“Our
culture is our immune system.”
~Marimba Ani
Showing posts with label livity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label livity. Show all posts
Be Like Water: The Philosophy and Origin of Bruce Lee's Famous Metaphor | Brain Pickings
“In order to control myself I must first accept myself by going with and not against my nature.”
With his singular blend of physical prowess and metaphysical wisdom, coupled with his tragic untimely death, legendary Chinese-American martial artist, philosopher, and filmmakerBruce Lee (1940-1973) is one of those rare cultural icons whose ethos and appeal remain timeless, attracting generation after generation of devotees. Inspired by the core principles of Wing Chun, the ancient Chinese conceptual martial art, which he learned from his only formal martial arts teacher, Yip Man, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. When he left Hong Kong in 1959, Lee adapted Wing Chun into own version, Jun Fan Gung Fu — literal translation: Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu — and popularized it in America.
With his singular blend of physical prowess and metaphysical wisdom, coupled with his tragic untimely death, legendary Chinese-American martial artist, philosopher, and filmmakerBruce Lee (1940-1973) is one of those rare cultural icons whose ethos and appeal remain timeless, attracting generation after generation of devotees. Inspired by the core principles of Wing Chun, the ancient Chinese conceptual martial art, which he learned from his only formal martial arts teacher, Yip Man, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. When he left Hong Kong in 1959, Lee adapted Wing Chun into own version, Jun Fan Gung Fu — literal translation: Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu — and popularized it in America.
In 1971, at the peak of his career, Lee starred in four episodes of the short-lived TV series Longstreet. In one of them, he delivered his most oft-cited metaphor for the philosophy of Gung Fu:
But the famed snippet belies the full dimensionality of the metaphor and says nothing about how Lee arrived at it. Luckily, in Bruce Lee: Artist of Life (public library) — a compendium of his never-before-published private letters, notes, and poems, offering unprecedented insight into his philosophy on life and his convictions about martial arts, love, and parenthood — Lee traces the thinking that originated his famous metaphor, which came after a period of frustration with his inability to master “the art of detachment” that Yip Man was trying to impart on him. Lee writes:
When my acute self-consciousness grew to what the psychologists refer to as the “double-bind” type, my instructor would again approach me and say, “Loong, preserve yourself by following the natural bends of things and don’t interfere. Remember never to assert yourself against nature; never be in frontal opposition to any problems, but control it by swinging with it. Don’t practice this week: Go home and think about it.”
And so he did, spending the following week at home:
After spending many hours meditating and practicing, I gave up and went sailing alone in a junk. On the sea I thought of all my past training and got mad at myself and punched the water! Right then — at that moment — a thought suddenly struck me; was not this water the very essence of gung fu? Hadn’t this water just now illustrated to me the principle of gung fu? I struck it but it did not suffer hurt. Again I struck it with all of my might — yet it was not wounded! I then tried to grasp a handful of it but this proved impossible. This water, the softest substance in the world, which could be contained in the smallest jar, only seemed weak. In reality, it could penetrate the hardest substance in the world. That was it! I wanted to be like the nature of water.Suddenly a bird flew by and cast its reflection on the water. Right then I was absorbing myself with the lesson of the water, another mystic sense of hidden meaning revealed itself to me; should not the thoughts and emotions I had when in front of an opponent pass like the reflection of the birds flying over the water? This was exactly what Professor Yip meant by being detached — not being without emotion or feeling, but being one in whom feeling was not sticky or blocked. Therefore in order to control myself I must first accept myself by going with and not against my nature.
Bruce Lee (right) with his only formal martial art instructor, Yip Man
Quoting from Lao Tzu’s famous teachings, Lee writes:
The natural phenomenon which the gung fu man sees as being the closest resemblance to wu wei [the principle of spontaneous action governed by the mind and not the senses] is water:Nothing is weaker than water,
But when it attacks something hard
Or resistant, then nothing withstands it,
And nothing will alter its way.The above passages from the Tao Te Ching illustrate to us the nature of water: Water is so fine that it is impossible to grasp a handful of it; strike it, yet it does not suffer hurt; stab it, and it is not wounded; sever it, yet it is not divided. It has no shape of its own but molds itself to the receptacle that contains it. When heated to the state of steam it is invisible but has enough power to split the earth itself. When frozen it crystallizes into a might rock. First it is turbulent like Niagara Falls, and then calm like a still pond, fearful like a torrent , and refreshing like a spring on a hot summer’s day. So is the principle of wu wei:The rivers and seas are lords of a hundred valleys. This is because their strength is in lowliness; they are kings of them all. So it is that the perfect mater wishing to lead them, he follows. Thus, though he is above them, he follows. Thus, though he is above them, men do not feel him to be an injury. And since he will not strive, none strive with him.
Bruce Lee: Artist of Life is fantastic in its entirety.
Esteban Montejo (en Cuba). A man AGAIN.
"…hands were swollen.
I camped under a tree. I stayed
there no more than four or five days.
All I had to do was hear the first human voice close by, and I would take off fast.
I came to hide in a cave for a time. I lived there for a year and a half. . ..I
was careful about all the sounds I made, And of the fires. If I left a track, they could follow my path and
catch me. I climbed up and down so many
hills that my legs and arms got as hard as sticks. Little by little I got to know the
woods. And I began to like them. Sometimes I would
forget I was a Cimarron, and I would start to whistle. Early on I used to whistle to get over the
fear. They say that when you whistle,
you chase away the evil spirits. But
being a Cimarron in the woods you had to be on the lookout. I didn't start whistling again because the guajiros or the slave catchers would come. Since the Cimarron was a slave who ahd
escaped, the masters sent a posse of rancheadores after them. Mean guajiros with hunting dogs so they could
drag you out of the woods in their jaws.
I never ran into any of them. I
never seen any of those dogs up close.
They were trained to catch blacks…
When a slave catcher caught a black, the master or the overseer gave him
an ounce of gold or more.
Truth is that I lived well as a cimarron, very hidden, very
comfortable. I didn't even allow other
cimarrones to spot me: "cimarron with cimarron sells
a cimarron." For a long time
I didn't speak a word to anyone. I liked
that tranquility. …You live half wild when you're a cimarron.
I found out about the end of slavery from all the people
shouting. . . They shouted, "We're free now." But I wasn't affected. To my mind, it was a lie… When I came out of the woods I started in
walking, and I met an old woman with two children in her arms. I called to her from a distance, and when she
came up to me I asked her: "Tell me, is it true that we're no longer
slaves?" She answered me: "No,
son, now we're really free." And,
with that, as quickly as I became a cimarron… I stopped being a cimaroon. And became myself…a
man…again."
The World Breaks Everyone
“The world breaks
everyone and afterward
many are strong at the broken places.
But those that will not break
it kills. It kills the very
good and the very
gentle and the very
brave impartially. If you
are none of these you
can be sure that it will
kill you too, but there
will be no special
hurry.”
~Ernest Hemingway (?)
The Lesson
The Lesson
I keep on dying again.
Veins collaps, opening like the
Small fists of sleeping
Children.
Memory of old tombs,
flesh Rotting and worms do
Not convince me against
The challenge. The years
And cold defeat live deep in
Lines along my face.
They dull my eyes, yet
I keep on dying,
Because I love to live.
~Maya Angelou
(rest in perfect peace Danroy Henry)
Afrikan Music: Hard Times - Run D.M.C.
Hard times spreading just like the flu
Watch out homeboy, don't let it catch you
P-p-prices go up, don't let your pocket go down
When you got short money you're stuck on the ground
Turn around, get ready, keep your eye on the prize
And be on point for the future shock
Hard times are coming to your town
So stay alert, don't let them get you down
They tell you times are tough, you hear that times are hard
But when you work for that ace you know you pulled the right card
Hard times got our pockets all in change
I'll tell you what, homeboy, it don't have my brain
All day I have to work at my peak
Beacuse I need that dollar every day of the week
Hard times
Hard times can take you on a natural trip
So keep your balance, and don't you slip
Hard times is nothing new on me
I'm gonna use my strong mentality
Like the cream of the crop, like the crop of the cream
B-b-beating hard times, that is my theme
Hard times in life, hard times in death
I'm gonna keep on fighting to my very last breath.
~Run D.M.C.
The Last Word
"...jessie (little doe) and her husband, Jason Baird, who also is fluent, are raising their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Mae Alice, entirely in Wampanoag. She is the first native speaker in seven generations. Six or seven other Wampanoag community members also have attained conversational fluency and are working towards total mastery. Some 50 people, from small children to elders, and 6 teachers attended a recent immersion camp at which only Wampanoag was spoken." (more).
Idren met (now 5 year old) Mae Alice earlier this month at the Mashpee Wampanoag 'Wow. Remarkable. Indeed, ini N8V African & N8V American haffi much to teach one a neddy, o?
"An Energy In Us"
"There was a third white destroyer: a missionary who wanted to replace all knowledge of our way with fables even our children laughed at then. We told the white missionary we had such fables too, but kept them for the entertainment of those yet growing up - fables of gods and devils and a supreme being above everything. We told him we knew soft minds needed such illusions, but that when any mind grew among us to adulthood it grew beyond these fables and came to understand that there is indeed a great force in the world, a force spiritual and able to shape the physical universe, but that that force is not something cut off, not something seperate from ourselves. It is an energy in us, strongest in our working, breathing, thinking together as one people; weakest when we are scattered, confused, broken into individual, unconnected fragments."
~Ayi Kwei Armah
Hey Castle Voodoo Bold As Wing Wind
November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970
a
Demsay, imitation is the highest form of flattery:
Chaka - Little Wing
SRV - Little Wing
Sting - Little Wing
Yuta
African Lioness in Church
Shackle, an 11-year-old African lioness rode out hurricane Ike in the First Baptist Church of Crystal Beach, in Cyrstal Beach, Texas on Sept. 16, 2008 (from Big Picture Globe). Seen? (smile).
Not sayin' I'm Number One...
In the oldest & best tradition of 'make iNi feel good' is a true master of the ceremony: Blast Master. 'Im affi call simple (seen?) & positivity spirit come wi chicken bubblin 8:46 full fya AWO. "Not sayin' I'm Number One, Oop m'sorry I Lied, I'm #1,2,3,4 and [figgyfiggy] 5".
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~KRS-ONE
Sickness Invaded Me
Seven days since I saw my sister,
And sickness invaded me;
I am heavy in all my limbs,
My body has forsaken me.
When the physicians come to me,
My heart rejects their remedies;
The magicians are quite helpless,
My sickness is not discerned.
To tell me "She is here" would revive me!
Her name would make me rise;
Her messenger's coming and going,
That would revive my heart!
My sister is better than all prescriptions,
She does more for me than all medicines;
Her coming to me is my amulet,
The sight of her makes me well!
When she opens her eyes my body is young,
Her speaking makes me strong;
Embracing her expels my malady—
Seven days since she went from me!
~Seventh Stanza, from Papyrus Chester Beatty (Pleasant Versus),
New Kgdm Kmt 1200 B.C.E.
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