T’ai Chi Chih is like an army of termites

T’ai Chi Chih is like an army of termites.

First they eat out the framing in the walls of your house/Self — you know changes are happening, but it’s more like getting some light and fresh air into some dark rooms.

Then whole walls get eaten up, and crash down. Then, you just can’t get warm (and cozy) anymore; there’s a constant draft.

Until you acclimate. “Oh, I no longer live in 70 degrees — I live in 40 degrees.” The skin thickens up to survive it.

The last part left is the weight-bearing beams, both vertical and horizontal (the roof). When the T’ai Chi Chih termites attack these beams, each bite is felt — this is your core (what you cling to) and every bite hurts.

Unless you acclimate. “Oh, I am no longer THIS house, or any house. Maybe now I am the air, which is inside and outside the house. If I am the air, then I can be any temperature, dry or damp, blowing or still.

(My foundation is crumbling and my instinct is to fight it — to try to exterminate the termites.

But I DO T’ai Chi Chih. I can’t NOT do T’ai Chi Chih. Therefore, I am inviting this army of termites inside every single day.)

You don’t realize they’re termites until the house/Self comes crumbling down.

– Noel Altman