The Book Report episode 40: How to be a Modern Samurai: 10 Steps to Finding Your Power and Achieving Success by Anthony Cummins
This book was an interesting read. I know the title is a little cheesy, but it gives a lot of historical references that are interesting and some of the ten steps are what you should be doing anyway. The author has written many books on the subject and even has a school on it. I looked into the school, and it seems like they teach you about how the samurai used to sneak into houses and stuff like that, nothing you can really use today, but the lessons in this book can be beneficial. Step one is to control your mind, and it gives examples on how to do that. Some steps tell you to interact with the world strategically, while other steps talk about spirituality and magic. What I’ve realized reading this book is that this book is just a guide, and it is best to look for more information elsewhere. An example would be in step one: clear your mind, in one of the lessons it says to learn how to meditate, and it explains why that’s important, but it doesn’t show you how to meditate. In the steps on magic and spirituality, it talks about making a shrine and praying to different Gods, but I realized that a lot of what they talk about and the rituals mentioned, are a lot of the rituals that are used in my faith, Catholicism. Instead of praying to different Gods, we have different saints, and instead of having a picture or a shrine dedicated to a Hindu God, we have a picture of the Virgin Mary or of Jesus. The rituals mentioned remind me of when a person might light a Saint Jude candle when they are having a problem or want a new job, or when a person prays to Saint Michael for protection. Here are the 10 steps, hopefully some of them will be useful to you.
.
The 10 Steps
Step 1: Control your mind- The first step to controlling your mind is to have inner focus. What does that mean? The goal is to avoid reacting to external situations, and realizing when negative emotions are popping up. Be honest with yourself and realize that you will not be at peace 100% but it is good try to. It is good to meditate so you can clear your mind and other activities such as exercise and yoga have helped me feel calmer. But you can’t live in your head all the time, the purpose of controlling your mind is to see the truth about what is happening in the world, it is good to have external awareness. The ability to see the world as it is, is a good way to decide what your going to do next. Step one also talks about understanding your social environment and having an ‘escape route’ in any situation. This to me is to always be aware of your surroundings and leave any situation if need be. This also includes your mind, when you start to get upset, have an ‘escape route’ so you wont keep on thinking the same negative thoughts. At the end of each chapter, the author gives you an action plan with bullet points. Here is the summary of Step 1:
- Know the type of person you want to be and work towards it
- Train your mind
- Be prepared but calm
- Meditate
- Be flexible
- Have an escape route
- Know the systems of society
- Recognize between truth, lies and deception
- You turn into the people you surround yourself with
- “Maintain your houner”
To ‘Control my Mind’, I’m reading a book called The Untethered Soul, its about controlling that little voice inside your head that’s always with you.
Step 2- Lead a Samurai Lifestyle
Step 3- Engage Strategically with the World
Step 4- Build a Fortress
Step 5- Follow a Way
Step 6- Build an Army
Step 7- Understanding the Way of War
Step 8- Adopt the Way of the Ninja
Step 9- Study Samurai magic
Step 10- Tread the Spiritual Path
Some of these steps may sound a bit out there and the book does say that if you do choose ‘The Way of the Samurai’ that you have to be fully committed, but I don’t agree with that. What I’m doing is taking what works for me and using it to be a better human. I hope that you can get something out of these steps and lessons.