© 2025 Marc Bubel

Welcome back to Meta Zen. The mental martial art. The philosophy of life.

This episode shares the second half of the White Belt.

I am your host and mentor, Marc Bubel.

From the first episode, we’ve learned about the history of martial arts and how its moral code reached its peak value for, and then forgotten by, the communities it served. We also learned Meta Zen is a proposal to give martial artists a unifying philosophy they can call home and that restores their community value.

The previous episode started our White Belt training with lessons from our modern world. This episode completes the White Belt training with the basics from our ancestors…plus one from your’s truly.

Let’s get right to it.

Lesson 5: objectivity

The oldest and most central concept common to most meditative traditions and Eastern philosophies is the word objectivity. 

(I’ll share the scholarly translation at the end of this episode.)

The moral code for martial arts is an expression of objectivity. 

The byproduct of objectivity is happiness.

I’ll explain objectivity transparently through an alternative approach.

We are the source of unhappiness to each other when we argue the narratives we’ve learned. We cause each other grief. 

Another source of our unhappiness is ourselves. If it's a cold winter day and we've underdressed, we have no one to blame but ourselves. When we complain, we demonstrate our ignorance.

In contrast, when we listen to people with a different point of view and they listen to our point of view, we have objective conversations. While we might not conclude the conversation with an agreement, we use objectivity to remain friends. 

Plus, when we’ve underdressed on a cold winter day, we use objectivity to learn from the experience and make ourselves better positioned for our next outing. 

Through objectivity, our goal is to create transparency. When we exercise objectivity with others that also exercise objectivity, we are playing the positive-sum game. When we find transparency that enables us to be certain, we’ve found the metanarrative.

Objectivity is an involved skill. We have to practice objectivity and see it produce the positive-sum game routinely to know we have been objective. When we do, then we know we’ve cleared the bar.

If we are unsuccessful at achieving the positive-sum game routinely, it’s not because other people are being narrow minded. When others are narrow minded, we get to find how objective we really can be. It’s more difficult to achieve the positive-sum game when others only listen to the narratives they know, but that’s what makes getting to the higher belts of Meta Zen satisfying. 

Return to the chart you drew for lesson 2. Place a dot where you think objectivity resides or add the label to an existing dot. Do the same for the words happiness and arguing. 

Lesson 6: nirvana

The challenge with objectivity is that it routinely becomes clear to us after all is said and done. 

To be objective, we have to exercise a wealth of forethought to consider all of the possible repercussions. This is a serious undertaking unless there was a way to make it easier.

This is what our ancestors had explored. They knew even intermediate goals can be as shortsighted as short-term goals. 

Therefore, they meditated deeply on the ultimate end goal and then they reverse engineered it to map out how to achieve it. 

Many philosophies and religions have a defined ultimate end goal and they are all very similar metaphorically speaking. I’ll give you a single word to begin this discussion: Nirvana.

When I first heard of the word nirvana, I viewed it as an overpromise. Then, as I furthered my studies and came across the concept across many philosophies, I gave it more consideration. Eventually, it became completely transparent to me. 

I’ll share the transparency with you now.

Imagine, you and I are together, maybe at a cafe somewhere on a beautiful day. We’re talking about nothing in particular and we have that connection that keeps the conversation rolling. 

I trust, by now, you know I am dedicated to listening to what others have to say so that I can participate in the conversation. You are an objective person, which means you do the same. 

Then, our conversation serendipitously leads to a taboo topic that is present in the world today. As we genuinely listen to each other, the conversation strolls forward like if it were not a taboo topic. That’s incredibly refreshing. We might not have concluded the taboo topic to the point that we find the transparency everyone understands, but we’re still friends. In fact, this refreshing conversation tells us we know…how to be friends, even with a stranger.

Now imagine, this type of conversation is an everyday experience regardless of the stranger we have a conversation with. In other words, there are no taboo topics. No one worries about being judged, criticized, ostracised or anything else for having a different point of view. 

That’s nirvana. That’s the end goal many philosophies and religions have. 

I call it…The World's Greatest Moonshot.

I’ll summarize it succinctly:

We achieve the World’s Greatest Moonshot when objectivity, not points of view, call the shorts the world over.

That's nirvana, moksha, heaven on earth and anything else we call it.

Whether the World’s Greatest Moonshot is achievable or not, it's worth pursuing. The very act of not pursuing it means we are contributing to the problem. By pursuing the World’s Greatest Moonshot, we’re doing our part and our kids will thank us. Future generations will thank us…far more.

This is lesson 6: Keep your eyes on the prize, which is The World's Greatest Moonshot. When you keep your eyes on the prize, positive-sum games are easier to have.

Lesson 7: breathing

The next lesson comes from many ancient traditions: breathing. 

For the White Belt, I present it like this.

Imagine we're out in the woods and we suddenly see a large cat like a mountain lion or tiger. This is intimidating as they are at the top of the food chain. 

Naturally, we would do all that we can to not be noticed, like quieting our breathing. It's part of our animalistic origins. 

We quiet our breathing all the time without thinking when something surprises or shocks us. When I asked you to imagine stumbling upon a mountain lion, your breathing might have shallowed. You might have done the same when you realized our ancestors likely did reverse engineer nirvana. 

When we wake up from our animalistic origins, we take a deep breath. 

Take a deep breath now and notice how it encourages you to feel more objective. You feel more intellectual.

Imagine taking a deep breath whenever we experience something new. It would encourage us to learn instead of putting up our guard to protect our narratives. 

The pioneers of meditation knew, if they encouraged people of their community to practice deep breaths, the community members and the community itself would become more intellectual than animalistic. Thus, they made breathing part of meditation.

This is lesson 7: Take deep breaths regularly. Take a deep breath every time you encounter something unfamiliar to you. Like the ideas captured in each lesson of this podcast.

You don’t need to sit and close your eyes to benefit from taking deep breaths. 

If you participate in a meditative practice that involves taking deep breaths while sitting with your eyes closed, keep doing so. While it’s unnecessary for Meta Zen, it’s important to that meditative tradition. 

I encourage you to treat the music that exists between sections of the episodes in this podcast as reminders to take a deep breath.

Lesson 8: mantras

Have you ever noticed that you have repeated a thought to yourself so that it is easier to remember?

Like, 
take deep breaths, take deep breaths.

This is basically a mantra.

A mantra is just a way to train our mind to keep an idea…top of mind. 

It's conceivable that mantras, along with deep breathing, are responsible for intellectualizing the human race. 

A great way to exercise a mantra is through beats, like the following.

Ob-jec-tivi-ty Ob-jec-tivi-ty

But, we’ll not practice this mantra even though it's a good one. A simple mantra like this is memorization, not meditation. It encourages us to be dogmatic and we get stuck in this harmonic.

We need something that encourages us to be conscious of what we're thinking and saying. This is when we put it into a rhythm. Like this:

Ob-jec-tivi-ty ob=jec-tivi-ty brea-the… Brea-the… ob-jec-tivi-ty ob-jec-tivi-ty brea-the… brea-the…

This rhythm works really well when you walk or run.

The switch in pacing and change of words requires us to be more conscious to keep it cycling. This is the benefit rhythms give us. 

Over the next week, repeat this rhythm a few thousand times. Thereafter, you will find you’ll be far more objective than before you used it.

Feel free to use any rhythm if you feel it helps you to overcome a mental barrier. Just make sure the mantra you choose doesn’t feel like you are crossing your fingers. 

For example, repeating the word billionaire is like crossing your fingers, unless of course, you are worth 900 million already. 

Lesson 9: the CTW Shower

I expect you’re finding some lessons in the White Belt to be straightforward, like mantras and breathing, while others are challenging, like the positive-sum game. 

This lesson for the White Belt is somewhere in the middle. I love it and one day you will too.

This lesson will give you an exercise that will develop your perseverance. 

It’s called the CTW Shower.

CTW means cold then warm. 

When you turn on the shower, walk into the cold water and let it rain on your chest until the water warms up. No problem. 
You will survive.

Every time you have a shower other than when you’re sick or injured, have the CTW Shower. 

If it’s a cold winter morning, you will survive. 

Continue to have the CTW Shower until the day you die. You don’t get time off for good behavior. 

If you can’t have the CTW Shower until the day you die, you don’t know perseverance. You know entitlement in its place and it will encourage you to defend your dogmas, 
which is arguing.

Write this down:

If you don’t know perseverance, you know entitlement in its place.

Standup, close your eyes and imagine having a CTW Shower as I explain it to you now.

You are disrobed. Put your hand on the dial. Breathe in, turn on your objectivity, and give a good smile as you breathe out as you know you will survive. 

Then, turn the dial and walk into the shower. The water first rains on your feet and comes up your legs to your chest. 

Breathe and smile. 

Negative thoughts might come but you put them aside because you are objective. The water is cold, which it is, and you will survive. 

The water goes from cold to cool then warm and you then adjust the dial to the temperature you like.

You're fine. 15 seconds of your day tells you…you still know how to persevere.

Open your eyes.

When you practice the CTW Shower at home, please don’t begin chanting, I will survive, I will survive. That’s autopilot mode. People with objectivity notice the water temperature and the voices in the back of their minds. They only patiently wait for the water to warm up.

If people think having a CTW Shower a handful of times teaches them perseverance, they’re lying to themselves. They will defend their dogmas with narratives. This is entitlement.

Months from now, when you notice you look forward to the CTW Shower, this is when you know perseverance. You will also know how to meditate.

People who don’t know how to persevere, stay in the White Belt and find the ignorance of bliss or they quit. People who know how to persevere...get to the Black Belt. 

While having a shower is still an entitlement, you are now earning your good fortune.

Lesson 10: two orientations

There are two orientations people have.

One that magic is real…
and the other where magic is entertainment

One where memorization has no repercussions…
And the other where reflection changes a person’s life.

One where we cross our fingers…
And the other where we persevere.

One where martial arts has a sordid past, 
and the other where the outliers of martial art history receive far more attention than their presence in history.

One where hearing something means we have listened,
And the other where listening means we understand the depth of the other person’s point of view.

Here is lesson 10: Orient yourself wisely.

Lesson 11: seated position

When you listen to this podcast, sit on something very stable so you're not distracted by the wobble of the higher seated or standing positions.

Pull your navel forward, relax the shoulders and move them lightly backward, and imagine a rope pulling up the crown of your head.

This alignment keeps posture distractions to a minimum. 

Rest your wrists and forearms on your legs and knees or a tabletop with your hands either with your palms up or touching an unmoving surface. This keeps the distraction from your sensitive hands to a minimum.

Close your eyes as what your eyes see will distract your attention.

By all means, pause the podcast and write in your journal at your leisure. Find a nice set up so that you can flip between concentration and writing in your journal with ease.

This completes lesson 11.

Becoming official

This completes the White Belt training. You officially complete the White Belt when you find perseverance. It’s nostalgic of your youth, like running through a sprinkler. These were the days when you learned to crawl, walk, talk and more. Those were extreme moments of perseverance and look at what they have given you: The life you know at this moment. You might as well keep going as there is so much more to enjoy.

The other lessons will come in due time. While they are introduced in the White Belt, there is no need to overburden yourself when you can still progress and learn from the other belts.

Through every belt, your conscience is your guide when it comes to knowing what belt you officially wear. 

End notes

This end note goes with lesson 5.

Objectivity is a modern word for the ancient concept of nonduality. It’s common to many paths of meditation and many eastern philosophies.

Nonduality has at least two senses, which is the cause of modern misinterpretations. Black and white, female and male, light and dark are duality terms in a different sense than the ancient concept of nonduality. 

Nonduality to our ancestors was objectivity. Duality to them was polarizing points of view, aka narratives.

Nonduality, or objectivity, leads to happiness. Duality, or polarizing points of view, leads to the decline of civilization.

Let's compare the words humble and harmony, which are often used to describe Confucianism.

Look at the synonyms and antonyms for both words. Notice how the nature of the synonyms and antonyms for both words are different. This is because one is a duality word and the other is a nonduality word.

I view the duality word as a misinterpretation that deteriorates Confucianism with the passage of time. I've discovered this late in the podcast production so the duality terms might still exist as you listen. I now use the word thoughtful in the place of the word humble.

As you are enjoying Meta Zen, let people stumble upon it. Buy some Meta Zen stickers from moxiefrontier.com and put them where you and others will see them.

The Meta Zen sticker is our invitation to come back home where objectivity lives. 

It's a great time to be alive.