The ‘Russian Samurai’ Gremlin
D E A T H . I S . A . G I F T
“Thank you for listening, I extremely like death.” These were the last eight words that the Russian Samurai said to me before we parted ways. And the first eight words? Well. That’s where it all began. 360 degrees the conversation circled back on itself like a Japanese ensō.
“You know, you look like. Like. Concept art” he said to me, furry eyebrows popping above the sweating water cooler. That was our conversation opener. One of his eyes was looking right, the other was looking left and somehow, his third was plugged into mine. I laughed. He was referring to the fact that my iPad was on my lap and so I was looking into thin air with a keyboard on the table and no monitor… concept art. This got me into a reference about the film ‘Her’ and before you know it the Russian Samurai with the lazy eye and the brown, London girl with a wide smile got talking.
We spoke about AI, infinite consciousness and other things - and looking back I don't even know how because his English wasn’t great, and well, my Russian is non-existent. And yet, we got each others agendas. When he asked me about my relationship to ‘chaos’ I paused. I mean. Chaos? It’s gotten me into the best, most alive moments and I resist it. I told him that “I like logic, but logic moves me in baby steps and with chaos I get to make giant leaps to my destination.” And that’s where he stopped me.
Queue, Samurai lesson number one.
1. There is no destination, there is only ‘The Way’.
We’ve heard this in different forms haven’t we? “It’s about the journey not the destination” blah blah blah how cliché? But this was different. He wasn’t saying “oh focus on the journey and eventually you will get to your destination”. He was saying, there is NO destination, it’s just start and finish. The start is this moment and the finish is death. Don’t even try and know where you need to go because that’s a trap. Simply get on the path, become the way and the rest will reveal itself.
There is no destination, no goal. Just a way of being and at the end of it all. Well, you die, the end.
“There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man’s whole life is a succession of moment after moment. There will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.”
Queue, Samurai lesson number one.
2. There is no destination, there is only ‘The Way’
The start isn’t my the day we are born, but it is this moment now. And that is the way. The Way of the Samurai. The concept of the way is freeing, because in every moment in every corner of the world, lies the start. When we become the path the size and impact of our creative output scales unimaginably, because we create things we can’t imagine from our present vision.
“The Way of the Samurai is found in death… If by setting one’s heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. His whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling.”
You see.
We can all be Samurais ;)
Goodbye Gremlin, and go on with your bad ass. FINE. Warrior. Self.
Love K X
