HOW TO MANIFEST THE SPIRIT OF THE BRAVES

CHAPTER 2

For it people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?

Luke 23.31

The art of the victory I have learned it in my defeats

Simon Bolivar

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A drummer dreamer, a dreamer drummer. This guy I met him when I was a kid. We met each other because our mothers they had a kind of friendship. He always was dreaming about being a musician, specifically a drummer. His mom was a lonely lady with cancer. Most of the time she didn’t have money to pay the medical treatments. She was shy but she was very kind with everybody. Her boy always has with him two pieces of stick which he used as drumsticks. He played his music beating doors, trashcans, windows, trees and leaves. I remember a day when he was making his imaginary performance that some housewives shouted to him, saying: “Hey, are you crazy? You are disturbing. Go, crazy boy”. And then the angry housewife pointed her finger to me, she said to me: “Kids like you and your friend end as drugdealers and thieves”. Eliud Funes, the drummer dreamer, everyday recieved from unknown people and relatives the worse commentaries about his dreams of being a musician. Sometime after his mother died. We felt really bad. But before her death the sick lady took her boy to the Sistema (the academy of music non profit). And Eliud began to study music there. With sacrifice, defeating poverty, disgrace and rejection some years after Eliud had become a jazz drummer star. Now he is teacher at the Sistema. Eliud is the dreamer drummer. And now he is still manifesting the spirit of the braves with the power of the two sticks.

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The green dead of a green tree. The french renaissance writer Michel de Montaigne explored the issue that understanding death is a prerequisite to enjoy life until its fullness. Montaigne explained in his own words: “To study philosophy is to learn to die”. Ergo: There are many things that we need to let them die in our hearts and minds. There are bad habits, but also there are many ways of thinking which are guiding our society to the void and to an abysm. Montaigne is talking about a positive death. It is a death creating new life, new standards of excellence and beauty. It is the green dead of a green tree. Therefore the prophectic sentence of Jesus of Nazareth to the women of Jerusalem is inmortal, Jesus said a powerful spiritual code to them explaining the reasons why he is punished and beat by romans soldiers: “For it people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23.31). Jesus compares his own life with a green tree. But if you are a green tree you must learn how to die in order to manifest in your green mentality the spirit of the braves. Jesus is examining the trials and the ordeals of a green tree. Jesus had said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Mattew 16.25-25). In other words: your true life depends in how your green tree faces the learnings of death.

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The disciples of the green truths. The famous reggae singer Gentleman says in one of his greatest songs: “Disciples of the truth and we are so proud of life”. Therefore, everyday those who are disciples of the truth are practicing the four learnings of the green tree. In the gospels, Jesus of Nazaret used the word “learn” four times. And in each time he reveals a way to manifest the spirit of braves. That is the road which he used to impart the green dead. Firstly, Jesus said: “Take my joke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mattew 11.29). We must learn the character. The greek philosopher Heraclitus spoke: “Character is destiny”. This giant principle implies that your life needs to be correct it by virtues. The american writer Jonathan Haidt in his book The righteous mind shows that every human being is born for six virtues: care, fairness, loyalty, authority, liberty and sanctity. It means that you have a sacred purpose, a sacred destiny to fullfil. You must develop a character to produce powerful deeds (love, art, bussines, spiritual practices, sports, science and other things) for your family, for your community, for your generation. Therefore Simon Bolivar said: “The art victory I have learned in my defeats”. That is the liberating character.

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Secondly, Jesus said: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mattew 9.13). We must learn to love. Our love creat an atmosphere of prophecy, and enviroment of wealth. Loving has a huge passion for potencial. Loving encourages others to fullfil their sacred destiny. Loving imparts holy wisdom to produce prosperity. Loving builds a better future. Loving generates a generosity spirit. Loving is to serve others with your talents, not with your titles. Thirdly, Jesus said: “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: as soon as its twigs get tender and it leaves come out, you know that summer is near” (Mattew 24.32). You must learn to produce. However producing which means creating multiplication needs a strong warrior, you have to face the summer, the heat, and the resistance of the bad times. You have to develop a deep way of thinking. Emil Cioran, the french philosopher said: “Men’s minds need a simple truth, an answer which delivers them from their questions, a gospel, a tomb. The moments of refinement conceal a death-principle: nothing is more fragile than subtlety” (On a winded civilization). Produce answers, produce honest people, which means educate them. Produce wealth, produce art, produce leadership, produce powerful workteams, produce strong bussines. Produce.

Finally, Jesus said: “It is written in the prophets: ‘They will be all taught by God’. Everyone who has Heard the Father and learned from him come to me” (John 6.45). You must learn to learn. To manifest the spirit of braves you had to cultivate a teachable heart. You need to have a spirit willing to be transform. As Howard Gardner’s said: the five minds for the future: disciplinary mind, synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind and the ethical mind. You will be brave learning how to stay with the wisdom that overcome the beating against your green tree. I remember that Eliud when I was a kid, he gave his two sticks. And when I feel discourage or disturb I see in my mind the two sticks and  I know that within us there is a spirit of braves. The spirit which allow us to learn living a successful destiny.