“You will never get any more out of life than you expect.”
[Bruce Lee]
When we're honest with ourselves, we are free to pursue our fullest development.
In The Warrior Within John Little says when asked about how he would raise his son Brandon in a world filled with prejudice, Bruce Lee would answer with a Chinese folktale:
There was fine butcher who used the same knife year and year, yet it never lost its delicate, precise edge. After a lifetime of service, it was still as useful and effective as when it was new. When asked how he had preserved his knife's sharp edge, he said, “I follow the line of the hard bone. I do not attempt to cut it, nor to smash it, nor to contend with it in any way. That would only destroy the knife.”
In daily living, one must follow the course of the barrier. To try to assail it will only destroy the instrument. And no matter what some people will say, barriers are not the experience of any one person, or any one group of persons. They are the universal experience.
I will teach Brandon that everyone—no matter who he is or where—must know from childhood that whatever occurs does not happen if the occurrence isn't allowed in the mind.
According to Lee, the ultimate achievement all human beings aspire to is to improve their understanding of oneself and as a result getting to know who we are.
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Bruce Lee also said life is a constant process of relating. His son Brandon Lee, explained why seeking approval from others is at odds with individual evolution.
The Warrior Within by John Little is a wonderful primer for learning more about the principle of dynamic balance and Bruce Lee's philosophy on life.