The Warrior Within : The Philosophies of Bruce Lee Author: John Little | Language: English | ISBN:
0809231948 | Format: EPUB
The Warrior Within : The Philosophies of Bruce Lee Description
From Library Journal
While Bruce Lee is generally thought of as a martial arts specialist who made movies and at 33 died under mysterious circumstances, his public perception does not usually include that of a master philosopher. Little (Precision Training: The New Method To Achieve Optimum Muscularity, Power Factor Pub., 1995) attempts to remedy that in this compelling and interesting book, written with the blessing of Lee's estate. A student of Lee's "jeet kune do" form of martial art, Little was given access to heretofore unreleased personal notes, sketches, and reading annotations. What is revealed is a man who read extensively and was well versed in the philosophies of both East and West. Little arranges his narrative under such headings as "See the Totality," "Defeating Adversity," and "The Warrior Within." There is also an excerpt from an interview Little conducted with the late Brandon Lee (Bruce's son), as well as appendixes detailing Lee's principal works and a chronology of his life. While not an essential purchase, it is a worthwhile addition to public library collections.?David M. Turkalo, Suffolk Univ. Law School Lib., Boston
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
John Little is uniquely suited to the task of relating the philosophy of Bruce Lee and his approach to life. Little has a degree in philosophy from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is the author of two books on health and fitness (having spent over fifteen years as a writer for several fitness magazines), and is himself a student of Lee's art of jeet kune do. Selected by the Bruce Lee estate, Little is the only person who has ever been authorized to review the entirety of Lee's personal notes, sketches, and reading annotations and to edit books on the subject of Lee's martial art and its far-reaching philosophical underpinnings. Little's keen awareness of the subtleties of both Eastern and Western philosophy coupled with a respect for the preservation of the essence of Lee's words and meaning give this book an integrity that is all too rare.
- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (April 1, 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0809231948
- ISBN-13: 978-0809231942
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 x 0.6 inches
- Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
The book basically describes concepts of how Bruce Lee lived his life, and John Little shows how you can apply them to your life. The main concept in the book is to 'be yourself'. It is about easing up, and not adding complication to things that should occur naturally, such as in breathing. Do we think about how we breathe, and how to take a breath in and how to breath out? No, it is a natural process, and works its best when done naturally.
The primary concept Bruce applies is the empty mindedness concept. Instead of theorizing how to drink each time he drank, ie. hold a cup, tip it slightly, sip, Bruce says to learn to do this naturally. As in, you might have to learn it mechanically at first, but to truly drink or do anything successfully, you have to integrate it into a natural process, without you thinking about it. A quote that I made to sum the book up: "A man's purpose is to find himself and then become totally unconsious of himself."
A story used to illustrate that example is one of a centipede. If a centipede thought about all 1000 of its legs, and which one should go in front of the other in order to walk, he would be forever stumped. This applies to other areas too, such as fighting, etc. If you always think about how to throw a punch each time you threw one, you wouldn't be trusting yourself, and your thoughts would slow you down, it probably would be too late to throw the punch anyhow.
The book is about freedom, as in using what works for you, and not following in his or any other person's footsteps. How can you be unsatisfied when your goal in life is to learn about yourself? Among the only goals in life that can't be achieved is learning about yourself.
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