Level Zero seems like some vague philosophy stuff. Give me an analogy I can understand. Why on earth should I practise some abstract thing? How is it going to help me?
— A teenager
Level Zero isn’t a philosophical construct. It’s a survival skill. I devised it in my own fashion, stumbling and building it over the decades.
When the whole world is crumbling before your eyes, when your position in a peer group has lost its standing, when fear and panic loom large, when the tight knot in your stomach starts burning, then you need something to fall back on; you need a pillar of support from within. Level Zero is that pillar of support.
Over the decades, I slowly understood that there were two separate layers to what was happening inside and outside of myself. The outside layer was the stress that surrounded me. The inner layer was my own response to that stress. I could, technically speaking, choose not to respond and remain calm.
However, that choice was not an easy option. I was like a floating raft in a raging river, unless I could find a place to anchor myself on the shore I would be swept away into the boiling waterfalls below.
This happens to all of us everyday, in our own respective way. I don’t know who you are or what your problem is but I know for sure that your mind can get as messed up as my mind used to get. Take a few seconds and look at yourself. If you can expand the time between the stimulus and the response, between the ridicule and the anger, between the provocation and the emotion, you will understand that a complex chemical process is underway inside your head. Within a few moments of being provoked, your brain releases all kinds of hormones and neurochemicals that raise the response levels of your body to a state of heightened alarm. Level Zero is a discipline that can put an end to that automatic response. It can put the power of emotional choice back in your hands.
While practising Level Zero, you must remember that you are doing a set of training exercises that are designed to save you from disaster. This is not philosophy, Bro. It’s pure survival. When the going gets tough, the tough become cool and level headed. The ones who can survive a stressful situation are the ones who will win.
Level Zero can give you an unfair advantage in a crisis, like bringing a gun to a knife fight. You wanted an analogy you could understand. Here it is. You are in a dark alley and three guys with knives close in on you. You pull out your automatic, keep your cool and fire at will.
So go for it. Pull out last week’s issue and read my column again. Follow the manual inside. It’s just one paragraph worth of technique, but if you use it well you could change everything in your life. Best of luck.