MARIA Popova observes that Bruce Lee was as good at writing as he was at kung fu. He walked out of the set of what turned out to be his last movie because they clipped his philosophy from the script. It was restored. That is what made Enter The Dragon a cultural artefact for the Library of Congress.
Lee died before the movie’s release. Here is one reflection, written in a small notebook, in his small neat hand. “The power of will is the supreme court over all other departments of my mind. I will exercise the power of will daily for when I need the urge to act. I will form the habit, at least once daily, to bring the power of my will into action.”
What he is saying is that none of this is instinctive. If anything is instinctive, it is lack of will
or enervation.
Here’s another. “My emotions often err in their overenthusiasm. My faculty of reason often is without the warmth of feeling necessary to enable me to combine justice with mercy in my judgments. I will encourage my conscience to guide me as to what is right and what is wrong, but I will never set aside the verdicts that conscience renders, no matter the cost of carrying them out.”
What he is saying is that even feelings need to be trained to respond to situations and often the response is excessive or too little, badly calibrated with the nature of the occasion calling them forth. Even conscience needs to be prodded into working. Most of the time, we are conscienceless. And even after our conscience is awakened and arrives at the right judgment, yet another act of will is needed to abide by the ruling of conscience.
What he is saying is that, by nature, man is lazy and the closest of his evolutionary companions is the sloth.
All that from a real kung fu master and not an animation though nothing tops Kung Fu Panda’s words, “Enough talk, let’s fight.”