Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
Except meme is not appropriate for realty states that such things are maxim’s, i.e., “a short, pithy statement expressing a general truth or rule of conduct.” What is important here is that one must understand that “general truth” is, well, general. All maxim’s of martial origins both ancient and modern tend to hold both a general truth or meaning if you will, along with some rule of conduct one perceives when reading it especially in a martial context.
Here is the thing about maxim’s, when you read it you almost instantaneously either like it or don’t like it and there is no in between. When you don’t like it after the initial reading you always discard it immediately and label it in some form literally blocking it from your mind for now and in the future - mostly.
When you do like it you instantly assign your perceptions and beliefs and reality to that maxim regardless of what may or may not be its true or original intent with emphasis that no one, NO ONE, can know the authors intent in the maxim unless that author provides a comprehensive explanation to why that maxim came about, what its purpose is to those they wish to read it. Otherwise your perceptions and beliefs and realities tend to assign it meaning and that meaning is almost literally wrote in stone in your mind.
There is NOTHING wrong with this as maxim’s are meant to do just that, get you to accept them then, hopefully, get you to thinking. Often a maxim can be encoded in your mind and throughout your life may pop up when you experience things. They trigger the maxim and you may automatically re-assign the original intent and meaning you gave it or as is human and nature you may create a new one, sometimes closely resembling the old one. This is also a good thing.
It is when you share the maxim with others that things tend to get out of hand, especially if others start to comment on their interpretations of said maxim then, if you are lucky, a dialectic meeting of the minds occurs and everyone benefits with the resulting theories, ideas and beliefs. In short all parties win-win without resorting to a competitive your idea must win dynamic.
Mixim’s work when held and questioned and used as a teaching tool that is fluid in nature meaning that the perceptions one has of its intent changes according to the times, the moment and the evolution of one’s efforts toward using the maxim for training, practice, understanding and application.
Individually, once exposed to a maxim, it is meant to be a teaching tool for that individual. It matters neither way whether they get the intent of the author or not, sometimes that intent is obvious to all due to its terse yet accurate composition and it often carries throughout history with little or no adjustment YET in many cases the intent of the author may be hidden in obscurity due to large windows of time passage along with a lack of true tools to convey and articulate that meaning as would occur to differences in culture, beliefs and the when of the author, i.e., Lao Tzu vs. a Modern master of that discipline. Then we are left with interpretations that differ accordingly.
On a personal note, I take maxim’s as a means of learning and teaching where lively dialectic discussions often lead to a better understanding or even a change in the original to meet the needs of now vs. of then. As long as they achieve these goals and objectives then everyone wins and that means, to me, once it enters the arena of the many then everyone who participates must be ready to present a side for discussion.
Remember, “All bottles are good, they all serve a purpose, simply means that the differences and disparities found in one bottle don’t change its purpose, to hold something regardless of what that something is…”
Charles James
"All bottles are good, they all serve a purpose and as long as the purpose is foremost in one's mind in training, practice and application then all is well otherwise... " - cejames with some license on Tatsuo-san's original bottle maxim :-)
For reference and sources and professionals go here: Bibliography (Click the link)
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