o88's review against another edition
4.0
Bruce Lee's mentality is what you'll largely find in athletics and any industry that is performance driven. He had a growth mindset and made it his life's ambition to tap into his potential. He's heavily influenced by Taoism, Zen Buddhism, and meditation practice as most of his wisdom is orientated around the notion to ebb and flow with life while reducing one's ego along with approaching life with openness. It's great stuff if you're into these ideas. Some of it does cross over into 'woo-woo' territory, but the core idea of mastering your mind to master your life is essential teachings.
My main issue with this book is that it reads like a cliffnotes summary and it gets bogged down with some of the abstract philosophical ramblings. The ideas are often times half-baked and seem to be just personal notes he lifted from others. Admittedly, i'm not a big fan of philosophy as a study and I agree with him wholeheartedly when he calls it a 'disease'. Bruce remarks:
"Philosophy is itself the disease for which it pretends to be the cure: the wise man does not pursue wisdom but lives his life, and therein precisely does his wisdom lie.
“Philosophy often strives to convert reality into a problem. In life, we accept naturally the full reality of what we see and feel in general with no shadow of a doubt. Philosophy, however, does not accept what life believes, and strives to convert reality into a problem. Like asking such questions as: ‘Is this chair that I see in front of me really there?’ ‘Can it exist by itself’ Thus, rather than making life easy for living by living itself in accord with life, philosophy complicated it by replacing the world’s tranquility with the restless of problems"
I dabbled in a little philosophy and I came to the same conclusion. It just needlessly complicates and creates problems that aren't there. It's arguably the antithesis to spirituality. To be spiritual is to understand reality through simply being present in the moment whereas with philosophy it's understood via rigorous analysis, schools of thought, and debate which often times creates issues that didn't even exist in the first place. Ultimately, Bruce struggles himself with this pull between his thirst to understand things through academia and his awareness that truth will only ever come through experience.
Another criticism is that his ideas are sometimes contradictory. He will speak about emptying the mind and simply flowing with his life, but then at other points it's about sharpening the will and disciplining your life. At one point he remarks that no man is free if he has walls of discipline in his mind, so in that regard Bruce himself was never free.
Bottom line:
This book is great to examine another side of Bruce Lee beyond the movies as he was an intellectual and a teacher. My initial exposure to him was in my early 20's when I was going through a rough patch in my life and was avoiding my problems. I'll never forget his message about facing your fear and to always move towards things that make you uncomfortable. My early days and commitment towards self-improvement started on those late nights watching Bruce Lee interviews. I hope his teachings touches other people's lives when they need it as well. He is and will forever always be the master. Be like water, friends.
3.5/5
My main issue with this book is that it reads like a cliffnotes summary and it gets bogged down with some of the abstract philosophical ramblings. The ideas are often times half-baked and seem to be just personal notes he lifted from others. Admittedly, i'm not a big fan of philosophy as a study and I agree with him wholeheartedly when he calls it a 'disease'. Bruce remarks:
"Philosophy is itself the disease for which it pretends to be the cure: the wise man does not pursue wisdom but lives his life, and therein precisely does his wisdom lie.
“Philosophy often strives to convert reality into a problem. In life, we accept naturally the full reality of what we see and feel in general with no shadow of a doubt. Philosophy, however, does not accept what life believes, and strives to convert reality into a problem. Like asking such questions as: ‘Is this chair that I see in front of me really there?’ ‘Can it exist by itself’ Thus, rather than making life easy for living by living itself in accord with life, philosophy complicated it by replacing the world’s tranquility with the restless of problems"
I dabbled in a little philosophy and I came to the same conclusion. It just needlessly complicates and creates problems that aren't there. It's arguably the antithesis to spirituality. To be spiritual is to understand reality through simply being present in the moment whereas with philosophy it's understood via rigorous analysis, schools of thought, and debate which often times creates issues that didn't even exist in the first place. Ultimately, Bruce struggles himself with this pull between his thirst to understand things through academia and his awareness that truth will only ever come through experience.
Another criticism is that his ideas are sometimes contradictory. He will speak about emptying the mind and simply flowing with his life, but then at other points it's about sharpening the will and disciplining your life. At one point he remarks that no man is free if he has walls of discipline in his mind, so in that regard Bruce himself was never free.
Bottom line:
This book is great to examine another side of Bruce Lee beyond the movies as he was an intellectual and a teacher. My initial exposure to him was in my early 20's when I was going through a rough patch in my life and was avoiding my problems. I'll never forget his message about facing your fear and to always move towards things that make you uncomfortable. My early days and commitment towards self-improvement started on those late nights watching Bruce Lee interviews. I hope his teachings touches other people's lives when they need it as well. He is and will forever always be the master. Be like water, friends.
3.5/5
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