I never knew Lee was a philosopher…

There is a saying that each thought has an energy behind it…so did my thoughts lead me to watch a documentary of, out of all people, Bruce Lee? Read on.

I knew it! So, as I find myself dubiously watching a 2-hour documentary of Bruce Lee (and don’t even ask me how I ended up watching it), quarter way through while the narrator was describing Lee’s six month stint of not being able to do anything physical after severely injuring his back and being practically bed ridden, the following scene made me jump out of my comfortable spot on the sofa to write out some of the things he was saying.

He, himself, a master martial artist became immensely motivated through the teachings and writings of such philosophers as Alan Watts, Buddha, Jiddu Krishnamurti!!! These teachers became his constant companion. Philosophy and spirituality was dominant in Lee’s life, and I had no idea. He majored in Philosophy at University of Washington. I previously had no idea. The above mentioned people are the very same individuals who I have been spending hours reading about and listening to…

Within moments after the above names were mentioned, the film implements an excerpt from a footage of Krishnamurti’s interview in the early 1970s, and I want to quote what was said in the excerpt: “You have to be a light to yourself…(pause)…in a world that is utterly becoming dark”. Proceeding this excerpt, Lee’s wife went on to say that she believes Lee was attracted and drawn to Krishnamurti’s philosophies because they revolved around the notion of self reliance and that when one is searching for the truth, one must look inward…not outward. These philosophies was taken in as new insights for Lee, leading him to a “light bulb” or “aha!” moment for him. In relation to his teachings of the highly specific styles of which he taught Jeet Keen Do, armed with a new outlook and insights, he discarded the notion of “styles” and was more enmeshed with the philosophy of teaching in accordance to an individual’s soul. In an excerpt of an interview of Lee, he states (and I am of course paraphrasing) “Different styles tends to separate man with its separate set of doctrines”. Lee wanted to rid of this way of teaching and thinking to unify his students, the world, despite one’s race, ethnic background, etc.

Lee really, and I mean really stressed the following words, he enunciated each word as if it were his own and he says “to me, to ME, martial arts is ultimately an honest expression of yourself”…so in relation to his life, martial arts was his ultimate expression of himself. For me…I have to somehow further solidify my thoughts to a point where I am able to specifically state what would an “ultimate expression” be for me…because I really do not have a clue right now.

“To express oneself “honestly” and to not lie to oneself, that is, my friend, very hard to do” (Lee)…LOL…no kidding Bruce!

A journey of self discovery…I’m still trying to figure what this entails for me…but maybe instead of constantly questioning myself, I just need to have faith and simply move along without immersing myself with too much thoughts and questions.