Enter The Mind of Bruce Lee 4

Enter the mind of Bruce Lee
By John Blake, CNN

Updated 1630 GMT (0030 HKT) July 20, 2020
How Lee's mind helped him survive a crisis

Lee's devotion to philosophy could have just remained an abstract pursuit. But it was also key to
his physical speed and power. One martial artist said that Lee had the ability to move from
perfect stillness and "explode like a firecracker."
Lee could do that because he was able to tap into what ancient Chinese philosophers called
"chi."
In his book, "The Warrior Within," Little described chi as a "vast reservoir of free-flowing energy"
within all people that "when channeled to our muscles, can give us great strength and, when
channeled to our brain, can give us great insight and understanding."
Lee's ability to summon chi at will was the culmination of years of philosophical contemplation
and physical training, his biographers and students say.
Lee once described what it felt like to summon these energies within himself:
"I feel I have this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater
than ambition, greater than confidence... Whether it is the Godhead or not, I feel this great force,
this untapped power, this dynamic something within me."
Lee also unleashed those energies through positive thinking. He was a fan of Norman Vincent
Peale and read books such "As a Man Thinketh," by James Allen. He would also jot down
homespun aphorisms in his spare time like, "Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed."
Lee's philosophical beliefs could have been confined to books, but they were refined by events
in his life that would have broken lesser people.
First, he had to deal with racism -- from both sides.
He was born in San Francisco, but grew up in Hong Kong in an affluent family. His father was
an opera star and Lee became a childhood actor who appeared in at least 20 Chinese films.
Lee started studying martial arts when he was 13 but his instructor stopped personally teaching
him when he learned that Lee's mother was part White, biographers say.
I feel I have this great creative and spiritual

force within me that is greater than faith,
greater than ambition, greater than
confidence.
Bruce Lee, martial artist and philsopher
That experience shaped in part his decision to teach the martial arts to Westerners after he
moved to America when he turned 18, some say. Teaching the martial arts to Westerners was
taboo at the time, but Lee didn't care, says Doug Palmer, who was one of Lee's first students in
America.
"I think the fact that he [Lee] was part white had something to do with it," Palmer says about
Lee's decision to teach Westerners. "He himself had to overcome obstacles in Hong Kong
because he was part white."
Lee then encountered racism from Hollywood.
He had gone to Hollywood with an idea for a television drama about the martial arts. They took
his idea but rejected him for a role in the series because they thought he looked too Chinese for
an America audience. They gave his role to an American actor and dancer. The drama would
eventually become a hit television show called "Kung Fu."
Lee also suffered a crippling back injury during training. Doctors told him he would never walk
properly again and could never practice the martial arts. It was a low moment in his life. He was
bedridden with a wife and two young children to support. At one point he only had $50 in the
bank. He could have fallen into a debilitating depression but he overcame his injury through
positive visualization, and he used that time to write his groundbreaking book, "Jeet Kune Do,"
says Thomas, one of his biographers.
"He healed himself," Thomas says.
Lee's belief in the power of positive thinking comes through in a letter he wrote to a friend during
that shaky period in his life.
He wrote:
"I mean who has the most insecure job than I have? What do I live on? My faith in my ability that
I'll make it. Sure my back injury screwed me up good for a year but with every adversity comes
a blessing... Look at a rain storm; after its departure everything grows.

Enter The Mind of Bruce Lee 4

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Enter The Mind of Bruce Lee 4

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Enter The Mind of Bruce Lee 4

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Enter the mind of Bruce Lee

By John Blake, CNN

How Lee's mind helped him survive a crisis

First, he had to deal with racism -- from both sides.

I feel I have this great creative and spiritual

Lee then encountered racism from Hollywood.

"He healed himself," Thomas says.

You might also like