Vital Force Greatest Hits: Excerpts from Justin (May 2021)

Impermanence
Most suffering comes from failure to accept impermanence. Relationships change, health changes and we grow older. Yet we tend to cling, as though pleasant circumstances can extend indefinitely. When things are too yin, we are happy to see them change to yang, but we never anticipate the positive becoming the negative. So we live our lives in a pleasure-pain continuum, trying to preserve and resurrect what is pleasant and seeking to avoid its inevitable opposite, the painful.

“The only thing permanent is change,” says the I Ching. The leaves will fall in autumn; there will be new leaves on the tree in springtime. But is the tree itself permanent? Enduring, yes, but infinite, no. What we do and think will influence the future; flowing with the Tao in its ceaseless progression is wise. In the words of Professor Huang, “The Sage wants spring to follow winter.” – Summer 1986

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That is Love
Your task is not to find someone to believe in or some doctrine in which to take refuge (though this is very comfortable). It is to realize Who and What You are (and I don’t mean a name). Then you manifest Who and What you really are; that is Love. – Summer 1988

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Flow Slow Motion

T’ai Chi Chih teachers should remember that the most important thing with beginning students is to see that they move correctly. Once they learn how to flow slow motion in a dream, there is no problem in teaching them the movements. I hope teachers keep this in mind and concentrate, in the beginning, on getting the students to flow with softness and continuity. – Winter 1986

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Energy and Wisdom
Empty space seems to be a vast continuum of Energy, and that energy is Wisdom. Energy appears in many forms, including “matter,” and it’s always there for us to use in re-charging ourselves – hence, T’ai Chi Chih. When we do, our intuition seems to be greatly sharpened, and this is understandable as Energy and Wisdom are just different words for the same thing.

Tantra promises that every cell in the body can be brought to a point singing with Joy. Those of us who practice TCC are doing just that. To become jaded and just think of it as another discipline is to miss the point. Here are the means; it is up to you to use them. – Winter 1986

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More is not Better
I am not at all happy when two or three T’ai Chi Chih teachers write me that they have originated new movements and are teaching them to their pupils. More is not better. First of all, in a relatively short time there would be fifty different versions of TCC being taught in the world if this practice was followed. Second, until the teacher fully understands the underlying principles and has practiced for a long, long lime, such activity is just an ego-stance. To assume that you have attained the “mind of no Mind” in such a short time and can use the “sword of no sword” to pierce to the heart of matters is just an assumption. After 35 years, I am still a beginner. T’ai Chi Chih, as it is, gets wonderful results – it delivers. Sink yourself deeply into its practice and taste the full benefits; do not be satisfied with quick, surface results. – Summer 1988