Some Truths Are Recognized Long Before They Are Revealed

In 1998, I read a paragraph in Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams.

In it, there was a quote from Mr. Parker who said,
"I'm not going to show you my art, I'm going to share it with you. If I show it to you it becomes an exhibition, and in time it will be pushed so far into the back of your mind that it will be lost. But by sharing it with you, you will not only retain it forever, but I too will improve."

I remember stopping as I read those words.
Something in me recognized them.

I couldn't have explained why.
I couldn't have told you what they meant.
But something quietly said, "Yes."
​
For nearly three decades, those words stayed with me.
During that time, I taught martial arts, self-defense, wrote books, experienced profound joy and heartbreaking loss, questioned nearly everything I thought I knew, and eventually found myself sharing conversations about awareness and non-duality.
Yet through all those years, there was one belief I rarely questioned - I often felt that I didn't have the right to teach what I was sharing because I was still learning it myself.
Looking back, I can see that belief was just another box in my attic but this week, something shifted...

​As I was preparing for our next Dojo, and reflecting on the question, "Is Life Happening To You… or Through You?" something unexpected happened.
I realized I wasn't simply writing these conversations.
It felt as though they were already here.
Almost as though the experiences had been breathed into me...
waiting to be shared.


And in that moment, I finally understood what I had recognized back in 1998.
Mr. Parker wasn't talking about teaching after mastery.
He was pointing toward something much quieter.
Sharing isn't the reward for arriving.
Sometimes, sharing is part of the revelation itself.

I now see that there is a difference between recognition and revelation.
Recognition can happen in an instant.
Revelation may unfold over a lifetime.
Perhaps that's why some books, conversations, and moments seem to stay with us for years. They are recognized long before we fully understand them.

As I look back over the path that brought me here, I no longer see someone trying to become qualified to share.
​
I see life patiently revealing what had already been recognized.
And maybe that's what it means for life to happen through us.
Not because we have arrived.
Not because we have all the answers.
But because, every now and then, something quietly reveals itself...
and all that's left to do is notice.

What Are You Noticing?
Have you ever had a knowing that took years to bring to life?
I'd love to hear your story in the comments.
Life is an energy game. Once you understand how it's played, you can Party Like Purple.