Binary numbers are shown to be associated with the eight trigrams as follows:

1. Heaven = 111
2. Lake = 110
3. Fire = 101
4. Thunder = 100
5. Wind = 011
6. Water = 010
7. Mountain = 001
8. Earth = 000

When you want to see balance you would then associate 1 & 8, 2 & 5, 3 & 6, and 4 & 7. One of the more significant pairings is no. 1 & 8 which are Heaven and Earth. The combination of these two forces or non-forces is held to produce the complete human being. (you find this referenced in the first tome of the ken-po goku-i of Isshinryu)

The greatest unkept secret to our purpose in life is the full understanding and goal of equilibrium or balance. I believe this is our purpose and it extends further than anyone can imagine. To create internal harmony and integrate that into our life, family, tribe, society, etc. would be a great achievement which few have reached in history to date.

It is taught through the classics that we as human beings must achieve wholehearted "oneness" or "balance" within. No one can achieve balance in life or society or government if they first do not achieve harmony, balance and integration of mind, body and spirit because the emanations of our emotions through body, etc. have a cause and effect on anyone who we might encounter. We encounter, we react quicker than thought, and the results effects/affects all it encounters. To achieve equilibrium within is achieving the ability to know and recognize these issues and then allow ourselves to step back, breathe, and then control the affects creating a peaceful and harmonious effect on those we encounter.

The first step, recognize that Isshinryu and the FMA is more than mere physical fighting ability. The second step, recognize the gift provided by Bushi Tatsuo Sensei in the "ken-po goku-i!" The third step, make it a practical ability of your mind, body, and spirit.