Door XIII · Part Three · The Center: Of the Silence That Makes the World
«From stillness are born the forms that bless».
Touch the door to open it.
Father and Son Together
The book describes this form step by step. The description accompanies learning with an instructor and, afterwards, helps you remember the movements.
«I have decided not to teach these arts to anyone under eighteen». Common Guide to the Practices.
- Opening
- Sense, soften, and smile from the heart.
- Repetitions
- Repeat as learned with your instructor.
- Closing
- When you finish, release and leave room for the flow of Chi and for stillness. Complete the common closing at the lower Dantian and the facial massage.
- Care
- If a movement causes pain or dizziness, stop.
The photograph of this door
In two thousand fourteen we traveled with him to his homeland. I saw him pray at the tomb of Padre Pio.
As we left the church, a rainbow crossed the sky.
I have the photograph: Aida, my father’s sister, and her daughter Annamaria, standing beneath the arc.
The full story is in the book.
To carry into the day
«Ascolto»
A personal gesture for this door, Ascolto, independent of the school’s exercise:
- Posture
- Standing, at the door of your home, before going out. No phone in your hand.
- Intention
- To listen before I move.
- Gesture
- Look at the sky. Feel the wind on your face. Watch the birds, if there are any. Seek nothing.
- Breath
- Whatever comes. Do not correct it.
- Attention
- What the day says before you speak. One minute is enough; two, better.
- Closing
- Say inwardly: “Ascolto.” And go out.
Qualunque cosa succeda, ricordati di tornare a casa.
Seven days
Each day, at the door of your home, before going out, make the gesture. Then mark the day.
0 of 7 days
«If something does not serve you, let it go». What you mark stays on this device.
More about this door
«Una palabra habló el Padre, que fue su Hijo, y esta habla siempre en eterno silencio, y en silencio ha de ser oída del alma».
My father spoke little. He ate in silence, walked the neighborhood in silence, wept alone at the cemetery. Reading these words of John of the Cross, I return to his way of being.
St. John of the Cross · Dark Night of the Soul · Ascent of Mount Carmel · Spiritual Canticle · Sayings of Light and Love
St. John of the Cross in the book- Eighteen Lohan Arts
- A series of the Shaolin Wahnam school, distinct from the Eighteen Hands; from it come the exercises the author chose for Doors VI, VII, IX, and XIII (Open the Window and Gaze at the Moon, The Golden Leopard Trains Its Claws, The Great Bird Spreads Its Wings, Father and Son Together).
- Madonna del Carmine
- Our Lady of Mount Carmel in her Italian devotion; the author’s name comes from her and from his paternal grandfather.
- Mammana
- Midwife, in the dialect of Campania.
- Mestiere
- Trade, in Italian; mestiere del muratore, the mason’s trade.
- Bardo Thodol
- A Tibetan Buddhist text known as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. In Door VII, the author tells of working with it alongside Dr. Li, in Santa Marta, in January 2013.
- Scialone
- An Italian word for a spendthrift. In Door XIII it is the nickname of the childhood friend of the author’s father.
- January 22, 1934
Venticano: his father, Antonio, is born. In the village they called him Antonuccio.
- 1945
The war ends. The boys rebuild a small altar to the Madonna del Carmine in the square.
- At seventeen
Antonio leaves Naples on the Auriga. He had never seen the sea.
- 2014
A journey to his homeland: the tomb of Padre Pio and a rainbow.
- July 2019
Miami: his father’s last visit.
- October 13, 2019
His father dies in Milan.
- June 14, 2022
Venticano: he goes to his father’s grave for the first time.
- July 2026
Torre Le Nocelle: the church of the martyr San Ciriaco.
The full story is in the book.
A letter every month
Once a month, a short letter from Sifu Carmine «Tony» Colarusso, in Spanish, English, or Italian. You can unsubscribe from any letter.
«You can read one door a week, or stay longer in the one that asks for it».
Come back to Door XIII when you wish to make peace with your lineage.
How to walk through the doorsBack to the thirteen doors