Thoughts on geeking out

Geeking out has been defined, at least by way of Google, as freaking out over something that others think is geeky. I don't think everyone geeks out over something, but I feel kind of sorry for those who don't.

I admit to being a promiscuous geeker, meaning that I geek out on several things, ranging from martial arts to ancient Greece to critical theory, among other things.

I've noticed that people who geek out often like to geek out about movies about the object of their geeking. For example, when I was on the local volunteer fire department, our guys would laugh at the inaccuracy of firefighter movies...but they were glued to the screen and probably teared up at the appropriate moments (not that they'd ever admit that to anyone).

I'm in that boat when it comes to karate, and particularly movies and TV shows like The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai, the contemporary version of the story. While the karate techniques in this are only marginally like the real thing, the spirit of Mr. Miyagi is pretty close to the spirit of Okinawan karate, which in my opinion covers a multitude of sins. And the solo forms or katas shown are based on real ones, although they were generally mangled.

In this age of Brazilian jiu jitsu, Muay Thai and mixed martial arts, karate is as retro as analog watches, vinyl records and cell phones that are just phones. Still, it's my thing.

The movie and show are comically inaccurate as far as what it's really like for some of these reasons:

*First of all, the flashy techniques. Anyone who is dumb enough to try the crane technique (pictured above) really doesn't deserve to have intact ribs. And, while balance is good, spinning hook kicks on trees has limited application.

*Second, the training methods are hilariously unspecific. I seem to recall that the late great Bruce Lee said, "If you want to develop your punch, punch!" Instead, these movies emphasize waxing cars and painting fences and hanging clothes. You get good at what you practice. Exactly that.

*Third, it's amazing how many people become expert fighters if not black belts in a few lessons. It took most of the people I know several years. It's almost like downloading martial arts styles on The Matrix movies. If it was easy, it would be cheating.

*Fourth, I've done this stuff off and on for much longer than the median age of contemporary humans (without ever getting really good at it). I cannot recall a sensei or a senior show me a cool technique. Mostly they make you drill on the same dull, extremely non-flashy boring stuff you were first shown early on. You also have three really close friends: tiredness, boredom and pain.

Having said all that, I was glued to Cobra Kai like a fly on....whatever flies enjoy close proximity to. I can hardly wait for the next season.

Meantime, sweep the leg! And geek proudly.

To paraphrase book of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Bible or Christian Old Testament, "Whatever your mind finds to geek on, geek on it with all your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom or geeking in the realm of the dead."

Cultural literacy

The young Jackie Chan getting whacked by Bruce Lee. Image by way of wikipedia.

OK, enough of trivialities about policy, politics and public life. It's time to talk about something important, to wit, passing on the cultural heritage of humanity to the next generation. I did my part earlier this week when I introduced my grandson to one of the pinnacles of cinematic history.

(Previously, we explored other masterpieces like Wayne's World and Blazing Saddles.)

Yes, of course, I am talking about Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. Where else, after all, can one find such nuanced and complex characters as Bolo and Han? Or such immortal lines as "Boards don't hit back"? Or get the feel of the early 70s coolness vibe?

The classic also provides an opportunity to practice math skills by counting the guys Bruce whacks in the movie, (one of whom was the neophyte Jackie Chan). My grandson lost count but estimates it to be around 100.

It's an honor and a privilege to pass on the Great Tradition. When he's old enough to fully understand The Big Lebowski, my work will be done.

(But seriously, while diligently researching this blog post...OK, after a quick glance at Wikipedia....I read that some scholars have argued that decolonization and decoloniality are the progressive political subtexts of Bruce Lee's movies. There's a teaser here. So there.)

Mushin

Seamus McGoogle spends most of his time in a state of mushin.

Welcome to Cool Japanese Words Week at Goat Rope. Each day looks at a word or concept from the martial arts and/or Zen tradition that may be of interest to people who want to make the world less nasty. You'll also find news and links about current events.

As I mentioned Monday, most of the words have to do with paying attention. Kamae, the subject of Tuesday's post is all about readiness before taking action. Zanshin, see yesterday's post, was about the state of mind on completing an action.

Today's word is mushin, with the mu being like a cow sounds and the shin being what it looks like.

Here's a paradox. Mushin represents the highest mental state, but it literally means "no-mindedness." Far from being stupid, it means responding spontaneously and appropriately to a situation without having to stop and think about it.

As esoteric as it sounds, most of us have probably had this experience at some point. A good basketball player probably doesn't have to think about a lay up--he or she just does it.

In the martial arts, sometimes if you're lucky you do something without thought and then think "that was cool." As the late great Bruce Lee put it,

...when an opportunity occurs, I don't hit. It hits all by itself.

In the context of Japanese swordsmanship, the Zen master Takuan wrote of that state:

The mind must always be in the state of 'flowing,' for when it stops anywhere that means the flow is interrupted and it is this interruption that is injurious to the well-being of the mind. In the case of the swordsman, it means death. When the swordsman stands against his opponent, he is not to think of the opponent, nor of himself, nor of his enemy's sword movements. He just stands there with his sword which, forgetful of all technique, is ready only to follow the dictates of the subconscious. The man has effaced himself as the wielder of the sword. When he strikes, it is not the man but the sword in the hand of the man's subconscious that strikes.

The use of the term flow by Takuan fits in well with modern psychology. The researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote an excellent book some years back titled Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience about just that kind of thing.

People in a state of flow, which can be experienced in lots of ways, are so absorbed in what they're doing that they may lack self-consciousness altogether. I think the slang term being "in the zone" refers to the same kind of thing.

Here's another paradox, in martial arts and other traditional disciplines, the way to get to mushin is through drill, drill, drill. You train so you don't have to think.

People who want to work to make the world a better place can approach mushin by getting so competent at pulling things together that you can do it without having to start from scratch every time. That may involve good alliances, media and communications competency, an understanding of strategy, and ready access to good information.

Mushin is a nice place to be, although you usually only become aware of it after it happens.

STIMULUS DEAL. The House and Senate conference committee reached a tentative deal on a scaled-back recovery package which many economists believe is too small to jolt the economy. It now goes back to each house.

CONTRACTING OUT federal jobs to the private sector leaves one out of five such workers in poverty, according to the latest Economic Policy Institute snapshot.

ONE TO WATCH. The US Supreme Court is set to hear arguments March 3 in a case that will determine the propriety of WV Justice Brent Benjamin hearing cases regarding Massey Energy. Benjamin, a political unknown, was elected in 2004 with the help of millions of dollars from Massey CEO Don Blankenship.

DARWIN AT 200. Here's another look.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

SPECIAL BRUCE LEE EDITION

Caption: This great blue heron practices the crane style.

In his first epistle to the Corinthians, in the famous 13th chapter, St. Paul says "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

Speak for yourself, dude. I mean, how much stock can you put in a saying by someone who said "It is better to marry than burn"?

(Note: that was a joke--especially in the event La Cabra reads this.)

I thought of those lines about putting away childish things when I came across this Google video featuring a "lost interview" with Bruce Lee, the idol of my youth and icon of my declining years.

He had just died when I began formally studying martial arts in the summer of 1973, a hobby I've continued off and on ever since. In fact, I remember reading his philosophical articles on the subject in magazines as a kid before he became a superstar.

I still like Bruce and quote him frequently even though I don't kick as high, hard or fast as I used to. Come to think of it I still like the other idols of my youth like Tolkien and Alice Cooper (not necessarily in that order).

Bruce was not just a pretty spinning back kick. He studied philosophy at the University of Washington and throughout his life and his theories of the martial arts and other subjects are still studied. Perhaps not surprisingly, he was particularly influenced by the Taoist tradition.

His ideas of strategy can be applied to areas far removed from martial arts (although they do work pretty well there too).

Here is my favorite quotation from Chairman Bruce, one that has served me well in several difficult situations when I remembered to act on it:

Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water…If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.

CHINESE LABOR LAW REFORM. This could be interesting, particularly if it is seriously enforced. From the Washington Post:

BEIJING, June 29 -- The Chinese legislature passed a law Friday to provide more protection to the millions of farm youths who leave home and become cheap labor in the factories and construction sites that have mushroomed in China's booming economy.

The Standing Committee of the China People's Congress, in approving the law, presented it as a bulwark against widespread abuses of the often-uneducated migrant workers, such as forced labor, withholding of pay and unwarranted dismissal. The country was alarmed two weeks ago, for example, by the discovery that hundreds of Chinese were forced to work in conditions resembling slavery at dozens of brick kilns in Shanxi province while local Communist Party officials did nothing to stop it.

In reaction, lawmakers at the last minute added a provision to the long-discussed labor code to mandate punishment for officials who are shown to be negligent or corrupt in allowing entrepreneurs to abuse workers. This and the unusual public rollout of the new law seemed designed to show the Chinese public that the central government of President Hu Jintao is determined to crack down on corrupt officials and protect those left behind by the swift economic growth of the past 25 years.

RADIO GA GA. A recent book titled Unleashing Capitalism has been getting lots of attention in El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virginia. The book, which claims to be totally objective and scientific, opposes minimum wage and prevailing wage; supports right to work for less; calls for "tort reform;" wants to cuts public funding for education, infrastructure, and services to pay for business tax cuts; opposes workplace safety and other business regulations; wants to undercut public education with a voucher system; etc.

Again, this is all "science" and anyone who disagrees--say by wanting good coal mine safety legislation--is a "Marxist."

WV Public Broadcasting reporter Scott Finn interviewed WVU's Russell Sobel about the book. Dr. Sobel got a little defensive when questioned about the book's factual and "scientific" claims. Yours truly was also interviewed and expressed a different point of view. Here's what another WV blogger, Raging Red, had to say about the story.

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