This is the last post of 2012 and the title I chose for it is one the sentences that made Bruce Lee famous when, during an interview in the late sixties, he stated that:
“Water is inessential in terms that you cannot grasp it or hit it and damage it; it can drip or crash. If you put water in a pot it becomes the pot if you out it in a glass it become the glass. Be water my friend!”
This concept is well explained in many eastern philosophies: water and its versatility as well as its destructive power when floods or tsunamis occur are usually used as examples.
The concept of being water or behaving like water is in fact well known and broadly used among many Taoists authors and scholars. Bruce Lee made this concept famous because he was the first celebrity at that time speaking about ancient Chinese philosophy during TV interviews.
My thought for today is: when practicing martial arts, while punching, kicking and performing whatever other technique how often do we actually stop and think about this concept? Do we ever do it? Is this a concept we should actually think about when training or it should be used as one of the basic principles on which we base our lives in martial arts?
Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2013 will bring great new things to yourselves and those who are close to you.