I have always been a Bruce Lee fan. He was an amazing person to watch in action. He embodied a special charisma that was magnetic. One of my favorite movies of all time was Enter The Dragon. There’s something beautiful about the martial arts and the way Bruce practiced it. One of my favorite scenes of all time is in the beginning of Enter the Dragon where Bruce is training a student. The student is interested in mastering the technique, but Bruce sees the larger picture. He says to the student,
“Don’t think. FEEL. It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”
I found this short video on Youtube. Bruce describes his concepts for teaching someone Jeet Kune Do. In the video, an unidentified man is explaining Bruce’s methods for teaching that are surprisingly practical.
“(We) teach Jeet Kune Do concepts. In other words, teaching someone the concepts, a certain way of thinking behind the martial arts, as opposed to teaching them techniques. To me that kind of illustrates the difference between giving someone a fish and teaching them how to fish. You know that whole story. You can teach someone a certain block and they have that block, or you can teach someone the concept that lies behind the block.”
Jesus did much the same thing. He taught his followers how to fish for men as opposed to giving them a fish. He taught them maturity instead of dependency. He taught them the concepts of faith and love as opposed to the technique of faith. He invited them to follow so they could learn in real life instead of just talking at them. He explained what was going on to them so they could see the concepts behind what he was doing.
Bruce was quoted as saying,
“A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard. Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life. Do not be concerned with escaping safely — lay your life before him.”
Lay your life before him. Sounds familiar.
Missio Dei 