Chris Matakas Quotes
It was my letting go that gave me a better hold.
we must remember that the end of personal mastery is service to others.
In my own life, I have always viewed personal mastery as simply a medium through which I become capable of providing more service toward my fellow man.
We can either approach Jiu Jitsu through the lens of the "real world" or we can approach the real world through the lens of Jiu Jitsu. I have found the latter to be far more rewarding.
We must not learn to try harder. The key is to learn how not to try in the first place.
Any advanced student will tell you the best way to recover guard is simply not to get your guard passed in the first place.
In Jiu Jitsu, we often fall into the trap of simply trying a technique "harder, " rather than recognizing that it is a poorly chosen tool for the task at hand.
Language has created a barrier that prevents us from seeing existence as it truly is.
The very fact that you can observe this thinking mind is proof that you are not this thinking mind.
Your job as a young adult is to become as valuable to the marketplace as you can. Your job as a human is to do so without working a day in your life.
Everyone, no matter how historically famous or modernly praised, has no idea about the ultimate truth of what it means to be human.
He plays the same game, but for the first time in his life he is truly playing, rather than working, being a human, and this is a vast distinction realized by few.
The knowledge you acquire in an area of study is accompanied by an incalculable ignorance. The farther we get into anything, we learn that we have even farther to go.
We are the estranged orphans of our nations and tribes, and we now bear the weight not of survival of the group but of personal identity.
It is important to realize that we so often define ourselves by what is in opposition to ourselves.
This constant mental diatribe and the frustrations, worries, insecurities and muscular tension that ensues are the self.
That nagging state of constant thought that exists somewhere between the ears and behind the eyes is the self.
We tend to view ourselves as this, lying in contradiction with everything that is not ourselves, that.
In the modern world we are surrounded by so much abundance that we cannot see it.
You have become more and therefore expect more, but never become too purpose-driven to step back and realize just how far you have progressed.
When we honestly take stock of our ability, we are then granted the opportunity to improve our circumstance. Accessing where you stand is the only way to stand somewhere else.
Deep down I believe each of us is a well-spring of understanding and wisdom, but we simply never allow the space or time for this understanding to rise to the level of conscious thought.
The most obvious, most absurdly recognizable phenomena in day-to-day life often become the hardest to remain consciously aware of.
The more we have outside ourselves the harder it is to get inside ourselves.
Life is so unlikely, so rare and beautiful an opportunity it is to live, we must be on constant guard to ensure that our actions are worthy of the life it takes to perform them.
If something’s existence is contingent upon the existence of another entity, can we truthfully call them separate beings?
Autopilot is great, and removal of thought is one of the highest ideals of training. But removal of thought in the moment must be preceded by purposeful thought beforehand.
Our social contract is becoming an exchange of free thought for mindless stimuli.
The best indicator of a man's philosophy is not what he reads or says, but the way in which he lives his life, the way in which he acts.
Properly directed thoughts result in properly directed actions. The only way to appropriately guide our thoughts is to know their foundation, our values.
A life of joy awaits the man who sits alone quietly in a room and determines what he himself believes rather than simply adopting the values of another.
A man has only so much life, and must diversify his efforts according to his values.
Mastery lies on an infinite continuum, and as a result we will never reach the end. We can, however, see to it that we are as far along that continuum as our circumstance allows.
Your progress as a Jiu Jitsu practitioner is a direct reflection of the standards you have for yourself.
Empathy is a breaking down of the false constructs of division between the observer and the observed.
The secular world often finds its constituents disenfranchised and solitary as it has spent a great deal of time debating the religious community while failing to build a true community of its own.
We are only different because there exists something to be different from, and it is this difference that bonds us.
Anyone who has ever achieved anything has been a steward of his potential.
An intelligent consistency is the foundation of genius.
We can lose the roll, we can lose position, but we can constantly strive to win the moment.
Our most valuable victories are those which go without praise.
It is a shock to many college graduates that their segway into the real world is one of obligation, profound debt, and countless sacrifices of the soul.
Anyone can be tough for a season. It takes a special kind of human to rise to life's challenges for a lifetime.
The more closely two organisms depend upon each other the harder it becomes to tell where one organism ends and the other begins.
