Miyamoto Musashi: Freedom in Loneliness

 

Miyamoto Musashi was a Ronin, being a samurai that was outcast from society, made to live a life separate from everyone else, having no master and living alone. Musashi is perhaps the most famous Ronin for his skill in sword fighting, winning a total record of 61 duels to the death. Not only was he masterful samurai, but also an artist and perhaps most importantly, a philosopher, writing many of his ideas onto paper, forever solidifying his place in history. His work is still used in today’s society, as much, if more then it was when he wrote them. Leaving behind 21 of the most core principles he lived by, and everyone should strive to live by too. Withstanding the test of time, having survived for nearly 500 years now. The first five of these principles will be covered in this video, with the others covered in future videos, allowing for a more in-depth look into each one.

Rule 1 - Accept Everything Just The Way It Is

This precept encourages acceptance and mindfulness of the world as it truly is, not what we wish, or fear it to be. People often fear change, yet it is a natural thing, being one of the only things constant in this world. And as the stoics would say, how can anything natural be bad? Change is happening all the time and there is nothing you can do to stop it, so there is no use swimming against the currents of change, as you only delay the process. You are changing right now by learning and taking on new ideas, improving your intelligence. If you’re working out, studying, meditating or following any path, you are progressing with change. Accept that change will happen even if you try and stay the same by doing nothing. You might be able to prevent yourself from getting wiser, stronger and happier, but you are still getting older and changing the amount of regret you will have built up for your older years. This rule also means to accept that which you cannot change, like your height or genetics. Musashi would do whatever he could to win his duels, not doing what lust demanded and staying loyal to his path, changing whenever necessary to adapt to the circumstances, keeping an open mind on things that could better him and improve his craft, not complaining about things that happened around him, as complaining doesn’t change a thing. If you tell a joke one time, people might find it funny, but after 3 times of telling it, people will no longer be amused. If you can’t tell the same joke 3 times over, you shouldn’t be able to complain multiple times about something, without actually changing anything. At the end of the day, it is actions that direct change towards something worth while, not empty words.

Rule 2 - Do Not Seek Pleasure For It’s Own Sake

He teaches us to avoid a life of hedonism, and the understanding that temporary pleasures are not the path to lasting happiness, but it is your brain that instinctually wants the dopamine. Be aware, that your instincts can often be wrong, as it is instincts that made you overweight, addicted to video games or follow whatever bad habit you have at the moment. Unearned pleasures are like sirens on the rocks, attracting ships, causing them to change their path and crash into the rocks. Especially in todays world, Miyamoto’s rule could not be more relevant, as technology develops, making pleasure more convenient and on-demand as people increasingly want easier lives instead of fulfilling ones, making it harder and harder to ignore the free, accessible pleasures, but it also means the same goes for everyone else, making the competition easier then it has ever been if you decide to step up to make the sacrifices that very few people are willing to make nowadays, that are required to live a good life. Marcus Aurelius wrote in his book meditations that committing a sin out of pleasure should be punished far more then one committed out of anger. Miyamoto Musashi very much practised what he preached with this rule, as he was known to reject sexual advances from women, allowing him to focus on what was important to him, along with living a very minimalistic lifestyle, not being held back by unnecessary material possessions.

Rule 3 - Do Not, Under Any Circumstances, Depend on a Partial Feeling

Acting based on emotion is a guaranteed way to live a bad life. Too many people get steered by their anger or fear. Musashi observed this in a large amount of the people he encountered, and therefore decided to use it for his own advantage, deliberately turning up late for many of his duels, making them frustrated, clouding their ability to think quickly and clearly in the fight as they had allowed their rage to blind them, resulting in Musashi making quick work of them, helping build his extensive streak of 61 undefeated duels that were fought to the death. He put his life on the line for every single one of them, and could not then afford to allow his emotions to place blinders on him when fighting, or in training, as that would make him more ill prepared for the actual thing. When a friend is upset or depressed about something that has happened to him, he cannot see the often obvious way out of the problem, whereas you might be able to see the solution clearly because your emotions are not entangled in the experience. Remember this next time you yourself get tripped up by your emotions. Instead of letting them take over, take a deep breath, zoom out and see the situation for what it is, rather then what you think it to be, a path through it will then present itself. You don’t need to be emotional to be a good person despite what is often portrayed in modern media, nor do you need to be in touch with them says Musashi. What you need is control over most all of them, instead listening to what you cannot control like your gut instinct as it is likely more important. It is your actions, not your feelings that determine who you are. No amount of grief or anger will make the world less harsh to you, it will treat you the same way regardless, so why then would you choose to beheld back by your frustration or morbidity. On the flipside of the emotional spectrum, watching motivational videos does also not move you farther down the path. It is not progress, nor fulfilment. Motivational content attempts to give you the emotional response from success, without obtaining the success. This is theft.

Rule 4 - Think Lightly of Yourself & Deeply of the World

Being self-conscious means you are too conscious of the self, and thinking of the world deeply means having a path and following it. Remember how small you are in comparison to the universe, that’s not to say you can’t be valuable as an individual, but remember that the chances are, that no-one is thinking of you and no-one is judging you, because most people are too caught up caring about themselves. That may sound harsh, but instead of seeing it as a negative, see it as something more empowering in the sense that the need for social approval you felt burdened with, doesn’t exist nearly as much to the extend you thought it does. Stay humble as a young person, not being engulfed by ego. As Ryan Holiday says “Now more than ever, our culture fans the flames of ego. It’s never been easier to talk, to puff ourselves up. We can brag about our goals to millions of our fans and followers, things that only rock stars and cult leaders used to have. We can name ourselves CEO of our exists-only-on-paper company. We can announce big news on social media and let the congratulations roll in. We can publish articles about ourselves in outlets that used to be sources of objective journalism. Some of us do this more than others. But it’s only a matter of degree.” Don’t think you are better, or above the world you cannot live without. Musashi was probably more aware of this then anyone as a Ronin, who would travel and be alone, exposing him to how vulnerable human beings can really be.

Rule 5 - Be Detached From Your Desire Your Whole Life Long

Control your desires, rather then being controlled by them. Desire is just a painful wanting for something you do not have. If it’s a reward you’re craving, that means that you want the reward more than the journey needed to get there. You feel this pain as a punishment for not embracing the journey and the path you should be following. The problem with desire, is that it is a distraction. When you are desiring, you are not focusing. Desires can be in the form of an impulse buy or wanting something you know you don’t need and shouldn’t get. Desire means you are letting your happiness and internal state be influenced by your environment, assuming that this will in fact make you happy, but it won’t and it never does. You need to look inwards if you really want to achieve happiness, focusing on your own actions, rather then following the desire down a road that leads to addiction and the inability to exert any form of self-control. If you give in to desire and let one pillar fall, all the other pillars will start to fall.

The next 5 principles will be covered in a following article.