Tempered Strength

Transcript

Let’s talk about tempered strength.

Some of you might know this story.

Actually I’ve found not a lot of people know this story, it comes through the zen buddhist tradition in Japan and it originally comes from China.

It goes something like this:

Emperor goes to see the fighting roosters one day. He thinks wow these roosters are just amazing display of strength, vigor and vitality.

These are fit for a king to have something like this.

Of course these days we don’t have fights anymore because its quite brutal but this is just a story to explore these concepts.

The emperor goes to the market and looks at all the roosters and he thinks “this is my guy, he looks like the strongest cock of the walk. This is one that’s all puffed up and ready to fight at any moment, obviously very strong and will be a great warrior.”

So he buys the rooster and he sends someone to search for the best trainer in all the Chinese empire.

And the trainer comes and agrees to train his rooster.

After a month, the emperor sends for the trainer and asks “Is my rooster ready to fight?”

The trainer says “No, he’s full of hot air. He hears a sound and he flies off the handle. He’s moving around and he can’t control himself even at the slightest provocation.”

So the emperor waits another month and sends for the trainer and the trainer says I’m afraid the rooster is still not ready. He sees another rooster and moves towards it aggressively. He has strength but does not have control.

Emperor disappointed decides to wait. He sends for the trainer one month later and the emperor says “I’ve waited 3 months, is my rooster ready?”

And trainer says “Maybe”

So they go to the arena and bring out the rooster and the emperor’s rooster gets inside the ring and what happens?

The emperor’s rooster is so under control, his strength is so tempered that he can relax and look the other rooster in the eye. No rooster dares to fight the emperors rooster because they can feel it has that high level of calm, so confident in it’s own strength that it never has to fight.

Some of you might know Jordan Peterson, he talks about the passage from the Bible “the meek shall inherit the Earth”.

Peterson says and I can confirm this after a lot of bible study, he says its a bit of a mistranslation because what the original verse implies is that somebody who is poised, somebody who has strength who has the means to fight. Someone who is armed but decides not to fight or someone not willing to fight or not looking for a fight.

A few months ago I was headed back from the gym with my buddy Chris and he was saying he feels this boost in testosterone after going to the gym so often.

It feels really good to be strong, especially on dead lift day when you feel that burst of energy that sets your day in motion and you feel like you can conquer the world. He sometimes also gets restless and gets into road rage. Probably not an angry guy but imagine if we have this kind of strength, we also have this excellent self control.

We can regulate our strength, that our strength shall not control us. Imagine all the things we can achieve if we have this tempered strength, the ability and potency to move through the world and affect things.

And of course the ability to discern what is worth affecting the ability to control ourselves even under stressful situations. Even when things go in ways we don’t expect. We can face danger perfectly calm like a samurai, like a warrior. A calm and humble warrior, never moved.

Tempered strength.

Thank you for listening, thank you for developing strength and potency, your efficacy, your efficiency, your discernment and your power. Thank you for developing your self control, relaxation, calm and present confidence in this world.