Some kind of change is needed, and quick!


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Awakening the Sword of Your Heart.

A seven-day retreat with Norberto Rodrigues,
live from Nara, Japan. 1–7 November 2026, in person or online.

The heart without shadow,
where all things connect and are one.
The sun whose light no darkness can conceal
The sword that gives life and cuts through ignorance.
The mirror that reflects the Dao.
The True Self, holding the jewel of your
boundless potential and timeless wisdom.

You are warmly invited by Norberto and Hiroko to create something beautiful together in Japan.

​Come and be part of the journey 🗡️♥️→​

Some Kind Of Change Is Needed,
And Quick!
​
​

I’m writing to you from some peeks behind the curtain of fiction writing and storytelling—and of course, Ren Xue Life Cultivation, as per usual.

Why does every story need a Mentor, you ask?

The first answer is, when some kind of change is needed, like real quick, we often resort back to what we know, until one day the law of change…

"Why isn't this working? It did before. It’ll work again. I’m hopeful. Maybe if I just try one more time, that will do the magic." 🧙

When the house of cards has toppled, and there is no turning back to the way it was before, hopefully, we will come to the realization that some kind of change is needed.

"What needs to change here? Oh, I know. I need to try differently.” 💡💡💡

But let me tell you, just doing things differently might not bring you the outcome you are looking for either.

Make sure you know what 'differently' means.

​
'Differently' reflects the objective reality that we all have patterns of the consciousness that reflect ignorance—a lack of true understanding of life—and we all need to learn about life.

This differently 'learning about life' does not come from the 'ordinary' ourselves.

If I keep on thinking what I’ve always thought,
then I’ll keep on perceiving what I’ve always perceived.
If I keep on perceiving what I’ve always perceived,
then I’ll keep on seeing what I’ve always seen.
If I keep on seeing what I’ve always seen,
then I’ll keep on doing what I’ve always done.
If I keep on doing what I’ve always done,
then I’ll keep on getting what I’ve always gotten.

What has been created by your incomplete patterns of the consciousness cannot be changed by your incomplete patterns of the consciousness.

It's that simple.

Do you think without a Mentor, Dorothy would have found her way out of Oz? Or would she've learned how to use the ruby slippers’ power to go home, or would she've seized the slippers successfully before the Wicket Witch of the West got her feet on them? Do you think without Glinda’s mentorship, Dorothy would’ve known to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City?

It's that simple. Of course not.

Dorothy would’ve been wandering aimlessly in Munchkinland with no way to return home.

It’s sort of fatal recklessness to think that any hero just can stay in their own head, thinking their way through their ordeals, trials, and gates of life, being their own Mentor, always bucking themselves up without new and different input. Because if it were that easy in the first place of transformation, why didn't the hero do it before?

The hero cannot rise above his common, incomplete consciousness without guidance from a Mentor.

Not in the hero’s journey in fiction writing and even less in Ren Xue Life Cultivation. Not when the biggest undertaking of the hero is to wake up from the vivid, continuous dream and dismantle the incomplete reference to open the heart, to return to being aligned with the laws of the universe.

There is no way to return 'home' without the right preparation to step into the unknown and be equipped with the right tools, training, and warnings for this major undertaking.

If the hero lacks realization and wisdom to face their challenges ahead, the hero is likely to rush into danger unprepared and succumb to their 'gates of life' (their trials and ordeals). The hero needs not only a lot of opportunities to practice, but he also needs the wisdom of the Mentor to deploy what he has learned. Only when these fundamental requirements are in place can the hero successfully go through a 'gate'.

There are many different levels of people that guide us and teach us, and all of them are indispensable on the hero’s journey of transformation. Without the 'agents of Dao' it wouldn’t be possible, yet…

The hero will have to venture where he’s never been before. The hero has to leave the realm of the known, his known system by which he is run and controlled. The consciousness he has in the present cannot lead him to where he has never been before. It has to undergo reconstruction along the way.

This reconstruction, this leaving the realm of the known, this returning to the laws of the universe cannot be done by using the 'usual things' we do, or know, or what comes from the ordinary ourselves. A very different ingredient has to be added so that the consciousness can change on a fundamental level.

This is only possible with a Mentor.

And who is the Mentor in Ren Xue Life Cultivation?

It is not a person.
It is not usual or known to us.
It is a very different ingredient that has to be added so that the consciousness can change.

The Mentor are the laws of life.

"The laws of life are not human-made rules or descriptions of something. They are the very quality that defines the fundamental nature of something." Yuan Tze / Ren Xue Life Cultivation

This is the core of Life Cultivation, when we want to dismantle the heart from all its patterns.

You might want to argue that the Mentor comes in many forms, and in fiction writing they can come in the form of a person, like Glinda in the Wizard of Oz.

Sure thing.

It would be super boring if you’d pick up a book and read a story without characters in it. But also don’t forget, in fiction writing, every landscape, character, and event the hero meets on his endeavor of transformation is shown in the language of symbolism; nothing is literal.

XOM

Mirjam Blank​
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