First of all I would like to say that it is absolutely ridiculous thinking that somebody canít learn anything on their own, whether it be martial arts or any other art, like science, drawing, music, or any other thing. But I do believe that the people who donít believe it can be done really do believe what they are saying for two reasons.
One, that is what they have been told and have become locked into that paradigm because their martial art teachers have said that, you all have become brainwashed into believing it. But if you think about the implications of what you are saying, you are saying in effect everything you know is all second hand knowledged because you donít have a brain to reason anything out for yourself, and also that you donít have the testosterones to give you the drive to achieve anything on your own, which is what motivates one to start thinking on ones own in the first place, and also you need someone there to hold your hand to train to keep you going. You all must have been wimps before you met your first martial arts teacher; just standing there a letting people punch you as they like while you are just standing like an zombi because nobody told you that you can punch back. That is what you are saying. But who tough the people who was beating you up when you was a little kid? I bet they learn on their own how to pick on you.
China itself is locked into the second hand knowledge paradigm it is part of their culture. Just like it is in India. They both traditionally teach the master/disciple system of learning. In China they are geniuses when it comes to copying something else. They can make a high end Swiss watches so perfectly that people in a Swiss watch factory would have a difficult time telling the difference. But people in China canít think and learn new things for themselves. They have to learn that in Western schools and bring that knowledge back to China.
But Bruce Lee was different. He did what you all think is impossible and learn how to teach himself martial arts. That is the main point that Bruce Lee was trying to get across. That you evolve yourself through the martial arts, not copying someone else, but to evolve your own martial arts starting at the gut level and going from there basing your martial arts on your own physical characteristics. For example a light person would fight differently then a heavy person. A person with very fast reflexes will fight differently then someone with slower reflexes. But instead of comprehending what he was trying to say, instead people thought Bruce Lee was great and they just tried to copy him thinking that is the way to greatness while in reality the only way to greatness is to learn how to learn to teach yourself your own martial art style around your own physical and mental resources.
But where did Bruce Lee learn how to do this since he came from a culture that is locked into that second hand knowledge paradigm? I know. He learned it from the West. Itís kind of ironic Bruce is from a Chinese culture and learned kung fu and became fasciated with Western philosophy which at its core teaches people to think for themselves and used that Western mind set to develop his own martial arts. While people coming from a Western culture learn kung fu and become interested in Chinese things including Chinese philosophy which is locked into a second hand knowledge paradigm and so the Western person gets brainwashed into thinking you canít learn kung fu on your own. Isnít that ironic.
OK, now for the second reason why you donít believe people can learn things for themselves. In the US there is a two tier higher education system. The lower tier approach are the Comprehensive Universities whose goal is just to teach a person the knowledge to perform a job, and the upper tier educational approach are the Research Universities whose goal is to teach a person to think for themselves so they can contribute towards keeping the US on the cutting edge of the world. As you know, as fast as we learn and discover things, other countries like China are copying us. So the main strategy the US is doing to keep ahead is we are the best in the world at learning new things by teaching ourselves. Look at our military for example. Nobody has weapons of mass destruction like we do. Nobody told us how to make them. We are the leading country in the world in first hand knowledge. Yankee ingenuity was made famous during WW2, what happen to it?
The way they select which person goes to which tier of education is based mostly one the intelligence of the student. The smart people who can think for themselves are encouraged to go onto the higher tier. The people who are smart but donít have the ability to think for themselves are encouraged into going into the lower tier. So all you people that keep trying to tell me you canít learn martial arts on their own are actually confessing to me that you belong to the lower tier education level, or that you never even made it to a university. If I remember correctly, Bruce Lee went to Berkeley University, that is a upper tier school where he studied philosophy. And I know the exact Western philosopher that inspired Bruce and integrated into his martial art system which enable him to begin a new style. His name is John Dewey who was a Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. Nobody told me that, I just see Bruce talking like John Dewey.
John Dewey's work flourished back in the 1930s. He wrote a book called How We Think subtitled, A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking to the Educative Process. (I have his book in my hand right now.) Johnís thought is the bases of the higher tier education. Basically in his book he severely criticized the current teaching methods of learning by rote. He said all you are teaching people to do when learning by rote is how to pass the next test. Instead he preached the whole goal of education is to teach a person how to think for themselves using the subject you are studying as a medium for that training. He said the goal is to teach people how to use the scientific method to solve problems themselves through that subject material. Bruce Lee grabbed onto that and applied it to his marital arts. And if China wants to break out of that second hand knowledge paradigm they are going to have to grab onto that too.
So because Bruce had been exposed to the thoughts of John Dewey he is the only martial art master to teach an upper tier approach to the marital arts. He was always experimenting, apply what works for him and rejecting what didnít. While all you guys are learning by rote and think that is the only way because you donít know any better. And that is why we see people thinking the martial arts doesnít work because they are trying to learn by rote a martial art system that was meant for a person with different physical and mental resources, instead of developing their own style around their own personal resources.
So, if you want to learn how to teach yourself martial arts, start out by reading John Deweyís book like Bruce Lee did. It is called How We Think, subtitled A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process, by John Dewey. It is a classic in Western philosophy.
And then you will know how I did what you call the impossible.