I feel an odd excitement about tomorrow; the kind of calm, confident, excitement that I always get before doing a form. Waves of tension rippling through my body as every muscle sounds off they're all ready to roar, and that dull sort of head ache as my brain forgets all distraction to tighten its grip on the body's leash, holding it at bay until the signal given. SNAP! Everything surges and the world disappears into the kind of peace only trouncing invisible ninjas can bring.
The reason I'm excited about tomorrow is that I'll be attempting a simple, but impossible task. Failure, therefore won't be a problem, but success would be....amazing. I'll post on here if I succeed.
In other news, Happy 50th to sifu Beckett! Here's a poem about kung fu for you
Already alert, awaiting his turn
To take the world, and make it upturn.
Fists, feet, fire at the ready, hate to spurn
Fire fights fire, loose the dragon, let it burn.
Contents can't cool, in the Cauldron they churn,
Staying state of stirring, release they yearn.
Assume an awesome athletic pattern,
Drills, done daily, Kung Fu's Logos to learn.
Present precise pathos, triumph to earn,
Deadly, demonic demeanor so stern.
Senses, slyly searching, targets discern
Fast, flashy fists like a courtroom adjourn,
Retrospective relaxations return
Loving, laughing, living now my concern
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
An Exercise in Perspective
I've been trying to decipher why I am such a confusing, seemingly contradictory person. I've concluded that the issue is my perspective.
Take a moment to glance over your computer; what do you see? Is it nothing more to you than a portal to the currents of informative fluid? A fishbowl with whole worlds inside? Or perhaps you might see the dried aftermath of your friend's dog splashing coca-cola across it. I could go on and on about my computer Robert Pirsig style, or the Java express cup beside it, or the tacky lamp of from a some forgotten era of atrocious, yet oddly charming decor. I love that lamp.
When I consider my computer, the most important detail in not that I live so much of my life through my fingertips; with the cup, the drink it held no longer matters; with the lamp, it's soft glow isn't why I love it. My point is that the actual purpose I have these things for is so much less fascinating than what the object is and what it represents. The coins in No Country for Old Men come to mind.
I can look at anything and be fascinated. I look work around a strip mine and Thermal Power Plants, and I consider it all to be quite pretty. However, though I can be amazed at the masterpiece that is a computer or a cup, I don't care about them. They could all be gone, and I wouldn't feel particularly bad, though definitely inconvenienced. I could be gone, and the world wouldn't lament. Everything is insignificant.
I was asked during a troublesome but ultimately beneficial conversation with an important mentor months ago whether I felt I was somehow unique or special. I do not, I am the same decaying organic matter as everything else. But for a moment, wonder with me what the nature of the word 'special' really is. If it is mere abnormality, then what is normality. Can anyone tell me what a special person is? Can anyone caught up in the 'disillusionment' fad explain to me why one 19 year old cannot shake the foundations of the Earth? Could a single unfortunately designed curve in a single road in Sarajevo have decided the course of the 20th century? What would the world be like today if Gavrilo Princip's pistol had proven unreliable? Everything, down the priming caps of two small bullets is of earth shattering significance.
But wait a moment, didn't I say that everything is insignificant, but now I've said the opposite. Do you see my dilemma? Anything could come to play a determining role in our future. It is a special person who changes the world so profoundly, but it could be anyone: you, or I, or that annoying "gangsta" down the street who doesn't know how to dress himself. Anyone. This implies that we're all special, which makes 'special' the new 'mediocre'.
I'm not sure if I have succeeded in communicating the sheer level of oddity in my thought process, but I tried.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't stand by the conclusions which have come out of my mind, such as condemning the practice of terminating pregnancy with the kind of religious zeal which makes other patrons in the restaurant not wish to sit near you anymore, yet at the same time I have a hard time with the ethics of prohibiting it even though I'm morally in favor of such prohibition.
Rather than continuing down this winding goat path through the mountains and valleys of my mind, I'll just cut right to my point. My perspective is fragmented and I look at the world as though through several pairs of different eyes and I really need to find a way to unify them in order to reach my full analytical potential.
I'll close with the reason I'm so relaxed, even to the point of seeming unappreciative of the gravity of some situations. If I fail to change the world, to fight ignorance and indifference, and/or to feed the masses it won't matter, because I do not matter. I am but one man and even my death would not draw great notice nor would it end my goal. 6 billion humans and rising, I'm sure there are more Mes out there to take my place, more on the way and no matter how many fail the law of averages says one will succeed, and that's all I need to know.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Take a moment to glance over your computer; what do you see? Is it nothing more to you than a portal to the currents of informative fluid? A fishbowl with whole worlds inside? Or perhaps you might see the dried aftermath of your friend's dog splashing coca-cola across it. I could go on and on about my computer Robert Pirsig style, or the Java express cup beside it, or the tacky lamp of from a some forgotten era of atrocious, yet oddly charming decor. I love that lamp.
When I consider my computer, the most important detail in not that I live so much of my life through my fingertips; with the cup, the drink it held no longer matters; with the lamp, it's soft glow isn't why I love it. My point is that the actual purpose I have these things for is so much less fascinating than what the object is and what it represents. The coins in No Country for Old Men come to mind.
I can look at anything and be fascinated. I look work around a strip mine and Thermal Power Plants, and I consider it all to be quite pretty. However, though I can be amazed at the masterpiece that is a computer or a cup, I don't care about them. They could all be gone, and I wouldn't feel particularly bad, though definitely inconvenienced. I could be gone, and the world wouldn't lament. Everything is insignificant.
I was asked during a troublesome but ultimately beneficial conversation with an important mentor months ago whether I felt I was somehow unique or special. I do not, I am the same decaying organic matter as everything else. But for a moment, wonder with me what the nature of the word 'special' really is. If it is mere abnormality, then what is normality. Can anyone tell me what a special person is? Can anyone caught up in the 'disillusionment' fad explain to me why one 19 year old cannot shake the foundations of the Earth? Could a single unfortunately designed curve in a single road in Sarajevo have decided the course of the 20th century? What would the world be like today if Gavrilo Princip's pistol had proven unreliable? Everything, down the priming caps of two small bullets is of earth shattering significance.
But wait a moment, didn't I say that everything is insignificant, but now I've said the opposite. Do you see my dilemma? Anything could come to play a determining role in our future. It is a special person who changes the world so profoundly, but it could be anyone: you, or I, or that annoying "gangsta" down the street who doesn't know how to dress himself. Anyone. This implies that we're all special, which makes 'special' the new 'mediocre'.
I'm not sure if I have succeeded in communicating the sheer level of oddity in my thought process, but I tried.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't stand by the conclusions which have come out of my mind, such as condemning the practice of terminating pregnancy with the kind of religious zeal which makes other patrons in the restaurant not wish to sit near you anymore, yet at the same time I have a hard time with the ethics of prohibiting it even though I'm morally in favor of such prohibition.
Rather than continuing down this winding goat path through the mountains and valleys of my mind, I'll just cut right to my point. My perspective is fragmented and I look at the world as though through several pairs of different eyes and I really need to find a way to unify them in order to reach my full analytical potential.
I'll close with the reason I'm so relaxed, even to the point of seeming unappreciative of the gravity of some situations. If I fail to change the world, to fight ignorance and indifference, and/or to feed the masses it won't matter, because I do not matter. I am but one man and even my death would not draw great notice nor would it end my goal. 6 billion humans and rising, I'm sure there are more Mes out there to take my place, more on the way and no matter how many fail the law of averages says one will succeed, and that's all I need to know.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Thank you Sir, may I have another?
There are so many things running through my mind which I want to write down, it contrasts beautifully with a short while ago when I first began blogging publicly and had to basically write about having nothing to write.
I had a lovely blog forming in my brain but now it is replaced by something making me giddy. My previously horrible day is now marvelous.
Everyone runs into situations where they are faced by something so abrasive to the fiber of their soul that they cannot help but be compelled to action. These can be things like bottled water wasting our natural resources and being an around bad idea (now banned from SRKF) or they can be little things which don't really matter, for example, some being wrong on the internet.
The other day I was on youtube, mainly watching Henry Rollins videos when I came upon a clip, a rant about pseudo-science, whose description made my sensibilities hurt. I read through the whole thing carefully multiple times, saying aloud to myself, "This cannot be, the irony is too perfect." at this point, ladies and gentlemen, the author's ignorance is palpable, leaving a taste like the scent of brakes burning in the back of my mouth. I couldn't resist my compulsion, so I started writing a message.
Understand that from my perspective, the piece of writing had no redeeming qualities; therefore, I had no positive feedback with which to temper the bad. In the past, any time I have put myself in such a discussion, it ends badly, with me coming off too aggressively when in reality I'm just overly blunt. However, this time was different, watching all that Henry Rollins must have paid off because in my message I basically called him a waste of skin in regards to writing but did it in such a way that he thanked me! That has never happened to me before so I feel triumphant, and I blame it on a change in my writing style and the fact that the user seems like a thoroughly reasonable sort.
Rather than doing it my old method which was to walk in and say, "You're wrong, all wrong; here's why..." I tried something new; I tried to open his mouth BEFORE shoving a fist full of opposing data down his throat. So as not to come off as arrogant I opened the message by making clear my status as amateur and then, rather than attaching my arguments to him, ie. "You're wrong." I targeted the writing itself, ie. "It is wrong." I then proceeded to politely tell him what a waste of perfectly good words the piece was and closed by voicing my hope that he can back up what he said, inviting him to change my mind rather than telling him to change his.
In response I was thanked for my message and informed that though he posted it, he did not write it. Therefore, it was a good choice on my part to address the piece itself rather than attaching it to the him. He also said I can expect a rebuttal within the week, giving him time to produce something well thought out. I am looking forward to it.
It's the little things, not fancy cars, which make life happy.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
I had a lovely blog forming in my brain but now it is replaced by something making me giddy. My previously horrible day is now marvelous.
Everyone runs into situations where they are faced by something so abrasive to the fiber of their soul that they cannot help but be compelled to action. These can be things like bottled water wasting our natural resources and being an around bad idea (now banned from SRKF) or they can be little things which don't really matter, for example, some being wrong on the internet.
The other day I was on youtube, mainly watching Henry Rollins videos when I came upon a clip, a rant about pseudo-science, whose description made my sensibilities hurt. I read through the whole thing carefully multiple times, saying aloud to myself, "This cannot be, the irony is too perfect." at this point, ladies and gentlemen, the author's ignorance is palpable, leaving a taste like the scent of brakes burning in the back of my mouth. I couldn't resist my compulsion, so I started writing a message.
Understand that from my perspective, the piece of writing had no redeeming qualities; therefore, I had no positive feedback with which to temper the bad. In the past, any time I have put myself in such a discussion, it ends badly, with me coming off too aggressively when in reality I'm just overly blunt. However, this time was different, watching all that Henry Rollins must have paid off because in my message I basically called him a waste of skin in regards to writing but did it in such a way that he thanked me! That has never happened to me before so I feel triumphant, and I blame it on a change in my writing style and the fact that the user seems like a thoroughly reasonable sort.
Rather than doing it my old method which was to walk in and say, "You're wrong, all wrong; here's why..." I tried something new; I tried to open his mouth BEFORE shoving a fist full of opposing data down his throat. So as not to come off as arrogant I opened the message by making clear my status as amateur and then, rather than attaching my arguments to him, ie. "You're wrong." I targeted the writing itself, ie. "It is wrong." I then proceeded to politely tell him what a waste of perfectly good words the piece was and closed by voicing my hope that he can back up what he said, inviting him to change my mind rather than telling him to change his.
In response I was thanked for my message and informed that though he posted it, he did not write it. Therefore, it was a good choice on my part to address the piece itself rather than attaching it to the him. He also said I can expect a rebuttal within the week, giving him time to produce something well thought out. I am looking forward to it.
It's the little things, not fancy cars, which make life happy.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Form is nearly done
So, my form is 'done', by which I mean it is to the point where I have a beginning, middle, and end. Some revising will have to be done before it reaches its final incarnation, however, and that may be a while yet.
While showing it to Master Brinker the point arose of balancing the form, by which is meant having the right and left sides equally represented. The form was slightly unbalanced, and the more I looked at it, the more unbalances appeared; therefore, I've structured it in similar style to Long, with the first and second halves mirroring each other. My form is balanced, and now I've reached my 28 move goal. There are two glitchy spots right now, but I'm confident I can have a satisfactory solution in the near future. One criticism I received upon showing the form to a colleague is that the form contained an awful lot of sidekicks. This comment pleases me, considering the form is supposed to center around sidekicks.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
While showing it to Master Brinker the point arose of balancing the form, by which is meant having the right and left sides equally represented. The form was slightly unbalanced, and the more I looked at it, the more unbalances appeared; therefore, I've structured it in similar style to Long, with the first and second halves mirroring each other. My form is balanced, and now I've reached my 28 move goal. There are two glitchy spots right now, but I'm confident I can have a satisfactory solution in the near future. One criticism I received upon showing the form to a colleague is that the form contained an awful lot of sidekicks. This comment pleases me, considering the form is supposed to center around sidekicks.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
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