There is Nothing You Can Gain

“You can come close to understanding no-thing by realizing that there is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to bet better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself” – Miyamoto Musashi “The Book of Five Rings”

This is perhaps one of the most powerful statements of the book of five rings. This statement sums up why Miyamoto Musashi was considered one of the greatest Japanese warriors of all time.

So many people are seeking what is outside of them. They are looking for that perfect person, they are looking for that perfect job, or they are looking for financial security. Nothing outside of you can bring you any of these things. If you want any of these things you must start at the beginning.

The beginning is inside of you. Everything starts there and moves outwards. It is not the other way around. We have been taught that good things happen to us if we work hard and sometimes if we are lucky, but this is not so.

We must realize that nothing inherently good or bad happens to us. What happens to us, happens to us. It is we who make the judgment of good and bad, it is we who decide what is right for us. But why should we?

All of us have been eager and jumped to conclusions. All of us had assumed something later to find out we are wrong. How is it that we always seem to forget that same pattern? How is it that we continue to assume, continue to jump to conclusions, when time and again we have found that our judgments were incorrect or not totally accurate?

The next time something happens, look inside yourself, has your essential being changed? Has the thing that observes your thoughts done anything but observe? Of coarse not, for consciousness is not the thinker, but the watcher. It is the force that watches the thinker. If we just thought without being aware of our thoughts, we would in fact be like a mindless zombie.

If you want to make yourself smarter, look inward. If you want to make yourself stronger, turn inward. If you want to make yourself better or faster, turn inward. After all there is no other place to turn. For as you turn inward you turn to the whole world and smile.