Try and view ‘far things near’ and ‘near things far’. In doing this you can attempt and sometimes succeed to manipulate events by mentally adjusting the time scale of the events. In general ‘world terms’ time is perceived as a constant, moving inexorably onwards without pause or control by anything. But, it is also only a figment, a construct of the human brain. Time is relative to our thoughts, what we are thinking, where we are, what we are doing, where we are moving, at what speed and direction.
All this is relative to everything else around us. Therefore our thoughts should be able to alter perceived time if we can learn and adapt to certain perspectives. Ie: The ‘Far things near’ and the ‘Near things far’ principle. The time frames which contain certain events and the actions within those events can be viewed ‘out of time’. Much as a video clip which you can speed up or slow down, zoom in and out of at will, in your own time.
Imagine someone is close to you and launches an attack – you have your ‘video remote control’ switched on in your head – you press the ‘slow’ button and alter the relative perceived speed of the attack to visualise danger and response ahead of any contact.
Equally, if someone is ‘far’ from you. You then activate your mental video remote control to fast forward, as though the full scenario has already unfolded. This will again manipulate relative ‘mental time’ allowing you to ‘see’ ahead of the event and address the situation in your time and out of your potential opponents’ time.
‘Response’ is possibly the wrong word, as you are perceiving, starting and finalising the event before it has physically taken place.
This ‘zanshin’ (awareness) is essential in combat situations. But, the same sort of ‘time - shift’ effect can equally be modified to suit almost any life situation. Essentially be aware of the rhythms and timing of things, people and situations around you. Be ‘tuned in’, as it were to the timing and rhythms of life and you can blend and flow easily and hopefully peacefully through life. Until the time comes when you are confronted with the need for more positive action, which you should be able to handle using the same approach.
‘Sen No Sen’ is Japanese term which attempts to describe this - meaning ‘Before, Before’.
One explanation may be that the human brain can somehow speed up its processing when initiated by the chemical messages generated in extreme stress situations. Also partition as it were, different functioning levels of awareness, isolating distinct areas relevant to particular situations. Where perception, thought and action processes are compressed closer together? Different levels of intuitive mental acuity may be developed which function to protect us.
These intuitive ‘gifts’ are probably born in us to varying degrees, but we are also able to harness and develop them through training and exposure to ‘situations’. (Training is after all simulating ‘situations’).
I’m sure we have all heard of individuals with ‘natural timing’ and a natural intuition, being able to be ‘in tune’ with people and situations. Successful sportspersons, boxers etc are good examples of the physical – The boxer Mohammed Ali is had a natural timing and rhythm plus that something else which enabled him to dominate other fighters even if they were bigger and more powerful. This ‘gift’ is of course not limited to the physical arena of combat, it covers all aspects of life. Throughout history examples of the application of ‘Sen no Sen’ can be seen. Sun Tsu, Alexander the Great, and the many great politicians and diplomats throughout the ages all had this ability to varying degrees. As I believe do we all – to what level, well that depends on nature, inherited traits, awareness, sphere of activity/life we are in, the amount and quality of training and practice we do pertinent to our needs etc.
The idea for this blog came from an answer I gave to a question on an internet forum (WWW.AIKIWEB.COM). There are a lot of theories about this sort of phenomenon but I think we are all capable of being in that state, of moving/being ‘out of time’ relative to what’s going on around us. I used a similar example to the one in the first internet post in my first book ‘The Far Between’. The actor Richard Griffiths had a similar experience on his motorbike and sidecar when he was a young actor travelling across the North Yorkshire moors in England
This is a print out of the last of an in depth discussion on a related topic which I answered regarding ‘Time shifts.
time shift" effect
In the "to look at opponent's eyes or not" thread (HTTP://WWW.AIKIWEB.COM/FORUMS/SHOWTHREAD.PHP?T=5920) George S. Ledyard mentioned "time shift" effect that interested me.
I experienced that couple month ago when I was driving on 101 in carpool at my usual speed 75mph and somebody cut right in front of me. For some reason I was very calm and found myself in an "observer" situation. My body was working by itself and my mind was looking at it as a third-party. Time stopped and I remember every millisecond.
First my body hit the breaks, then when car was very close maybe a meter or two from bumping my foot released the breaks to avoid a drift (my car does not have ABS and maybe that saved me) and I turned the wheel moving the car into emergency lane. When I passed the car I thought should I cut the freak or not (this is the first time my brain intervented, probably because the danger was over), I cut right in front of the car (to my shame) and hit the gas.
To me that lasted for several seconds, but when I looked at my wife, she hadn't had the time to feel scared. Only after couple of seconds we realized what happened. She was shocked, to calm her down I started to sing. I was very satisfied for being calm in a danger.
Could anybody comment or explain that phenomenon?
I experienced that couple month ago when I was driving on 101 in carpool at my usual speed 75mph and somebody cut right in front of me. For some reason I was very calm and found myself in an "observer" situation. My body was working by itself and my mind was looking at it as a third-party. Time stopped and I remember every millisecond.
First my body hit the breaks, then when car was very close maybe a meter or two from bumping my foot released the breaks to avoid a drift (my car does not have ABS and maybe that saved me) and I turned the wheel moving the car into emergency lane. When I passed the car I thought should I cut the freak or not (this is the first time my brain intervented, probably because the danger was over), I cut right in front of the car (to my shame) and hit the gas.
To me that lasted for several seconds, but when I looked at my wife, she hadn't had the time to feel scared. Only after couple of seconds we realized what happened. She was shocked, to calm her down I started to sing. I was very satisfied for being calm in a danger.
Could anybody comment or explain that phenomenon?
Re: "time shift" effect
Look at far things near and near things far'. - you can put your thoughts through time and picture events out of what appears to be 'normal sinc'. If you are lucky/on the ball/aware, you can in effect 'react in advance' if that makes sense. Its actually 'working zanshin' and is the state we are all training to achieve. It is already there in us, but too many people cloud their minds and train to 'achieve' a certain goal or objective they 'focus' too much on their ego and achievements instead of just letting go - enjoy - dance the dance without trying to get the steps perfect. Enter the 'flow', enjoy - sometimes the greatest things are achieved with the least effort in no TIME at all!
Sorry, bit of a ramble - but?
Sorry, bit of a ramble - but?
To find out more about Sensei Peter Seth's club visit www.zanshinaikido.co.uk You can e-mail Peter at psethp@yahoo.co.uk
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