Instinct: Part 1

本能

Wednesday, 11 November, 2015

“You need to forget about what you know, that’s your problem.” From the film Fight Club

As we are passing through the alleyways, turning left, then right, the city lights and the cafés slowly disappearing, there is a lot of talking. Yet, I find it hard to focus on the words, because there are other thoughts which are occupying my interest. My expectation of what is to come is that, whatever it is, it will be different. To my mind, this is a reasonable expectation, which leaves little room for hopeful fantasies, and does not insinuate despairing failures. I expect something different, and, while we are walking, I am preparing myself for something different.

This is a process which I frequently try to practice, and one which I spend a great amount of time and effort on. In this world we live in, if it’s not numbers then, generally, it is opinion. This means that just about everything is opinion. And few things can really stand up to numbers, and often when things are put to such tests, there is too much isolation to truly understand the entirety of an idea or process. This means, that everything I know, love and believe in about wing chun, everything I have learned for the past ten years, everything I have learned to take for granted, must be set aside, if I want to understand what is to come.

This is where my mind is, while we are passing through these alleyways. And then, there’s the wooden dummy; what’s that? Have I seen that before? How is it constructed, and why? Do I know? And, who is this? 李华 Li Hua, 华哥 (older) brother Hua, 李师傅 Sifu Li. What could he know?