Steven Barnes's Blog, page 29

All you ever needed

The Villabrio system of Filipino martial arts was the first I was exposed to, training with Danny Inosanto in the late 70’s.   One of the things I found most brilliant is that it broke  the possible routes to attack into just five “angles”–2 o’clock, 10, 5, 7 and right down the middle.    Anything coming at you has to come down one of those angles…more or less. Sure, you might have to look sideways at it, squint a little, rotate the clock face a tad…but ANYTHING coming at you had to “more or...

Rituals equal results

Proposed: Rituals equal results.   Morning and evening rituals, bracketing “dream time” are the most important.

 

Mine:  Wake up, find my heartbeat.   Maybe use the hypnogogic state for a little lucid dream-style fantasizing.  Ahem.

 

Sit up cross legged.Focus on the heartbeat, find the light inside me.  Sink it down to the base of my spine, form the light into a child.  Listen to see if he has any thoughts for me.  Back to my heartbeat.

 

Now raise a thread of light from the base, through th...

Wrong because its illegal. Illegal because it is wrong.

I remember watching a nature film back in elementary school.  It was on odd animal behavior around the world. One segment dealt with an oasis somewhere in Africa. It was surrounded by date trees, and every fall, the dates…fell.  Into the water. And fermented.

 

And animals came from miles around, every year, to drink that water.  Beyond any doubt, they were making the pilgrimage disproportionately to the normal water-drinking, and they were getting seriously loaded.   Watching woozy lions and...

Happy 90th Birthday to a master

The reason I do the Paperback Book show in Glendale is the chance to see friends.  Every convention and event is an opportunity to see people I simply don’t see otherwise.  And one I seriously enjoy seeing is William F. Nolan, one of  the last of the generation of fantasists who were part of Ray Bradbury’s circle.   Co-creator of Logans Run, writer of countless books, stories, movies and television episodes, Nolan is a writer’s writer.

 

He uses a walker now, but at 90, I’d say he’s earned it...

The Secret Six

Pssst! Hey. You. Yeah, you, right there. Want the secret to being a published writer? Promise not to tell anyone? You look honest. Yeah. I like you. Step over here and let me whisper in your ear. Over here in the shadows. Trust me. I’m a writer.

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Conducted March’s Lifewriting story analysis yesterday.  Sorry that I forgot to promote it until pretty much yesterday morning, but life has been a real crush lately.

 

I no longer take personal clients (too busy!) but whenever I...

Help me create my next class–and you get it FREE!

The “Enneagram” is an ancient symbol found in esoteric traditions such as Sufism.   It is largely understood through the teachings of George Gurdjieff.   If you look up “Enneagram” on Google, you’ll find thousands of hits…and almost all of them deal with “personality types” . An amazing array of books, articles, lessons, groups.

[image error] But here’s the startling thing: when I studied the Enneagram at the Transformative Arts Institute under  Sufi master  Mushtaq Ali Al Ansari, he made it clear that t...

Separate but equal lies

Was watching a quasi-zombie horror/comedy film called “Mom and Dad” starring Nicholas Cage in full psycho mode, and was struck by the fascinating similarities between it, and “Get Out” and even “Black Panther.”

 

I haven’t finished watching–it is uneven, and its hyperviolence turned me off a little at times.   Basically, it’s the story of a community struck by a mysterious disease that makes parents want to kill their children.  And yeah, they go there, if you know what I mean. And it is quit...

What does Vegas know that you don’t?

Reading (well…listening to)  “Never Split The Difference” by FBI hostage negotiator Chriss Voss.  While some of the tactics are a little cut-throat for me, I understand where they come from–the man is talking to bank robbers and terrorists.  You don’t have the same responsibility to be honest and forthright that you have with your children, or even in a business negotiation.

 

I was pointed toward the book by someone who felt it useful in dealing with teenagers (remember Teen Groot in “Guardi...

Seeking Balance

When I was asked to participate in “Cellcon Zero”, a brainstorming venture outside Nashville, I realized that was only four hours drive from Atlanta, and that if I flew into Atlanta and rented a car, on my way back from Nashville I could stop in and see my beloved friend and mentor karate grandmaster Steve Muhammad.  We saw Black Panther together Sunday night.   Imagine this: a man who was raised in Mississippi by his grandparents WHO HAD BEEN SLAVES was sitting watching the most powerful ima...

Discipline is crap

You may have noticed I’ve been quiet the last few days.  Well, I’ve been at a creative retreat in Tennessee (“Greatest state in the land of the free…” who recognizes that song?) a project that is designed to change the world, with a group of wonderfully creative men and women.   I didn’t know any of them, at all, nor did I understand the underlying technology driving the project.    They reached out to me because of my past work and web presence, not because I did anything direct.

 

I’m being...