“It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.” Bruce Lee
The first time I read that was in the book Bruce Lee wrote while he was recovering from a broken back. I was probably about 16 or so and reading just about everything I could get my hands on that had anything to do with martial arts. Throughout his writing and demonstrations, it is clear that his fighting technique was really focused on the simplest executions. The shortest distances and the fastest reactions. For him, the ultimate in simplicity was the state of “no mind”, where there is no: “Punch that thing now!”, and rather just “punch”. The command is not to send the fist to the target, but it’s to create the fist at the target instantly. That’s simplicity.
Don’t go there, but rather be there, already.
The cutting away the unessential is something I strive for and am terrible at. I’ve gone through phases of accumulation, and the simplest form is the accumulation of things– toys mostly, whether they be computers or instruments or unessential gear, little “luxuries”, sometimes larger luxuries, mostly serving little purpose but somehow happening.
These phases of accumulation are interrupted by moments of clarity when I see the truth in things, in myself, in the situations of life. I don’t know exactly what turns the light on in these cases, but it happens and seems unavoidable (not that it should be avoided).
Following the interruptions are massive clear-outs. I remove things with abandon, appreciating more and more the empty space created by their absence. Room there, a space there, an open surface there. A corner in which to look at nothing being in the corner. Empty space is a vision of potential, and potential feels good, sometimes better than realization.
The most complicated form of accumulation takes place in the mind. Thoughts that shouldn’t be there, memories that have served their purpose and are now a nuisance. The inner voice that so frequently repeats unhelpful things, getting in the way, preventing the reaching of highest potential. That kind of accumulation is also phasic, for me. And after reaching a point of over-collection in the head, a purging takes place, a refocusing on what’s important and true, and getting back to simplicity. At least an attempt at it. It can be confusing, to the few people around me, and even to myself.
I have a lot of self-directed anger. I get so mad at myself for thinking certain things, or feeling certain ways, and especially for making certain decisions. When I reach a point of self-directed anger turning to a kind of hatred, inner and outer, I have to try hard to recognize I’ve reached that point and that I need to get back to the essentials and focus again on finding and pursuing clarity and purpose, and not letting the isolation that follows cause inner harm.
