The Power of the Dragon - Step Six

As a human, you are a bridge. You have to understand that.
Once you do, then you have to see it.
In order to do that, you ought to focus your attention on it.
And then, as you're seeing the bridge,
You can cross it.
But keep in mind there is no other side,
The point is only to enjoy the crossing...

The process of focusing your attention requires that you find first: the Focus of your Attention. This is absolutely necessary if you want to do two things: moving it and maintaining it on something.

Then you have to accomplish one of the highest feats a Warrior can perform. You have to move and maintain the Focus of your Attention on the bridge, and in the same time, moving it and maintaining it on the Unknown, if you want the walk to be an enjoyable stroll.

All of this is quite easy to say (and yet...), but in any case, doing all this is much more difficult. It implies unflagging practice and creative variations in order to be mastered. Both things you'll never reach without Intent.

Well! Here you are my young apprentice, at the bottom of everything; and those are your tasks:

The Mastery of Intent.
The Mastery of Attention.

Then you'll be able to master Awareness, and ultimately become a Seer...

So, what do you think?

- I'm lost!

Fine! Thus it begins...

Interlude - Buddha and the Nazgul

- Master?

Yes?

- What's Buddha doing?

He's meditating.

- Yes, but who is this creature behind him, and what is he doing?

He's the Witch-King of Angmar, the Leader of the Nazgul; he's about to strike.

- Oh! And... is Buddha aware of that?

Of course!

- So, why doesn't he move?

Because he has nothing to fear.

- How is it possible he doesn't fear that monster?

Well, because Buddha realises it is only a statue!

- Wow, Master, sometimes you blow my mind! I mean, I'm sorry, but I can't find any logic in your answer.

It's because you didn't ask the right question first...

The Power of the Dragon - Step Five

Long ago, I took a look at my life, and I had to admit: "well, actually, I don't know where I'm going..."

But instead of being afraid of that, instead of striving to find out, I asked myself a question:

Have I any possibility to know?

The answer was straight: "Honestly? No."

Then I took the most important oath in my whole life: "Since what I know is always easy, finite and temporary, and since what I don't know is difficult, infinite and timeless, I choose 'not to know', forever. What I know is always something I must get rid of; what I don't know is and will ever be out there, waiting for me..."

And then, barely noticing it at first, I began to fly...

The Power of the Dragon - Step Four

My dear Humans,

My old friend Juan told me once this is the path:

"First you take the decision to become an Apprentice.
After you change your views upon yourself and the world,
Then you take the decision to become a Warrior,
and thus you're able of the utmost discipline and control over yourself.
After acquiring forbearance and timing,
Then you take the decision to become a Man of Knowledge.
And once you've learned to 'see',
You have become a Seer.
The Seer has his own path to walk, but it can't be described..."

And today, after years of digging, I finally and clearly see how much he was right. He's deeply right, beyond good and evil, beyond creeds, beyond semantics, beyond the method you chose to learn with.

As a Dragon, I have my own way of saying this, but I learned to recognize the Truth whatever the shape it may take.

Hmm... Well, do you know any good method to learn?

Yeah... someday we'll talk about that too...

The Power of the Dragon - Step Three

You know, all of this is not so complicated. It's just a question of semantics first...

There are different levels of attention, beyond mere animalistic awareness.

The First Attention deals with the known.
The Second Attention deals with the unknown.

Some even say that there is a Third Attention with which one can witness the unknowable, although they also say no one can deal with the unknowable. The First Attention can't understand this latter point. The Second Attention can, but not without a tremendous lot of practice.

In human societies, and especially in occidental ones, you are desperately clutching on the First Attention with all your power...

You have to learn to deal with the unknown, that's the only way to fly.

That's why dragons fly and most humans don't...

Interlude - Are you insane?

- I don't get it. You said that you won't know death anymore, and now you say that it is your ally, and that in any case, She will get you in the end... How can that be?

It's because death is not what you think it is.

- I don't understand.

That's why you fail.

- I fail what?

Anything you try.

- But I'm trying so much!

Exactly.

- What?

I mean, stop trying. Do or do not.

- Ok, now you sound like Yoda.

It's because he's an old friend...

- And what is the link with death?

The link? Don't you see it?

- Nope!

When you will face death, if you try anything, you'll die. If you do, you have a chance of success. So... I guess you'd better start practicing, my young padawan...

The Power of the Dragon - Step Two

Who are you?
What do you want?
How far are you ready to boldly go?
What will you do once there?
What will happen if you die in the process?

I'm an explorer and a collector of dreams; and I provide them so you can sail on them.
I want freedom.
I'm ready to boldly go where no one has gone before, and anywhere else as long as it's worth the trip.
Once there, I will continue to boldly go... There is no destination, there is only the trip.
I'd rather meet Death on my path than wait for Her. Death, after all, is my most powerful ally.

Death? An ally? What do you mean exactly?

I mean: when you make an ally out of Death, you hear Her telling you how to stay alive... Until She finally gets you; and as a matter of fact, She will anyway.

The Power of the Dragon - Step One

Maybe I can't change the world,
Maybe the world doesn't want to change anyway.

First, they're all seeking out happyness,
I'm not. Happyness is an illusion,
It always has a beginning and an end.
My goal is endless Freedom,
For my body-mind,
For Intelligence's sake.
I don't need to see them change to change myself
What they think about that, I don't care.
"I'm the Lizard King, I can do anything"...

The Dragon's Call for Awareness

"No reason to get excited
The thief he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who think this life is but a joke
But you and I we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour is getting late..."
Bob Dylan


Are you not ready to switch to something else than this form of society you are merely surviving in?
What's going on in your minds to compell you to accept so many lies, manipulations, deceits, etc...?

Because of what you may lose if you would break limits?
Well, what may you lose actually?

The only worthy thing you have to lose is your life, and you're losing it right now anyway, every fucking day... Damn it!

And yes, by the way, what's going on in your minds?
That is the fucking question...

Of Humans and the Universe

The Universe speaks in many languages but only in one voice.
The language is not French or English or Chinese or Spanish or Italian,
It speaks in the language of hope.
It speaks in the language of trust.
It speaks in the language of reason, and the language of sensuality,
It speaks in the language of interaction, and the language of creativity,
But always it is the same voice.
It is the voice of our ancestors speaking through us,
And the voice of our inheritors waiting to be born.
It is the small, still voice that says:
We are one.
No matter the blood, no matter the skin,
No matter the country, no matter the flag.
We are one.
No matter the pain, no matter the loss, no matter the fear.
We are one.
Here, gathered together in common cause, we agree to recognise this singular truth, and this singular rule, that we must interact with one another.
Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us, and each voice lost diminishes us.
We are the voice of the Universe, the spirit of Intelligence,
the fire that will light the way to a better future.
We are one.

Upgraded from The Interstellar Alliance's Declaration of Principle

As a Tribute to the work of J.M Straczynski - Babylon 5 -