{"id":1347,"date":"2013-09-11T16:40:35","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T20:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/?p=1347"},"modified":"2013-09-11T16:40:35","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T20:40:35","slug":"bruce-lee-like-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2013\/09\/11\/bruce-lee-like-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Lee: “Be Like Water”"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nothing is weaker than water,
\nBut when it attacks something hard
\nOr resistant, then nothing withstands it,
\nAnd nothing will alter its way.<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
– Lao Tzu<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

Be Like Water: The Philosophy and Origin of Bruce Lee\u2019s Famous Metaphor for Resilience<\/a><\/h2>\n

by\u00a0Maria Popova<\/a><\/strong>\u201cIn order to control myself I must first accept myself by going with and not against my nature.\u201d<\/em>
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0In\u00a0Bruce Lee: Artist of Life<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(public library<\/em><\/a>) \u2014 a compendium of his never-before-published private letters, notes, and poems, offering unprecedented insight into his philosophy on life and his convictions about martial arts, love, and parenthood \u2014 Lee traces the thinking that originated his famous metaphor, which came after a period of frustration with his inability to master \u201cthe art of detachment\u201d that Yip Man was trying to impart on him. Lee writes:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

When my acute self-consciousness grew to what the psychologists refer to as the \u201cdouble-bind\u201d type, my instructor would again approach me and say, \u201cLoong, preserve yourself by following the natural bends of things and don\u2019t interfere. Remember never to assert yourself against nature; never be in frontal opposition to any problems, but control it by swinging with it. Don\u2019t practice this week: Go home and think about it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And so he did, spending the following week at home:<\/p>\n

After spending many hours meditating and practicing, I gave up and went sailing alone in a junk. On the sea I thought of all my past training and got mad at myself and punched the water! Right then \u2014 at that moment \u2014 a thought suddenly struck me; was not this water the very essence of gung fu? Hadn\u2019t this water just now illustrated to me the principle of gung fu? I struck it but it did not suffer hurt. Again I struck it with all of my might \u2014 yet it was not wounded! I then tried to grasp a handful of it but this proved impossible. This water, the softest substance in the world, which could be contained in the smallest jar, only seemed weak. In reality, it could penetrate the hardest substance in the world. That was it! I wanted to be like the nature of water.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

For more:<\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.brainpickings.org\/index.php\/2013\/05\/29\/like-water-bruce-lee-artist-of-life\/<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nothing is weaker than water, But when it attacks something hard Or resistant, then nothing withstands it, And nothing will alter its way. – Lao Tzu Be Like Water: The Philosophy and Origin of Bruce Lee\u2019s Famous Metaphor for Resilience by\u00a0Maria Popova\u201cIn order to control myself I must first accept myself by going with and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBruce Lee: "Be Like Water" - Alex Prud'homme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2013\/09\/11\/bruce-lee-like-water\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bruce Lee: "Be Like Water" - Alex Prud'homme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nothing is weaker than water, But when it attacks something hard Or resistant, then nothing withstands it, And nothing will alter its way. – Lao Tzu Be Like Water: The Philosophy and Origin of Bruce Lee\u2019s Famous Metaphor for Resilience by\u00a0Maria Popova\u201cIn order to control myself I must first accept myself by going with and…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2013\/09\/11\/bruce-lee-like-water\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Alex Prud'homme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlexPrudhommeWords\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-11T20:40:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.brainpickings.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/bruceleeartist.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alex\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/APrudhommeWords\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alex\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2013\/09\/11\/bruce-lee-like-water\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2013\/09\/11\/bruce-lee-like-water\/\",\"name\":\"Bruce Lee: \\\"Be Like Water\\\" - 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