Which training method did Jonathan Sheppard employ?
When somebody complained how Jonathan Sheppard would never explain his training program to them, this was my response:
Well, some of us understood his training program which was essentially reverse-engineered in congruency with the horse’s running date, its condition, the competition it would be up against, along with the expectations of its upcoming performance while always keeping the race AFTER that performance in mind.
He trained on a three week schedule divided up into six day weeks, but the amazing factor is that the day the horse was to run or work was actually the 8th day of that cycle, (in other words, he used a leap-day {kind of like the “leap year”} to relegate when he would test each individual horse’s stamina level). He was a genus in unlocking the athletic abilities of the equine in utilizing both the muscles’ need for a rest period combined with the necessity to condition and test the muscular tissue. I suspect the reason he never told anybody is because he worked off of intuition and understood that the athletic components change from day to day, along with differing conditions, also adding the parameter of those unexpected idiosyncrasies of the physical, athletic body.
For the most part, we could predict what he had planned for each horse each day basing it off of: 1. When did the horse have a day off? 2. When is the horse going to run? 3. How tough is the race going to be, or what type of competition is the horse going to compete against? 4. (And MOST IMPORTANTLY,) when was the race AFTER that performance going to be?
(I’ve never thought to break it down like that, but that was the intuition at play.)
He always conditioned his athletes in a progressive way, using days in a progressive manner; and he understood how and when to encourage a horse to peak on the day it was to work or run.
Not many trainers would ask a horse for everything it’s got three days before the horse was to run or blow the horse out the day before it was to run. He had me blow a horse out the MORNING OF the race, one morning at Deleware park one time!
I asked him why he had me do that and he explained, “Sometimes, Chip, with a big, stuffy colt like that, you have to get some wind into him.” (Get some air into his lungs.)
It was all intuition; but I only gained that intuition by studying his timing on how he got a horse to peak.
He would drive up and make sure we started jogging (from the walk) from “back to front” in the set. … If the lead horse started jogging first in the line, everybody was doing it wrong!
The last horse in the line was supposed to pick up a jog first, then, the second to last, and so forth- all the way up to the person leading the set- who was to be the last one to pick up a jog.
It was during THAT sequence when Mr. Sheppard decided what each individual horse was to do for that workout.
The later generations, like Keri Bryan, were NEVER taught this, NEVER did it and, therefore, have not carried on his genius.
It is a shame; but he imparted his wisdom to a handful of us- it would be nice to employ that wisdom with the horses of today- but people simply do not respect our experience, knowledge or our reverence to discipline in doing it HIS way and His way only.
Jonathan Sheppard knew how to unlock the talent of riders and horses…
He was able to do this, because he trusted us to do it his way when he was not around;
and we did it His Way especially when he was not around.
Things changed in his operation around 2015, and the “inmates started running the asylum,” so to speak. It is not my intention to discredit anybody; it is simply an honest observation. …
He shared so much with me and, like you said, in his own words, I have wasted it on the flat track. If I would’ve stayed in his barn, I would be training today for Mr. Strawbridge. (Thank you for everything, Uncle George!)
Storm Flight was the first horse I ever rode for him “in the afternoon”,” and the first race I ever rode professionally as a ten pound bug.
She was a first-timer on the grass at Colonial Downs. Deleware Park would not let 10 pound bugs ride first time starters on the grass, so Johnathan instructed me to go to Colonial for him. She had broken her neck as a baby, and had a strange way of going, but she was a warrior! I loved her! Thank you for letting me share. Long live the Governor and his way of conditioning the equine athlete and encouraging and coaching the young, aspiring rider!!!
Chip Van Hassel
My Library
If we could try an experiment: If we could go an entire day void of using spoken language… This would pose interesting. If we could co-survive for three days without using verbal language, not only would human consciousness become unavoidably obvious,
but many systems of human interaction would prove faulty; and we would have no choice but to fall onto the ground, laughing at ourselves. Such medicinal laughter could promote longer life and a higher quality of trade and commerce. This global laughter could change whole attitudes throughout the world, and believe it or not, more plants would grow as a result. (Plants would thrive on the carbon dioxide expelled by global laughter.).
Ever since I completed reading The Way of Zen ,by Alan Watts, in 1998, I have been compelled to buy books. It was actually triggered by my first reading of The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac that had launched this pass-time. Since then, I have compiled an extensive library which I’m proud of. The formulation of my library has been the endowment of many circumstances- all intertwined, yet unrelated- a contradiction. The Contradiction. After reading The Dharma Bums as a teenager, my whole mind became open to a completely new, uncensored era of perceiving; and it slung-shot my writing into an unstoppable stream of creativity. My new understanding caused me to spend hours in the book store, becoming lost in the “Eastern Philosophy” section. When I picked up The Way of Zen, I flipped to the middle of the book in preview. I read one sentence. That sentence seamlessly melted into a paragraph, then, into a chapter. I purchased the book and consequently read it while I was“on the road”. The Way of Zen instilled in me the unexplainable beauty of the human experience. It took any conceivable limit (I thought existed) and convinced me that such a limit was nothing more than a thought- not an actual boundary. The book made me realize that I am not a person in a hotel room- on a planet- in outer space. None of that exists. Only because I labeled it that way, did all those boundaries exist. New thought patterns became fun, growing experiences for me. For every thought that I had, I immediately rendered the exact opposite Either ludicrous, or ever so profound, by instinctively looking for the opposite, I became somewhat liberated from my previous views, opinions and thought patterns. Through contradiction, I found peace. I began to purchase more books of similar content. I started a small collection that I would (in procrastination) read some day. I wrote page after page of philosophical dialogue. I wrote and bound a three hundred page book using a Kerouac-like sing-song to mix my actual life with a storyboard and complimentary characters. After completing the book, I edited it over and over. I poured every written idea I had into the book. All along, learning about the philosophy which my characters proclaimed to be experts of. After its completion, I felt many things. I felt that I had penned all that needed to be said; that all of the ideas expressed in the book went without saying. Also, to pen any more would be redundant. Through my perception of Zen philosophy, I felt that writing any more would prove ignorance. Simply put, I took one of the old Zen sayings I had written about, and I took it literally. That saying is: “He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know.” I revered this quote so literally that my creativity came to a stand-still. I began to think that any writing was meaningless. Even that thinking (itself) was contrived and menial, causing the subject (the thinker) to miss the whole cosmic point, or that the act of thinking caused people to become unconnected with reality. This great contradiction has become a plague of sorts. A Zen teacher pointing at the moon is void of ceremony. A Christian taking communion is ceremonial yet the respect exercised through such an act is short lived. Both are simple acts, not affirmations or devices of spiritual awakening. Trying to attain enlightenment is counterproductive, damaging even. But to not even attempt to attain enlightenment (or to not even attempt to live a good life according to a bible) would cause one to become spiritually lackadaisical. Which is precisely why my creativity had come to a stop. To “try” was to venture farther from the truth. To write was to indulge in ignorance. Therefore, to refrain from writing and to let the world do what it does without analyzing it, would, in time, prove useful. Through experience, I have found that neither cases are true. Whether one writes to prove a point or just for entertainment, there is one underlying factor that pushes a writer forward. In this case, I am referring to one who has come to a stop- who is convinced that growth can no longer be established through the means of literature. That underlying factor is simply this: Writing (reading, perceiving; all of our senses) are human experiences. Human experiences lose their enjoyment when they are judged. Judging takes you away from the Now, causing you to become involved in a cycle of comparison. During the judgment of an experience, we stop experiencing all together. The music we listen to is no longer beautiful and moving, but becomes single notes- one after the other; and dancing steps are no longer fluid, they become technical, planned and non-flowing. My writing started out as an expression of my views, but quickly became a learning, exploratory endeavor. I wrote of being bound by doctrine, but in the end, I believed that any type of structure was, indeed, destructive. My ability to think opposites became inhibitive- a vicious cycle that, after a while, bought me right back to the starting point- a narrow view. “In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind, there are few.” This contradiction has been hard to accept. And even accepting it could cause one to just submit and no longer grow. But just because you stop trying doesn’t mean that every breath you take is not a new, abundant and everlasting one. After all, how long is eternity? One meditates for many reasons. It feels good. If one does it with an expectation, or a goal of growth, one can become frustrated by the lack of outcome; one could lose interest altogether. Meditation is like a puppy playing. The moment’s enjoyment is the result. The puppy does not survey how much fun it is having while it is playing. Furthermore, it is building necessary skills for later survival. After all, young pups and lion cubs playing are imitating fighting situations. They are developing attacks, reaction timing and tricks of escape along with building muscular and cardiovascular fitness. So, to meditate in hopes of attainment is a sure-fire way of developing habits not indigenous to the act- habits that, once developed, can become damaging staples that are difficult to erase from muscular and mental memory. Once one has experienced the benefits of the true meditative state, they realize that peace is simply peace. Peace is not the delusion of a person sitting in an unbreakable state, breathing and humming in a sacred, obscure way. Through imagination, meditation can become an altercation; or it can become as spontaneous and enjoyable as a young boy playing a trick on his sister (unaware that someone is watching him.) Meditation is neither a state of complete seriousness nor is it a state of incoherence. It is a state of feeling- not just by touch and not through emotion. Even though all senses such as feel, hearing, sight and all emotional realms do become more sensitive through the awareness acquired through meditation, those senses alone are not used to explore the meditative state. I would say that it is a state of, “here I am right now; the Human Experience is a thing of beauty… This is the answer, the panacea…” But again, that is not the purpose of meditation. Meditation transcends all of our understandings that we are humans feeling and seeing things. Meditation goes beyond what we have been conditioned to understand. It is by no means magical, though. More accurately, it is an awareness that life is magical! Now, your definition of “magic” may be different than mine. If you are a Christian, is not magic the fact that God made the heavens and the earth? Your definition of “magic” is most likely obsolete. After all, just because we label a color “blue”, how do you show blue to a blind man? How can you taste “blue” on the end of a fork? If we labeled the color “blue” “magic” instead of blue, than when we saw blue, we would think (the word) “magic”. The simple point is, just because you have your own perception of what “magic” is, (regardless if you believe it exists or not) does that abstract mental process really define “magic”? Does a blind man think the same things you do when he hears the phrase “Black Magic”? Meditation is not a magic cure for anything. It is a sanctuary in a sense. The church is always there; you can always pray- Sunday or not! Meditation is a good musical performance in which a musician surpasses his own boundaries and enjoys being able to play with no effort- amazed and listening as if he were just watching (from above). The musician’s imagination is what causes him to cross and surpass his boundaries. His imagination opens him to a limitless consciousness through which he can continue to learn more as a result. He is still the same body when he puts the instrument down. He still has to eat and breath. In the back of his mind though, he is open to new musical ideas and shall practice them next time he plays. As in meditation- there is no limit- there is no stopping point. As the musician will evolve next time he picks up the instrument, and he must eat and sleep, meditating people must be Human. They cannot perform magic. But they can experience life as a song that plays itself effortlessly. When this precipice has been reached, the musician does not have to “try” as hard to express his music. But in this, he must be careful, because to stop trying to improve, or to just settle with being pleased with the current product, is to let creativity remain dormant. After all, a song is not a finished product. It may be recorded, but while it is being played, it is never completed, as rivers are never “done” flowing! So to just accept one’s ability as a musician is helpful, but to let ones nuances sit at idle would cause reversion; then doubt, and finally, retrogression, or stale music.. As contrary as it seems, stale music is, indeed, music; just as a heavy metal band is noisy to one person, yet inspiring to another. Now, when a musician has run out of ideas, he loses his followers, but more importantly, he no longer gets joy out of playing music. Just as when a spiritually seeking person has come to a stop, they no longer enjoy the exercise of searching. After all, searching is fun; mystery is what holds seekers in suspense. And those who have reached attainment still enjoy the activity of learning new things and find fulfillment in those activities which might be regarded as mundane or “old”. If a person comes to a stop, what they really have done is fallen victim to a crime that they alone have fabricated. If one stops, the river still flows; the puppy still plays, and blue is still “blue”, regardless if the blind man tastes blue or not! After going through a long period of time when I figured that the more I wrote, the less meaning my words had, I stopped writing and began to read a lot. I looked for sanctuary and a revitalization in the books I read. I bought even more books. I was intrigued by so many ideas and was open to learn. But my main goal was to ascertain useful knowledge. Knowledge that would help me “get back on track”. I had created a victim of myself, in that I made the mistake of thinking that understanding more (through written word) would allow me to expand my perception. In other words, I read and studied with a goal in mind. Problem being- that which I studied was something un-intellectual, but I continued to store it using an intellectual’s habits. I read so much and understood so much that I came to the same juncture with my reading as I did after I had finished writing my book. To read any more would be to belabor the point, to venture farther from the truth. So I stopped reading. Though I no longer actively read for study, I still continued to build my library with books which I intended to read some day. (That is, after I rid my mind of my Stoppage…) And it took separation from my intellectual approach to once again find peace. Drugs and alcohol bought me temporary moments of clarity- at first. But abuse of those amenities became a focus, as opposed to using them as supplements for experiencing life. Drugs can provide one with illusions, so one must affirm that those illusions are irrelevant- just as methods of building Chi and learning Forms in the martial arts might condition the body and the mind, but they, alone, do not ensure success in battle. All exercises, if to be deemed useful, are to be experienced, but not to be viewed as answers. A door might be an opening, but one must pass through that door to benefit from what is on the other side. And after one has gone through the door, they do not carry that door along with them! After a period of separation from the intellectual approach and the supplementing and abuse of certain drugs, I learned that neither were necessary. Indeed, they were enjoyable, but my study had always been beyond the human senses and the learning mind. The vastness of the galaxy and the intricate abilities of animals and their cooperative environment has always drawn me up into its syringe. Searching for that vein of perpetual energy and being aware of the innate power of that bloodstream has always intrigued me. How does one get there even though they already are there? They are It. This is the contradiction. I want to be the Real Me; but I am not. I know this is impossible, but it feels guiltily true. As one knows under the influence of alcohol or a heavy drug, your perception of “me” and what the world thinks of “me” are momentarily not important. This contradiction alone, the fact that there is this contradiction, creates pain. To suffer from being the knower of this pain has become learned-natural for human beings. We know that this is not right, yet we still allow ourselves to be afflicted by it. Along with my stoppage of reading, I wrote less and less to the point where I did not even consider anecdotes throughout my daily life. Beforehand, it had been second nature for me to start a writing in my head prompted by daily observances. But since I had not actively engaged in reading or writing, the designs of new writings were no longer a point of interest to me. I began to dabble in the martial arts (kung fu, mainly) and was entranced by the physical feats of the Shaolin monks, Bruce Lee and other martial artists- all of which have attributed philosophy as a deciding factor to one’s martial arts ability. I lacked the self discipline to thoroughly train myself, or even find a teacher; and therefore, my study of the martial arts was more from that of an onlooker, not a practitioner. I could study the techniques, but I never physically applied those techniques. This allowed me to appreciate the movements, but I never fully understood them and (in turn,) had a limited ability to perform such techniques (if I was ever involved in actual battle). In damage to my ego, I watched the applications of the martial arts and could visualize them in my imagination, therefore had fooled myself to presume that, if the need should arise, I could defend myself using such visualizations and understandings. To a muscle that has not lifted weights, lifting twenty pounds could seem rather strenuous. But for a muscle that has been trained repetitively, such an exercise brings physical satisfaction and also encourages the growth of new muscle. Just as getting struck in the face could be painful to some- to a practitioner who has been struck many times, and his face has been conditioned to receive such blows, being struck in the face could feel good, encourage growth, and give him motivation to fight- just as a broken limb starts to itch upon healing, and scar tissue tends to harden the area, it feels good to scratch the itch. As my study of the martial arts was predominantly superficial, my scholastic and philosophical studies had become dormant and unfruitful. My main affliction was not my unproductiveness, but the attitude that living in such an unproductive way of was sufficient. Though, indeed, such a Way was sufficient to survive, growth had stopped; learning had halted. Only two years earlier, intellectual growth had been an addiction. I thirsted for it, and my writing and reading had fulfilled my need for it. As a teenager, my philosophical studies kept me looking forward to the future. But at the time when I had lost interest in such activities, I no longer had a thirst. I no longer aspired to attain a higher conscious level. After realizing this affliction, my expectations of myself and the shame of not utilizing my interests presented stressful, ego-based thought patterns. Though my affirmation that I had already written everything that I needed to write was still apparent, I felt that reverting to verbose transcription was the only way to regain my once vibrant aspiration to learn and better myself. It must be disclaimed that this writing (what you are reading now) is not supposed to be negative or pessimistic; it is simply a synopsis of the rollercoaster of mind.
Two Reasons Why Women Wearing Sexy Pants Is Corrupting Our Culture.
For many women, today, sex is the only thing they have to offer!
Did women ever wear mini skirts in the 1930’s,… why not?
We are living in an overly-sexualized culture where women walk around wearing spandex- which is the equivalent to a woman wearing a short skirt in the 1930’s!
Let Us Quote: “…I also want women to dress mosdestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.”
1 TIMOTHY 2:9-10
Women use sex as a magical power- a power which men do not possess. This phenomena has ravaged our culture to the point of devolving us into camel riders, again!
How many women in your daily life know how to bake a loaf of bread from scratch or how to potty-train a toddler? How many men do you know who can change the oil in a car?
The culture we live in seems strange and weak.
People peer around and find everything to be strange while applying a weak predisposition; … scared, they are!
People seem angry in a curious way; and people seem curious in an angry way.
My Personal Experience:
Men look at me angrily- a self-hating mechanism. They are angry because of their jealous imaginations of me.
Men hate me, because I walk around exuding confidence.
I appear to be a wealthy man, wearing expensive clothes, pretending to be poor, when the reality of me is that
I am a poor man, wearing cheap, expensive-looking clothing, pretending to be wealthy!
The Bible does remind us:
“… Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith…”? (“Faith,” can be translated as, “being rich in spirit.”)
JAMES 2:5
Yes, God has made me rich in spirit, but poor in the pocketbook!
Why does the culture around us seem strange and weak?
Reason # 1:
Sex Is the End-Game for Most Men and Women.
I see woman, everywhere, wearing spandex.
They are overtly displaying sex!
These women are attempting to attract the male of the species- if not for sex than at least for attention. … What exactly are these women attracting the male of the species for? …
{Sex is only a Game for most women but seems to be the meaning of life for most men!}
The majority of women are not out to have children- to build a family. They are out to have tawdry, nasty sex,
or (maybe,) to be made Love to beyond what they know they deserve!
When a woman squeezes-on her spandex, she thinks, “I have the pick of the litter tonight! I’m hot; I can have any guy I want!”
^ This is the mindset of a narcissist! It is also the mindset of most women, today! (Again, sex is only a game for most women. Women run the game and depend upon sex to win, whereas, men only play the game and depend upon luck just to play!)
On the other hand, most men slide-on their pants thinking, “I hope a woman picks me tonight; …I hope I get Lucky!”
Most women are not wearing sexy pants in order to build a family and a future.
Indeed, men see it a similar way, however, the majority of men depend on that moment of sex to snowball into a family and a future!
However, for many women, sex is the only thing they have to offer!
AGAIN:
How many women in your circle know how to potty-train a toddler?
How many men in your circle know to change the brake pads in a car?
Reason #2:
Reason number two is the same as reason number one!
On a Related Note:
Active-Bitch Face
In an overly-sexualized culture, there exists an air(e) of, “active-passive-aggression,” which could be described as building(/being) the bridge upon which, “resting bitch face,” hath transmuted into, “active-bitch-face,”. This (invisible) force is a subconscious reaction to self-loathing. The catalyst of this paradigm is not conscientiously explored by the common man. Most people are unaware of that which drives this force. The common populous is not aware of this force. Most do not take the third step required to investigate the source of this force.
… (Let us delve I go it.) …;
Apathy has it’s place as the source of this force. Apathy is the result, the compelling factor- cause. This paradigm seems to be the new, … “Buddha’s notion of ‘suffering’,”.
(In way of question):
So, how does apathy, or not caring, relate to an overly-sexualized culture? An overly-sexualized culture is the antithesis of the society which practices apathy, … right? …
Bridging the gap between not caring and caring too much brings intuition full-circle.
A woman dressing in a sexy dress, then, pretending to not care when men notice her is false apathy- the culmination within which resting bitch face transmutes into active bitch face! Enter: Suffering/ “the new, ‘Buddha’s notion of suffering’.” So, why all the fake eye lashes these days? {(I’ll tell why: … “because all I have to do is put on eye lashes, and I don’t need to put on any makeup!”) (Alexa Love)}
… to be continued. Rough draft.
Resenting Your Teacher
Revere The Teacher With Compassion.
A Short Article For Flourishing Students:
If there comes a time when you resent your teacher, you have become your own teacher; and you must relinquish your expectations of such former teacher.
Resentment is the product of contempt and the ego; both of which are cataclysms.
After contempt for a teaching ha been acknowledged, the ego presents itself. Regardless of the validity of the ego’s claim, the added contempt limits your judgement, creating learning barriers.
No student is an expert.
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities but in the expert’s there are few.”
Shunryu Suzuki
How a practitioner chooses to vibrate is a conditioned response.
How he chooses to condition his body, mind and spirit is a vibration over which he has control in the beginning, but has no control over the in the end.
His choice of vibration sends a ripple out infinitely in all directions and affects all beings- past, present and,… right now!
Choosing to resent a teacher is choosing to perpetuate the end! Acknowledging this ending is a step towards the vestibule. Enter that vestibule honoring what a, “vestibule,” is!
It is a start and must be a humble beginning.
“When a way comes to an end, change; and you shall pass through.”
Lau Tzu (The I Ching)
Harmony is achieved through fluidity, through, “give and take,” …through occupying the Middle Ground- (The Middle Way,) understanding both extremes, then, by developing a current current within which all beings remain unharmed, unmolested and lovingly appreciated!
Contempt for the spirit devolves the body and mind. A self-taught practitioner must sit in meditation- Deep!
In this meditation, the shadow appears with clarity
Upon this clarity, the shadow is given a chance to respond. In this response, the ego (which is the shadow,) delves into these two extremes:
1. Complete loss of prior self-definition; the extinction of the personality. -or- 2. Reinforcement of the resented self-definition; the birth of “the inactive side of infinity,” (as opposed to The Active Side of Infinity) birthing disharmony.
The shadow can respond to itself, question itself and humbly vibrate in harmony
We regulate ourselves through question and answer, clarity by truth, in action, through accountability and by changing.
The shadow must respond to itself, first, before clarity may be attained. Otherwise, the darkness, (lower light,) remains within it’s own darkness- experiencing no contrast; therefore, cannot be objective.
For darkness to be humble enough to use light, liberation from it’s defined self must occur.
To be liberated from the self is The Vestibule!
Contempt is anger. Ego is fear.
To fear is natural. To love creates no issue; and to trust is proper decrement.
All in all, any expectation a student has of his teacher must be forgotten for true development to occur.
As a student travels from teacher to teacher, conquering them along the way, he bows his head to his defeated opponent and says, “I’m sorry,” as he moves-on, surpassing them, yet shows ultimate respect and compassion to them, void of ego!
Chip Van Hassel
Ego
Ego is the corruptor of the human soul. Ego has no name, therefore,
is a most powerful force, because that which is unseen and unknown is feared most; for there is neither weapon or action against the unknown. The easiest name for, “Ego,” is, “I”. What war, or which weapon, shall a man wage against himself, albeit the teeth of the snake devouring its own tail? To, “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer,” in order to know thine enemy fails survival if thy self is the enemy, and you stand closer to the despised than to your most precious ally! To know your enemy, or to know your own ego, is a most prized attribute of war and is the most powerful utensils for peace. To know how to avoid developing an enemy avoids war, but to know what your Loved Ones love most equips you with the prize which outlasts war. Faith, Hope and Love are the unseen weapons against war, for love is the spoiler of war. Fear corrupts the man’s mind. Despair corrupts the man’s faith. Rage interferes with the man’s ability to grow love. Faith, Hope and Love are the undetected weapons against Fear, Despair and Rage. Man does not fear himself. Man already is born with faith in himself. For Mankind to develop rage against himself is a compelling culmination to investigate; but for a man to refrain from investigating his own rage becomes a physically palpable manifest, or force, which other men are affected by. The Ego is not a pride for Nation, but only a pride of the self. National Pride is rather a confusing of the individual with the group that surrounds him/her. the corruptor of the individual soul is the notion that another man’s deeds are your own deeds, that his successes are consequently, your own successes; therefore, his failures are considered to be your personal failures, too! To defeat the most powerful attraction of The Ego, a man must forfeit his selfish actions and thoughts. Only after that may the unknow be ascertained and won. -Ride Tight.
