The power of faith?

My grappling coach, Harry 'Kimura' Grech kindly brought me to St Michael's Church in Lane Cove. I was very keen to see Harry in a different environment to martial arts, as I do with anyone else to see the similarities and differences in character in and out. I was also keen to explore the essence of Christianity as an 'outsider', trying to appreciate and search for the same answers as those inside the church.

I'm reminded of the times back in high school when I did go to church a few times. A lot of my friends grew up in some Christian environments as I was interested to try and fit in and at least follow along. I remember the Rice Rally and remember feeling out of place in the sea of passionate believers, making eye-opening expressions with surging emotions and serotonin.

Today, I'm at awe at how people are brought together with their faith. From a consequentialist perspective, I can see that for these people, their faith brought them all together. Children of all ages, adults of all ages, race, socioeconomic or socio-political backgrounds were together with no ill intent. The energy was in unison (apart from some wailing kids below the age of reason) with the themes of sharing, love and faith flowing through the church air.

Again, I am reminded as I sit next to this 190cm giant of a man, that we are all just 'breaths'. We are all people who make mistakes, who are not perfect and that we are all on our own journeys. After the service, Harry and I spoke a bit about our pasts and that we are here today in some way, because we want to become better versions of ourselves. Harry, being a deep delver into his craft and travelled through a fair share of life, he believes in love through God. No matter what you do, love is the ultimate motivator for life. I'm reminded of my previous post about how discipline must be intertwined with positivity, and in this situation, 'positivity' can be synonymous for 'love'. Discipline alone is not enough, love is what spurs us truly.

Harry referred me to some literature 'The Reason for God'. Why do you live? What for? Both of us coming from martial art lifestyles, I can appreciate how this book spoke about how a sprinter for the Olympics' driving passion to perform was to "justify my existence in 10 lonely seconds." In other parts of life, it reminds me of how we work to live. We train to stay healthy. But what beyond this? What do we seek? Some verses that have stayed with me during the afternoon were 'Deny yourself', 'a double-minded man will be unstable of all.'

Denying oneself, based on Harry's explanation was that we should deny what we immediately or hedonically want. We shouldn't instantly gratify ourselves; a big concern in today's increasingly accessible society. I can understand that in the lens of 'discipline'. But humans, as the Bible would say, 'are all inherently sinners.' We are tempted every day. What is still getting my mind going is this thought of 'a double-minded man being unstable.' On an entry level, I can appreciate that one who has duplicitous intentions has set themselves for failure. It is impossible to try and look left and right at the same time. One who lies, knowing the truth, is also setting themselves for failure. But in the macro picture, we must do wrong to understand truly, what is right. We must feed the good and the evil. There is no utopia on Earth. It's not possible. From a Christian lens, I can understand that one must love God first, thereby being 'single-minded'. A work in its early phases for sure.

My current answer to 'what I'm seeking' would be 'inner peace', a more Buddhist concept, to be able to embrace suffering for what it is, enjoy the process of suffering, finding a solution and then rinsing and repeating. I currently do feel substantial inner peace, I am happy with where I'm at, I'm happy with where I'm trying to go as well as the pace. In many ways, I understand how a large part of CORE of religion is all quite similar. To be the better versions of ourselves, live My grappling coach, Harry 'Kimura' Grech kindly brought me to St Michael's Church in Lane Cove. I was very keen to see Harry in a different environment to martial arts, as I do with anyone else to see the similarities and differences in character in and out. I was also keen to explore the essence of Christianity as an 'outsider', trying to appreciate and search for the same answers as those inside the church.

I'm reminded of the times back in high school when I did go to church a few times. A lot of my friends grew up in some Christian environments as I was interested to try and fit in and at least follow along. I remember the Rice Rally and remember feeling out of place in the sea of passionate believers, making eye-opening expressions with surging emotions and serotonin.

Today, I'm at awe at how people are brought together with their faith. From a consequentialist perspective, I can see that for these people, their faith brought them all together. Children of all ages, adults of all ages, race, socioeconomic or socio-political backgrounds were together with no ill intent. The energy was in unison (apart from some wailing kids below the age of reason) with the themes of sharing, love and faith flowing through the church air.

Again, I am reminded as I sit next to this 190cm giant of a man, that we are all just 'breaths'. We are all people who make mistakes, who are not perfect and that we are all on our own journeys. After the service, Harry and I spoke a bit about our pasts and that we are here today in some way, because we want to become better versions of ourselves. Harry, being a deep delver into his craft and travelled through a fair share of life, he believes in love through God. No matter what you do, love is the ultimate motivator for life. I'm reminded of my previous post about how discipline must be intertwined with positivity, and in this situation, 'positivity' can be synonymous for 'love'. Discipline alone is not enough, love is what spurs us truly.

Harry referred me to some literature 'The Reason for God'. Why do you live? What for? Both of us coming from martial art lifestyles, I can appreciate how this book spoke about how a sprinter for the Olympics' driving passion to perform was to "justify my existence in 10 lonely seconds." In other parts of life, it reminds me of how we work to live. We train to stay healthy. But what beyond this? What do we seek? Some verses that have stayed with me during the afternoon were 'Deny yourself', 'a double-minded man will be unstable of all.'

Denying oneself, based on Harry's explanation was that we should deny what we immediately or hedonically want. We shouldn't instantly gratify ourselves; a big concern in today's increasingly accessible society. I can understand that in the lens of 'discipline'. But humans, as the Bible would say, 'are all inherently sinners.' We are tempted every day. What is still getting my mind going is this thought of 'a double-minded man being unstable.' On an entry level, I can appreciate that one who has duplicitous intentions has set themselves for failure. It is impossible to try and look left and right at the same time. One who lies, knowing the truth, is also setting themselves for failure. But in the macro picture, we must do wrong to understand truly, what is right. We must feed the good and the evil. There is no utopia on Earth. It's not possible. From a Christian lens, I can understand that one must love God first, thereby being 'single-minded'. A work in its early phases for sure.

My current answer to 'what I'm seeking' would be 'inner peace', a more Buddhist concept, to be able to embrace suffering for what it is, enjoy the process of suffering, finding a solution and then rinsing and repeating. I currently do feel substantial inner peace, I am happy with where I'm at, I'm happy with where I'm trying to go as well as the pace. In many ways, I understand how a large part of CORE of religion is all quite similar. To be the better versions of ourselves, live a more disciplined life and have faith to its deity/deities. I warn myself that we must not lose sight of the 'human' in others. We tend to become fanatics of things, obsessive, whether it may be sport, hobby or anything. The irony is that many people of religion become fanatics of their religion. Although no initial ill intent, quite the opposite, tunnel-vision can begin to blur the core essence of morality. What even is morality?! Again, a work in its early phases for sure.

I use this experience to delve into the more 'Buddhist' part of my mindset. If we are trying to become the best version of ourselves and that is the end goal (equivalent to Christians and Heaven), the day to day actions are quite similar to what Christians and people of other religions do. Don't be distracted, don't give into hollow pleasures. A Buddhist would argue that you alone are enough. Everything else is a blessing. There is a strong focus on balancing one's life.

Despite my current exploration of different religions and the confusing dissonance that comes with it, I'm grateful for who I'm becoming. I once could not look at myself, sit alone and think to myself as I was subconsciously deeply ashamed at who I was and who I was trying to be, to run away from this shame. Ingenuity kills. I'm a firm believer that positivity, whether it be faith to God or positivity within your own sense of self, it will wash away all the sorrows and troubles that seem like an endless wallowing pit. When you are suffocating in your life with all the problems, all you really need is love and positive affirmation. It will sweep past all of your turbulence within. Whether that be through God's love or inner peace, I can say first hand that the powers of love and positivity is infinite. a more disciplined life and have faith to its deity/deities. I warn myself that we must not lose sight of the 'human' in others. We tend to become fanatics of things, obsessive, whether it may be sport, hobby or anything. The irony is that many people of religion become fanatics of their religion. Although no initial ill intent, quite the opposite, tunnel-vision can begin to blur the core essence of morality. What even is morality?! Again, a work in its early phases for sure.

I use this experience to delve into the more 'Buddhist' part of my mindset. If we are trying to become the best version of ourselves and that is the end goal (equivalent to Christians and Heaven), the day to day actions are quite similar to what Christians and people of other religions do. Don't be distracted, don't give into hollow pleasures. A Buddhist would argue that you alone are enough. Everything else is a blessing. There is a strong focus on balancing one's life.

Despite my current exploration of different religions and the confusing dissonance that comes with it, I'm grateful for who I'm becoming. I once could not look at myself, sit alone and think to myself as I was subconsciously deeply ashamed at who I was and who I was trying to be, to run away from this shame. Ingenuity kills. I'm a firm believer that positivity, whether it be faith to God or positivity within your own sense of self, it will wash away all the sorrows and troubles that seem like an endless wallowing pit. When you are suffocating in your life with all the problems, all you really need is love and positive affirmation. It will sweep past all of your turbulence within. Whether that be through God's love or inner peace, I can say first hand that the powers of love and positivity is infinite.