Whenever I talk about philosophy in the martial arts, I always refer to Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do (JKD). I usually say that Lee was one of the greatest modern philosophers but that his brilliance was overshadowed by his entertainment career. Any knowledgeable martial artist or martial arts enthusiast would know that JKD is not a system of fighting but rather a philosophy for self-development. A major portion of that self-development, of course, would be in martial arts training, but training in the most efficient and functional way.
I give Lee a lot of credit for revolutionizing the martial arts for the 20th century. He understood the need for a practical approach to the martial arts and questioned the orthodoxy inherent in the more traditional styles. But as I progress in my training, I've come to question whether I'm correct in labeling Bruce Lee with the title "one of the greatest philosophers." Indeed, this may be blasphemous to say around the hardcore Jun Fan JKD practitioner, but then again, I've never been one to be part of a personality cult. Besides, Lee himself advocated a teaching methodology that focuses on individual instruction rather than mass instruction. He espoused an individualist mindset in the martial arts and opposed the idea of a cult around a person, or system, including himself. Likewise he lived what he believed by creating an approach to self-development that set him apart from the martial artists of his day.
The first 25 pages and the last 8 pages of Tao of JKD (Lee's collection of notes turned into book form), gives the essential treatment of Lee's philosophy. He was influenced by both Eastern and Western thought, but JKD is predominantly Eastern. The philosophical underpinnings of JKD is a mixture of Zen Buddhism, Taoism, and Indian mysticism as expressed in Krishnamurti. The Big Three, as I'll call them here, can be debated over for a very long time, but inevitably, when taken to their logical end, they all come up short. They are unlivable as a spiritual foundation, especially Zen Buddhism, with its nonsensical disregard for the Law of Contradiction (which states that something can't concurrently be non-something). Lee was a philosophy major in college so he should have been fully aware of the Law of Contradiction, as taught in Philosophy 101. But his background and the counterculture mileu of his day emphasized the relativistic post-modernist views that relate well to the Big Three.
In his attempt to explain JKD in Eastern mysticist terms, he overcomplicated JKD for what it is - his own personal development in the martial arts. That's it! Nothing else. Lee acknowledged this simplicity, but it was clouded by the mysticism that was part of his thought process. He intended to create a philosophy that incorporated both martial arts and life and was still in the process of doing so when he died. In fact, he was only beginning to develop as a martial artist. Like any good philosoper, he sought correspondence between thought and reality. Because his cultural and philosophical background was steeped in the Big Three, it only made sense that he expressed it in his martial arts.
Should I label Bruce Lee as "one of the greatest" ? Yes, but to be precise, he's a great philosopher in the sense that Ayn Rand or Lao-tzu are great philosophers. They were not necessarily correct in their thinking, but they earned the title because of their honest struggle for coherence and because of the following that resulted from their teachings. In my book, a truly great philosopher earns the title only if he has reached a sensible, livable, holistic, and logical end to his thoughts, and that includes having a following as well. (And to clarify, it's not an exhuastive end to that person's thoughts, but rather acknowledging absolute propositional revelation and to grow in thought and behavior based on that revelation.) Even though Lee used nonsensical philosophies to undergird his message, he was still able to explain truths about the search for martial arts efficacy and that the individual should always be in a state of learning and growing.
My article JKD vs. PMABM (coming soon) summarizes the comparison between the two approaches to the martial arts.
November 22, 2005
November 21, 2005
A Letter to Joe
If anyone has any contact with Joe Martorell, please get him to write me or call me.
Dear (former Youth Pastor) Joe,
Where in the world are you? Don't be afraid to talk to me. Why do you hide in the shadows? Why do you avoid me? Don't you know I'm aware of forgiveness? Don't you know I'd rather talk about things than to not talk at all? I'd rather you face the challenge of talking to me again instead of staying under the radar, living in fear. Fear of having to open up to me and admit that you're human.
Yes, I'm very sympathetic to what you went through eight years ago. I can't imagine what it's like to lose your father then lose one of the youth group kids nearly the same time. Please remember that your dad came to know Jesus before leaving this world. I will never forget the glow on his face, and on yours, after he made the salvation decision. And you couldn't do anything about Mike, so don't blame yourself. It was hard for all of us. I'm now a youth group leader as well and I would be devastated if any of the kids under my care took his or her own life. Didn't realize that it wouldn't take long for you to buckle under all the pressure. I don't even know what you did; everyone told me you did something that caused you to lose your ministry, that was it. Whatever you did I only hope you've already placed it under the blood of Christ.
Come on Joe, don't just avoid me because of what happened in the past. Man, the time I needed you most was back in college. Of all things, I barely asked you for help while I was in youth group, but then after youth group was when all the crap happened to me. No, don't stinkin' feel guilty over another thing now. All I want is for you to overcome! And the first step would be to talk to me. Or if you've already overcome, talk to me anyway. You know very well that nothing you did was so bad that God can't forgive you. And nothing you did was so bad that you can't tell me, or at least give me an idea of what garbage you had to go through. Don't think that I don't know about all the corruption and evil in the world. And don't think I don't know what Christians have to face all the time, either.
So stop thinking about yourself and your mistakes. You know what to do already. Yes, that's right: bless others with what you've learned from the past and help others to overcome as well. If it'll make you feel better, you could make up for everything by showing me what it means to be more than a conqueror.
I'll talk to you soon.
mtc,
L
Dear (former Youth Pastor) Joe,
Where in the world are you? Don't be afraid to talk to me. Why do you hide in the shadows? Why do you avoid me? Don't you know I'm aware of forgiveness? Don't you know I'd rather talk about things than to not talk at all? I'd rather you face the challenge of talking to me again instead of staying under the radar, living in fear. Fear of having to open up to me and admit that you're human.
Yes, I'm very sympathetic to what you went through eight years ago. I can't imagine what it's like to lose your father then lose one of the youth group kids nearly the same time. Please remember that your dad came to know Jesus before leaving this world. I will never forget the glow on his face, and on yours, after he made the salvation decision. And you couldn't do anything about Mike, so don't blame yourself. It was hard for all of us. I'm now a youth group leader as well and I would be devastated if any of the kids under my care took his or her own life. Didn't realize that it wouldn't take long for you to buckle under all the pressure. I don't even know what you did; everyone told me you did something that caused you to lose your ministry, that was it. Whatever you did I only hope you've already placed it under the blood of Christ.
Come on Joe, don't just avoid me because of what happened in the past. Man, the time I needed you most was back in college. Of all things, I barely asked you for help while I was in youth group, but then after youth group was when all the crap happened to me. No, don't stinkin' feel guilty over another thing now. All I want is for you to overcome! And the first step would be to talk to me. Or if you've already overcome, talk to me anyway. You know very well that nothing you did was so bad that God can't forgive you. And nothing you did was so bad that you can't tell me, or at least give me an idea of what garbage you had to go through. Don't think that I don't know about all the corruption and evil in the world. And don't think I don't know what Christians have to face all the time, either.
So stop thinking about yourself and your mistakes. You know what to do already. Yes, that's right: bless others with what you've learned from the past and help others to overcome as well. If it'll make you feel better, you could make up for everything by showing me what it means to be more than a conqueror.
I'll talk to you soon.
mtc,
L
November 11, 2005
Unintelligent
It is incorrect to say that intelligent design is the same as Biblical creationism. Before I begin, there are three terms that need to be defined:
Intelligent Design (ID) - the idea that a higher power created the universe regardless of religious leanings with scientific research supporting the claim.
Creation Science (CS) - scientific research based on the Genesis account of creation.
Biblical Creationism (BC) - acknowledging Genesis as the true account of the universe's origins with God as the Creator.
So to use these terms in a sentence: Acknowledging ID, CS has made great strides in offering support for BC.
Or it can be understood in a secular sense: Acknowledging ID, the Sci-fi club had more proof of the superior ancient alien race that created the universe.
The latter is crap, but it should be more understandable now.
It's round two for Darwinism vs. Creationism in the court of law, this time in Dover, PA. Americans are presently more brainwashed by Darwinism than in the last battle. The more militant Darwinists think that creationists are sneaking in through the back door with this new phrase "Intelligent Design." The media, and a number of creationists, define Intelligent Design as the universe being so complex that there must have been an intelligent agent behind it. While that's true for the most part, I would define ID even further to avoid misunderstanding. It's not so much the complexity issue, even though the universe is more complex than if it had spontaneously generated by chance. Rather I would say that the universe can be understood through the use of reason and we can learn more about it using the tool of science. The complexity idea then is not so much that we can't understand the universe, but that we can understand it! There is something reasonable behind the material world, everything from an atom to a galaxy. Once a person grasps even a few principles behind the workings of the atom or the vastness of a galactic spiral, it would be utterly ridiculous for that person to think that these came to existence by random chance processes.
I read one article by a well-known op-ed writer who tried to dismiss the creationists in this renewed debate. He insisted that there is a huge divide between science and faith. He defined faith as a hopefulness for something that may or may not be true. The example he used was a person rooting for his favorite sports team. He said that no matter how hard that person puts his "faith" in the team, by putting on their jersey or waving their flag at the right moment, there is no way that person has any effect on the team's chances to win. He started off with a bad example to illustrate "faith" and he was only in the first paragraph! By using that illustration, he erroneously thought that faith was akin to luck and hope. It's apparent the man is ignorant of the various definitions of faith and the amount of scientific evidence supporting creationism. Not only that, but he wasn't aware of the differences in the three terms mentioned earlier that he should have known if he were to be part of the debate. Instead he jumped in and displayed to the world his ignorance of "the other side."
Another piece I read was some local man's opinion on the debate. He was a Darwinist scientist who said that creationists rely on "gaps" in the evolutionary record to prove macroevolution wrong. Well, it seems this man has gaps in his understanding of what creationists use to prove our case. This "scientist" obviously didn't have too many discussions with creationists. Yes, Lyell's geological column has a lot of gaps and the carbon 14 dating methods have gaps also, but "gaps" aren't the big guns in the creationist argument. Those are merely a couple of pieces in the puzzle. There are several hundred more ways to disprove Darwinism and I'm only talking about one branch of science - geology. The picture becomes more clear for evolutionists (hopefully) when you include other branches of science like biochemistry, astronomy, genetics, etc.
It's too bad that popular scientific opinions are more readily accepted by the masses than good science.
Intelligent Design (ID) - the idea that a higher power created the universe regardless of religious leanings with scientific research supporting the claim.
Creation Science (CS) - scientific research based on the Genesis account of creation.
Biblical Creationism (BC) - acknowledging Genesis as the true account of the universe's origins with God as the Creator.
So to use these terms in a sentence: Acknowledging ID, CS has made great strides in offering support for BC.
Or it can be understood in a secular sense: Acknowledging ID, the Sci-fi club had more proof of the superior ancient alien race that created the universe.
The latter is crap, but it should be more understandable now.
It's round two for Darwinism vs. Creationism in the court of law, this time in Dover, PA. Americans are presently more brainwashed by Darwinism than in the last battle. The more militant Darwinists think that creationists are sneaking in through the back door with this new phrase "Intelligent Design." The media, and a number of creationists, define Intelligent Design as the universe being so complex that there must have been an intelligent agent behind it. While that's true for the most part, I would define ID even further to avoid misunderstanding. It's not so much the complexity issue, even though the universe is more complex than if it had spontaneously generated by chance. Rather I would say that the universe can be understood through the use of reason and we can learn more about it using the tool of science. The complexity idea then is not so much that we can't understand the universe, but that we can understand it! There is something reasonable behind the material world, everything from an atom to a galaxy. Once a person grasps even a few principles behind the workings of the atom or the vastness of a galactic spiral, it would be utterly ridiculous for that person to think that these came to existence by random chance processes.
I read one article by a well-known op-ed writer who tried to dismiss the creationists in this renewed debate. He insisted that there is a huge divide between science and faith. He defined faith as a hopefulness for something that may or may not be true. The example he used was a person rooting for his favorite sports team. He said that no matter how hard that person puts his "faith" in the team, by putting on their jersey or waving their flag at the right moment, there is no way that person has any effect on the team's chances to win. He started off with a bad example to illustrate "faith" and he was only in the first paragraph! By using that illustration, he erroneously thought that faith was akin to luck and hope. It's apparent the man is ignorant of the various definitions of faith and the amount of scientific evidence supporting creationism. Not only that, but he wasn't aware of the differences in the three terms mentioned earlier that he should have known if he were to be part of the debate. Instead he jumped in and displayed to the world his ignorance of "the other side."
Another piece I read was some local man's opinion on the debate. He was a Darwinist scientist who said that creationists rely on "gaps" in the evolutionary record to prove macroevolution wrong. Well, it seems this man has gaps in his understanding of what creationists use to prove our case. This "scientist" obviously didn't have too many discussions with creationists. Yes, Lyell's geological column has a lot of gaps and the carbon 14 dating methods have gaps also, but "gaps" aren't the big guns in the creationist argument. Those are merely a couple of pieces in the puzzle. There are several hundred more ways to disprove Darwinism and I'm only talking about one branch of science - geology. The picture becomes more clear for evolutionists (hopefully) when you include other branches of science like biochemistry, astronomy, genetics, etc.
It's too bad that popular scientific opinions are more readily accepted by the masses than good science.
November 09, 2005
Simpson silliness
"Me and my family got out of that and came to L.A...To see all forms of meditation and prayer made me less judgmental."
- Jessica Simpson talking about her Southern Baptist background
"What's wrong with that guy?"
- David Spade, in a commercial talking about Joe Simpson, Jessica's dad
Of all the things I could write about, I end up with Jessica Simpson. I don't even consider myself a fan. In fact I don't even think much of her or her music. She's this blonde chick who gets in front of my view every now and then on TV or in a store's check-out line. I have no real reason why I want to respond to anything by Jessica Simpson, no matter how dumb it is. Maybe I just want to loosen up a bit with this blog entry, not get so serious all the time. So instead of being combative let me simply complain. I could care less about the idiotic rumors about her and Lachey. My beef is with the statement she made. My word, what the heck is wrong with Jessica Simpson? It seemed the moment she donned the daisy dukes, she cut off her Christian roots. I won't even say anything about the Boots video. She was walking all over something all right - she walked all over her Baptist background and Christianity in general. Unbelievers do that already. Don't need any volunteers from our side of the fence.
I'll give her the benefit of the doubt...for now. She may not be handling the whole fame and fortune thing so well and is in a period of backsliding. Or, it was a statement that was taken out of context. Maybe she is merely less judgmental like she said and that she meant she just got out of the youth group seminar lifestyle of her dad's. Or, (the most plausible reason) she didn't know what it was all about in the first place, thinking she just came from another one of the world's religions. Joe Simpson's ambition for fame and fortune, done vicariously through his daughters, caused him to neglect his first, foremost important job: raising his kids right in the way of the Lord. Yes, Joe, go ahead and exploit them to the fullest! I'm sure Jessica was just one of those kids who wasn't exposed to other points of view and all she knew was the Southern Baptist way. Then came the glitter and the glamour and she never had the chance to really deliberate in her heart and mind what the Truth was all about. I could just hear her say, "Oh, wow, other people pray also? It's not just a Christian thing? Well, then. I guess all roads lead to the same place!" The depth of thought astounds me. And Joe S. was a youth pastor? Sad. I only hope they figure things out about their lives before God does something drastic to them. They're in the position to influence a whole lot of people for Jesus and yet they're only using it to fulfill their desires. Let's see how this all unfolds.
- Jessica Simpson talking about her Southern Baptist background
"What's wrong with that guy?"
- David Spade, in a commercial talking about Joe Simpson, Jessica's dad
Of all the things I could write about, I end up with Jessica Simpson. I don't even consider myself a fan. In fact I don't even think much of her or her music. She's this blonde chick who gets in front of my view every now and then on TV or in a store's check-out line. I have no real reason why I want to respond to anything by Jessica Simpson, no matter how dumb it is. Maybe I just want to loosen up a bit with this blog entry, not get so serious all the time. So instead of being combative let me simply complain. I could care less about the idiotic rumors about her and Lachey. My beef is with the statement she made. My word, what the heck is wrong with Jessica Simpson? It seemed the moment she donned the daisy dukes, she cut off her Christian roots. I won't even say anything about the Boots video. She was walking all over something all right - she walked all over her Baptist background and Christianity in general. Unbelievers do that already. Don't need any volunteers from our side of the fence.I'll give her the benefit of the doubt...for now. She may not be handling the whole fame and fortune thing so well and is in a period of backsliding. Or, it was a statement that was taken out of context. Maybe she is merely less judgmental like she said and that she meant she just got out of the youth group seminar lifestyle of her dad's. Or, (the most plausible reason) she didn't know what it was all about in the first place, thinking she just came from another one of the world's religions. Joe Simpson's ambition for fame and fortune, done vicariously through his daughters, caused him to neglect his first, foremost important job: raising his kids right in the way of the Lord. Yes, Joe, go ahead and exploit them to the fullest! I'm sure Jessica was just one of those kids who wasn't exposed to other points of view and all she knew was the Southern Baptist way. Then came the glitter and the glamour and she never had the chance to really deliberate in her heart and mind what the Truth was all about. I could just hear her say, "Oh, wow, other people pray also? It's not just a Christian thing? Well, then. I guess all roads lead to the same place!" The depth of thought astounds me. And Joe S. was a youth pastor? Sad. I only hope they figure things out about their lives before God does something drastic to them. They're in the position to influence a whole lot of people for Jesus and yet they're only using it to fulfill their desires. Let's see how this all unfolds.