The Shuriken of Truth

A First Lesson On Change

2010-06-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

So far on Shuriken of Truth I've talked about the Ninja and the Overman in terms of the self - goals, finding ways around problems, etc. While a discussion on the idea of "selflessness" will be for a later post, I've been tossing some ideas in my head around how other people change. Here's a culmination of that rumination (suggestion on how to turn that into a kickass rap are welcome).

Change, in others or in the world, will never, never come about through brute force.

The Segal Demonstrates Change by Brute Force.

You cannot force others to change. The immediate reaction of anyone except the most ninja of ninjas* to brute force change is to resist. In some cases, this is legitimate - the force may be intruding on their actualization. In most cases, however, it is the ego that gets in the way.

Most of us have a ritual (or many rituals) that we perform day in, day out. This ritual is the ego's survival mechanism - a little monologue to make sure that it still exists and is important. This "me-ism" causes a knee jerk reaction to new ideas when they interrupt what "seems to be working". "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," is quite possibly one of the most detrimental attitudes a person or an organization can have. It will yield mediocrity and even failure over time. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the Ninja knows when to reevaluate his goals and his methods; it is a careful balance that is at the heart of what it means to be a ninja.

People only change when they can incorporate the new ideas into this ego ritual. Literally, this means that most people will only change when they think it was their idea in the first place. Like the cliche' boss who thinks something's a terrible idea and then says, "wait, I have a great idea!"

This has two implications for the Overman. The first is to overcome this ego ritual (or rather, use it purposefully to get to the goal you want) in himself. The second is to recognize it in others and use it when trying to change them (and by extension, change the world around him). The latter can be accomplished by trying to enter an understanding relationship with the other - putting yourself in their Tabi Shoes, as it were - and listening for the cues that will allow them to incorporate the change you are looking for into their internal monologue.

(Ninja challenge: think about how it is the same with changing the world as it is with changing as people.)

Sounds easy, eh? If you've ever tried anything like this, you know it takes ninja amounts of patience. I honestly can't say I have that much patience (at least not anymore) with a lot of people.

*The word ninja is in fact all parts of speech at all times. Yes, even articles.

American "Ninja" Arrested in Afghanistan

2010-06-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

Alright alright, everyone calm down.

I know you've probably read this article by now. This is the story of Gary Brooks Faulkner, an american construction worker in Pakistan who was arrested after escaping his mandatory security detail (and being missing for 10 hours). He was apparently carrying a sword, a dagger, a gun, and Christian literature.

Before I go off on why he's not a ninja, I'd like to present the opportunity for others who, having read my blog, to comment what's wrong with this picture.

Discuss!

What is Stupid?

2010-06-03T03:28:00.000-07:00

I was recently reading this article about Einstein's brain (it's cool, read it), and scientists trying to figure out what makes people a "genius". It got me thinking instead of what "smart" means to a ninja, and conversely, what it means to be stupid.

Einstein - silly, but not stupid. We hope.

As some of you know, I'm a pretty political guy. By "pretty" I mean "a lot", though I'm not that bad looking either (no wonder English is so hard to understand by outsiders). I've refrained, for the most part, of getting too politically ranty here (I have other blogs for that). Also, I've tried to make it a point of being a ninja not to marginalize people and make judgements on their behalf. But sometimes, well, they need a shuriken to the face. A shuriken of truth.

I don't like to call people stupid. But there can be ways of acting that are "stupid", and I thought I'd be interesting to write about how the Ninja defines "stupid". As the ultimate relativist, the Overman doesn't consider a particular goal better than another (objectively - they can and MUST rank goals subjectively). So "stupid" isn't related to what people's goals are, it is related to how they go about meeting them.

Rather like insanity (doing the same thing over and over expecting different results), stupidity is simply taking actions or holding beliefs that are contrary to your goals, or alternatively, being dishonest with yourself about what your goals are.

The examples are many, but the ones that make me want my left eye to twitch out of its socket are usually political. Let's take two examples, one from the "progressive snooty left" and one from the "redneck right". In the first camp, these people continue to believe that government involvement in the economy actually fixes problems, when in fact they have created every single problem they complain about. EVERY one. In the latter, they continue to believe that there are magical bogeymen in the desert that are looking to destroy their freedom and make everybody commies, but fail to realize that blowing people up makes people hate us AND having ongoing undeclared wars strengthens government (turning us into commies). These people are stupid.

I mean, even MONKEYS are smart enough to be ninjas.

To get back to philosophy, the Ninja seeks to align his goals with his actions. If the Ninja has the patience to try to teach others, the best lesson he can give is to try to show them how to do the same. However (and I'll talk about how people change later), in doing so, it is often revealed what someone's true goals are. In our examples above, it is often the case that the douchebag leftist, though he may have convinced himself otherwise, is not looking to help poor people - he is looking to satisfy his own ego or the need to control others. In the case of Mr. Carrying a Cross and a Flag, it is often the case that he is looking to satisfy cathartic hate or quell an imagined fear - usually a fear created in him by others to control him. Not being honest with one's self (or at least not on purpose) is a big ninja no-no*.

If either of these types of people wanted to be smart, maybe they should start paying attention to the actual outcome of their beliefs and actions. Then it will be revealed that it either doesn't work, or it's not what they actually want. Reality reacts to what you do, not what you say you want. And you can either change reality, or change what you want - in the end the effect is the same.

*Note that this is not related to being consistent or non-hypocritical. Consistency and hypocrisy are based on time and as I'll get into eventually, it's a helpful exercise to try to remove time from any philosophical assertion and see if it still holds. Being inconsistent or a hypocrite does not preclude one from being a ninja as long as doing so is in accordance with the ninja's goals (being called on hypocrisy might be a setback, in most cases, but as long as you're doing it on purpose it's fine). Besides, consistency is for the boring.

Compromise is Mediocrity

2010-01-31T15:27:00.000-08:00

Last November, I was on a work trip to America's Wang, also known as Florida, to speak on a panel. The organization that hosted the panel does these sorts of gatherings all the time, and tries to line up speakers that will be relevant to their constituents.

With thanks to despair.com

They brought in a motivational speaker for the later half of the afternoon. To make a long story short (and to avoid risking copyright infringement giving away his valuable trade secrets), most of his presentation involved things you've heard before (happiness is infectious, etc). However, a large part of his spiel involved anecdotes where life threw him lemons, and no matter what, he tried to stay positive.

This of course has its merits, and staying positive in any situation really seems like it should be a ninja rule. However, it got me thinking - where is the line between staying positive and just lowering your standards?

This is a curious goal for people to have, and it reflects itself the most in politics. It amazes me when someone tells me, "well, why can't they just find the places where they agree and do that?" or "hey, at least they did something", and consequently judges as "obstructionist" anyone who sticks to their guns. When did compromise become such a lofty achievement?

Compromise is not a goal. Compromise is a method. And usually, compromise yields nothing more than mediocrity. It is almost as if the goal is to avoid adversity rather than actually achieve something great in the face of adversity. Again, fear of change.

The ninja does not see adversity as something to be avoided. Adversity is something to be met and greeted with the respect one gives to a fellow duelist or sports opponent. Nietzsche spoke often of celebrating both the best and worst of what is offered to us. It is more than "whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger", it is a celebration of challenge, a thirst for such opportunities. If looking for the good in life means looking to be satisfied, then the drive to become starts to atrophy.

Instead of looking for the good in life, why not look for the awesome in life?

Uncommon Sense

2009-12-13T14:47:00.000-08:00

Something dawned on me over the past year, as various people and organizations have reacted to the current economic downturn. Not surprisingly, most such people and organizations have reacted the same way.

My own company is a good example. It's large, and it's a non-profit, tempered with years of bureaucracy and studies on how to operate. But what struck me as funny is the way they have reacted to starting to lose money - the impending fallout of things that are seemingly beyond our control.

First, of course, was a salary freeze. Next came cuts in travel, scrutinizing of expenses, and the like. What amazed me about all this is that this is the way lots of people and organizations react. It amounts to spreading the damage, lying down, and taking it up the ass. Rather than seeing times of crisis as an opportunity for change, they do everything in their power to fight change, even when it would be easier to adapt to it instead. Rather than taking the opportunity to re-evaluate its business model, shut down departments and programs that aren't working, and reward those who are succeeding, they spread the misery over the entire group and demoralize everyone in the process.

And so I got thinking - why is it that everyone follows the crowd and reacts the same way to crisis? Why not, for once, do exactly the opposite? And suddenly I realized I had...

Ninja Rule #3!

Don't Panic

Fear is the mind killer. The worst thing you can do in any situation is to panic. Crisis is the best time to challenge yourself and re-evaluate your goals (see Ninja Rule #2).

Fear is not unavoidable, nor should you steel yourself into being emotionless about crisis. However, fear can be used as a fuel for action - a source of the adrenaline rush that brings out our best.

The same idea can be applied to businesses as well. Rather than going into 'emergency shutdown mode' and bracing for impact - use the time to move around the crisis and be in a position to overcome it. Cutting back may be necessary, but rather than just issuing a general, wide-net, one size fits all approach, why not take the opportunity to see what is working and what isn't? Why not look at what others are doing and do the opposite?

Silent E! The Ninja of the Alphabet

2009-11-16T07:16:00.000-08:00

Oh. My. God.

2009-09-22T12:18:00.001-07:00

I may have wept and fell to my knees when I saw this:

Ninja Assassin, the movie

(embedding is disabled).

It's like someone heard my prayers. Here's the official site:

http://ninja-assassin-movie.warnerbros.com/

I'll do a piece on the star, Rain, soon.

No Win Scenarios

2009-09-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

I hate puzzles. Especially the arbitrary kind that for some reason is the "hardest puzzle in teh WORLDZ!!11! EVAR!!". It's not just that I'm not good at them, but because they in no way simulate real life or real situations. Why is that? Because in real life, there's always a way around the rules.

I also do not believe in no-win scenarios

But anyway, I wanted to take this opportunity to record...

Ninja Rule #2!

There's always another way

General Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, "plans are useless, but planning is indispensable". Worrying about future outcomes, whether or not the plan will go perfectly, etc., doesn't help you solve problems. It only gets in the way. The Ninja takes each moment as entirely unique. There is always another way around a situation. And if it seems like there isn't, it's time to revisit what you're trying to do in the first place.

Key to this is an understanding that, at its core, reality is stateless. It doesn't have any goals, and it isn't going anywhere, on its own. It only has states when we apply our own goals to it. The more you try to control it, the more it slips away from you. Once freed from this, the Ninja begins to see all possibilities rather than freezing her brain into the ones she already planned for.

I know what you're thinking. That is way too Matrix for me.

Yeah, it's a rough concept. But without going into too much about systems and information, the Ninja tries to get as close as possible to the point where she, too, is stateless - where her goals are reevaluated instantaneously with each moment. Very much like walking a tightrope between realizing life has no meaning and freaking out or becoming a fatalist that already believes their life is planned out for them. Surprisingly enough, these are the two pitfalls that all of philosophy itself has wavered between for all of history. Okay, you can "whoa" now.

Ninja Award - Henry Allingham

2009-07-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

It's not often that you find someone so awesome and yet, the more you read about them, the more awesome they become. One of those people is WWI Veteran Henry Allingham, who recently passed away as the oldest man in the world at 113.

The article is long, so I won't try to just reiterate what it said, just read it for yourself.

I will say this: he owes his longevity to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women".

The Most Important Ninja Rule

2009-07-13T18:23:00.001-07:00

This keeps coming up, so I might as well write about it. I might make up ninja rules like other people make up statistics, but the first one is still the most important one. Unfortunately, it is also the most difficult to achieve. Therefore I present to you:

Ninja Rule #1!

Silence is Golden

To be truly Ninja, you can never, ever tell other people of the awesome Ninja things that you pull off. It is a sad fact, but one painfully learned, and rarely heeded. As soon as you go around bragging about how awesome you are, your ability to be Ninja in the future falls like a stone. You can't be a ninja if everyone knows you're a ninja.

Our friends at Ask A Ninja refer to this as The Goldilocks Complex in their book. That is, the need to leave behind some evidence out of the need to get credit for your mad skillz.

Before I take this metaphor too far, of course, what rule #1 refers to is Emotional Maturity or Emotional Intelligence. It is about humility - while it's okay to be proud of what you do, the need for external validation of how awesome you are makes you considerably less awesome.

Emotional maturity is a hot button topic of psychologists and consultants, but I'll save you the $400 an hour - emotional maturity is about not being a douchebag. It's pretty self explanatory.

As much as it's fun to write about this concept, I am of course far from it most of the time. It's pretty friggin' hard. We've been trained to seek validation from others - our parents, our teachers, you name it. But the need for validation makes us dependent on authority. Which is of course what authority likes - to be given more authority rather than have you take authority (literally: to author or create) for your own actions. For your own world view. And unless you take authority, others will always take it for you.

This theme of authority will come up again later, but I wanted to bang this out. Keep rule #1 in mind at all times - it is the most important rule of all.

He's Back

2009-07-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

People, people please. I know. I feel like I'm breaking all sorts of ninja rules by not having followed through with this blog in the past four months. The most notable of course was being lazy. But really, my real problem was that when I dreamed this thing up I broke another ninja rule: being way too rigid and specific. For that reason, and since Facebook sucks for not having a goddamned blog feature, I've decided to just use this for what I should have in the first place. That is, writing about philosophy.

But thankfully, I don't look like this:

Philosophers of the future are not dusty old white dudes. Or Republicans.

All of this philosophy will of course center around the fact that I do use the term "ninja" to refer to a certain je ne sais pas that is kind of like what Robert M. Pirsig calls "Quality" in Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance, which I just finished reading. Being already versed in philosophy, it was pretty good, and I know what he's getting at, but he doesn't quite take it far enough (I haven't yet read his second book).

Anyway, that's the deal from here on out. I'll drop off thoughts, occasional observations, and try to continue to be entertaining, but this is mostly for me.

Take a Break - Climbing Ninja

2009-02-03T23:44:00.000-08:00

This week's been really busy. We have a couple of examples of ninja-ness to write about, but it might take a bit. In the meantime, thanks to my friend Karin for pointing me at THIS addicting game:

Climbing Ninja!

You can probably beat my scores, it's a tough game!

UPDATE! and Weekly Shuriken to the Face - Losers On Purpose

2009-01-27T09:01:00.000-08:00

Last week we brought you our weekly Shuriken to the Face on the WSJ Law Blog author who suggested that people might be able to sue for emotional distress for the miraculous crash landing of flight 1549 in the Hudson river.

We didn't think anyone would actually do it.

If you've been alive longer than two minutes, you'll know that what defines today's day and age is its hyperbolic, cynical irony. Low and behold, Mr. Joe Hart believes that the $5000 offered by the airline for the incident just isn't enough for him. And of course, it's not he who initiated the thought, but Kreindler & Kreindler, a law firm has been contacting the passengers to council (convince them) on their legal options (getting them to sue so they can make off with the cash).

To the credit of the passengers, another passenger, Dave Sanderson, was contacted by the law firm and soundly rejected their offer, saying he was thankful he could celebrate his 48th birthday and had no reason to talk to an attourney. Very ninja, Dave.

But our real Shuriken to the Face this week goes to another example of irony turning in on itself. This week, the headmaster of the Covenant Christian School in the Dallas area fired the girl's basketball coach for beating another school's team by 100-0. If you read the second article, it was the winning team that actually wanted to forfeit the game, in an attempt to be "good christians".

Covenant School Girl's Basketball Team. Not pictured: Jesus.

"Please Lord, let us lose this game."

The motto of the Covenant Christian school is "Education You Can Trust". That's true if "trust" means "use to turn your kids into unbelievable pussies". There are two huge non-ninja behaviors that stand out of this. The first is the entire idea of having any mercy at all in a sports game. The purpose of a sports game is to win the game. Yes, it's also to have fun. But they're set up to be competitions for a reason. The second eye-stabbingly good point is the whole notion that after they did completely obliterate the losing team, that they should somehow feel bad about it.

Let me make this perfectly clear. Ninjas show no mercy. And the reason they show no mercy is NOT because they're cruel or unnecessarily mean (as that would be distinctly non-ninja). Ninjas show no mercy for YOUR sake, so that you can be better in the future. You know, teach a man to fish vs. give a man a fish. Ninjas care about you, as long as you aren't being a douche.

Kinda like Jesus*.

*The subject of whether or not Jesus was a Ninja will be the subject of a lengthy future discussion.

Flight 1549, the Weekly Shuriken to the Face, and Our First Example Ninja

2009-01-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

We at ShurkenOfTruth.com are dedicated to promoting ninja-esque behavior whenever possible. Naturally, it's necessary to point out non-ninja behavior whenever you can. Not only is it necessary, but it's super easy. And not only is it super-easy, but it involves one of our favorite past-times: ranting.

It is for all of these reasons (really, the ranting) that we are introducing the weekly* SHURIKEN TO THE FACE (tm).

Someone deserves a Shuriken to the Face (tm) when they display a blatent disgregard for either:

Reality
Anything other than their own ego

This week's Shuriken to the Face goes to Dan Slater of the Wall Street Journal's law blog. Granted, Dan's just a blog writer (and by the gods what do WE know?), but the fact that he would even suggest this, nay, mention it at all deserves a Shuriken to the Face. Perhaps even a preemptive Shuriken to the Face for anyone who would even think of doing this.

Dan ponders whether or not passengers of Flight 1549 and its miraculous "water landing" with ZERO fatalities should be able to sue the airline for emotional distress. That's right. 150 people all came out of a jet-engine-failire of a an Airbus A320 alive - the first time EVER in the history of aviation, and the first thing people can think of is whether or not they should sue for duress?

Naturally, the only people who care about this are the ones who would make money off of it - lawyers. If real ninjas were around today, they would not be able to do much other than go around killing lawyers, who would promptly re-appear elsewhere like demonic cockroaches.

But the very idea is so ridiculous that it deserves four pointy metal spikes directly between the eyes. Maybe in the eyes. I don't know, I'm not violent.

Thankfully, Mr. Slater has a good article on a great idea that would solve the lawyer-cockroach problem; a concept known as loser pays. A loser pays legal system puts the legal fee responsibility squarely on the person who brings the lawsuit, because they better be damn sure they will win or else it will cost them dearly. It's not perfect, but it's a start.

With that out of the way, we want to take a moment to recognize someone who most certainly is ninja-esque, and may have been some kind of crazy flying ninja in a past life. That man is Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger, the pilot of Flight 1549.

The AP tells his story like some kind of epic folk tale. This guy must have ice water running through his veins (no pun). He was able to take a failing passenger jet, and, starting an emergency landing procedure at only 3000 feet, not only LAND the plane, but avoid the entire city of New York and anything that might be damaged by such a plane, since as of yet we have not figured out a way to make buildings, cars, and people airplane proof, much to the delight of undersexed, frustrated terrorists everywhere.

Capt. Sullenberger (or, Captain Amazing to his friends) was able to accomplish something that had never been done before, and did so without freaking out and losing his cool. His extremely calm "mayday" call sounded like he was just commenting on the weather or ordering a cheese sandwich. If anyone can be called a ninja, it's this guy. And he's 57. The rest of his accomplishments can be found here.

You can only dream of being that cool. Actually, your imaginary self in your dreams can only dream of being that cool. So, intrepid ninja-seekers, take notes.

*ShurkienofTruth.com reserves the right to be lazy and not post a weekly Shuriken to the Face (tm). Complaints about this will probably result in, you guessed it, a Shurkien to the Face (tm). Shuriken to the Face is NOT a registered trademark. Use of the phrase "tm" is purely a failed attempt at humor.

Nietzsche: Sounds Like Ninja, but Rhymes with "Teacha"

2009-01-13T11:48:00.000-08:00

"So who is this guy and why do you keep talking about him?"

Because he has a really great moustache.

That's Frederick Nietzsche. Probably the greatest philosopher ever. And yes, you'll have to take my word for it, because a lot of people don't like him.

He's blamed for a lot of things, but like most things these days everything that anyone considers bad always comes back to the Holocaust. Some people thought that by "overman" he meant some sort of racially pure superhuman, so they blame Nietzsche for the Nazis actions. Make no mistake, Nietzsche would have thought the Nazis were idiots. It is so full of wrong that Nietzsche personally comes back from the grave and kicks anyone who thinks otherwise in the face (don't laugh, I've seen it happen, he's like the Chuck Norris of philosophy).

After digging through hundreds and hundreds pages of vague parables, misogynistic aphorisms, and other general awesomeness, you learn about this Übermensch (or Overman). This "Overman" (named as such because they had "overcome" a lot of the general thinking-traps that people fall into, especially smart/elitist people) has traits that are along the lines of what we'd call "ninja-esque", which is a good list to start from:

Get over yourself. It's not about you, it's about being awesome for everyone (that is, the world you create) to enjoy. Emotional maturity is key.
Plan, but realize that nothing ever goes according to plan.
Let go - in order to have control of something, you have to give it control over you, so don't get your panties in a bunch about it.
There are no eternal truths or facts. Just stuff that happens.
Make every situation your own.

That's the most I'm going to go into the guy with the hard-to-pronounce name. Find out more on your own, but the Nietzschean overman is most certainly a Ninja.

And for the record, Chuck Norris would be a Ninja, except that he campaigned for Mike Huckabee:

Douche.

But what's a meta for, anyway?

2009-01-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

Hi all.

If you've come far enough to find this blog (which means digging, really, really deep into the Internet, and by really deep I mean somehow stumbling upon a link with quite nearly zero references), and you're reading this, you're probably wondering: Is this seriously another ninja blog?

This blog is not about ninjas. It is, however, about being ninja-like, or ninja-esque, if you will. It is about using a modern (in that ninjas probably didn't really exist the way we think they do), romanticized, cultural image as a metaphor for a certain philosophy that I've had a hard time putting to words. But, as you'll learn, it is something like being a Nietzschean Übermensch (or Overman) in a uniquely interpreted and very certainly non-eugenicist kind of way.

What is a ninja then? For starters, it is not this guy:

Who apparently tried (and failed) to rob a series of ATMs in Palm Beach, Florida.

This guy is not a ninja for the following reasons:

He's frumpy and unkempt. A Ninja will make you feel awesome about yourself just looking at them.
Ninjas don't dress like ninjas
Ninjas don't need to steal things in the literal sense that harms people by taking their stuff (they may, however, steal your heart, your sanity, or your illusions)

No, the Ninja-ness I'm aiming at is metaphorical. It's been summed up best by my friend Bill (his blog here) as the subtitle of this blog: "Knowing of, and being able to exploit, the nature of systems". The meaning of "systems" here can be anything - but most often it is systems of information or systems of people.

I like to just shorten it to "being awesome".

While this simple definition sums things up pretty well, there is much more to being a ninja than being able to hit on a bank teller after sensing she's had a bad day in order to cheer her up and get her to erase that overdraft fee. It is a level of awareness about oneself and others. It is a degree of maturity about your own emotions and what to do about them. It is about learning how to make a mean fetuccini alfredo in order to impress the ladies (as it is a well known fact that women LOVE carbs and cheese more than anything else, despite what it will do to them).

But more seriously, it is about being an "actualizer". Someone who is "in tune" with life and reality enough that they have goals of their own making and can accomplish those goals, usually in an epic way that just makes you wish you had been them at the time.

The "Shuriken of Truth" name came from an exclamation I usually make when being frustrated by someone who is clearly ignoring reality, that mainly involved throwing a ninja star at their head with the word "truth" written on it. But I assure you, I am not a violent guy. And neither are real ninjas.

So what will this blog contain? Since the state of being a ninja/reality hacker/overman is something that is difficult to put into words, I hope that most postings will have an example from news or the life of my friends and me of someone being a total ninja, or traits that we've figured out ninjas (or NHO's) to have. And hopefully, it will be entertaining as well.

Until then, you should read up on your Nietzsche, especially here. Try to think for yourselves for moments where you would consider your actions ninja-like. And most of all, do not, under any circumstances, try to actually BE a ninja. We will find you.