Lets take an artist as an example. An artist expresses a feeling, they become totally absorbed into their work, they have no desire or judgment, they simple paint and express. Some of the greatest artists expressed themselves in ways that were completely out of the mindset of the era at the time. To accomplish this they would have had to completely ignore their fears and judgments, they’re own and those of friends, family and society. They would have had to be courageous. This is the feeling I get with Wing Chun, I feel I am stepping into an abyss, when I’m exploring further up the Wing Chun River.
There is fear of judgment of myself and that of others, and I need to be courageous and trust in my belief. To overcome this fear, I have a desire to improve; yet desire also moves me away from the source of Wing Chun. I find my training is too reduce desire, and embrace the fear, to step as though stepping into thin air, with an attitude of discovery, of observation and a knowing. It is this knowing that is part of the source that we seek to experience. What I mean here is our belief system. To change a belief system is an incredible task. I like to think of it more as a realigning of our belief system. Its as though we have two foundations, one is the one that actually exists; the other is the one that we think exists.
Its all about the understanding of self and realigning back to this massive foundation of self. It is from this base that fear and desire no longer exist, we act as a reaction to the environment around us, we are totally present, totally absorbed in the experience, we are in a state of observation, judgment does not exist. It is from this state that one can move up and down the river as one pleases. It is understanding that, desire and judgment are not as dominant as we think, its about shrinking these ideas to very small tools that we can call upon for our daily tasks, like work, financials, shopping and day to day living.
They are not wrong, its just that they are not as big as we think they are. Once we understand this, the fear seems to dissipate, and the more the fear dissipates the more we understand the idea, it becomes self-perpetuating without the need to desire it. In a contradiction of terms; “Philosophy should be everyone’s desire.” We should observe our thoughts and ever so gently give them direction, not by judging them, but by understanding them. By understanding desire and judgment we uncover fear, when we understand the fear, we experience wisdom. It is this foundation that I believe is the source of Nim Tao.
– Keven Tate (Student at Mindful Wing Chun Hong Kong)