Book review: The Warrior Within: The Philosophies of Bruce Lee

This wasn’t my ordinary read, meaning that I don’t normally go for philosophy texts.  Yet this one proved an enjoyable exception to the rule.  I got interested in the book after learning something intriguing about the famed martial arts star Bruce Lee.  I had never really seen any of his films, though a clip here and there had crossed my view.  Naturally my idea of Bruce Lee was what most people think of him, as a martial arts master.  But when I learned that Bruce Lee developed his martial arts style, called jeet kune do, as an expression of his inward philosophy, I wanted to know more.

I began finding Bruce Lee quotes online, and these only whetted my appetite for even more.  So I searched for a good book and found this tome, which I selected because of the author’s credentials.  First, Little has a degree in philosophy.  Second, he knows and has received the support of Lee’s family.  Third, he practices jeet kune do.  So this isn’t an outsider looking inside in order to share later with others on the outside.  This is an insider sharing with others on the outside, giving them a glimpse of the view inside.

And I found that view fascinating.  I can’t say I agree with everything in the book.  For instance, Lee was an atheist who believed more in humanity as part of the universal creation that exists as part of a larger progression or evolution of nature.  I believe in a God Who created all things and, as part of that creation, endowed all things with the ability to evolve as part of the plan He prepared for His creations.

Yet I found far more congruence than divergence between our two belief systems.  The more I read, the more fairly accurate descriptions I found of what I have come to see as my own beliefs as I have tested and changed and refined them over the years.  Take this quote from Bruce Lee as an excellent example:

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Gung fu is practiced not only for health and self-protection but for cultivation of the mind as well.  Gung fu was used by Taoist priests and Chinese monks as a philosophy, or way of thinking, in which the ideals of giving with adversity, to bend slightly and then spring up stronger than before, are practiced.  The qualities of patience and profiting from one’s mistakes are a part of the discipline of gung fu.

I can totally vouch for the concept of bending like a reed in the wind in the face of conflict because I have used it to handle conflict in a spirit of peace and fairness.  The wind can blow the reed down, but the wind doesn’t break the reed.  Likewise, adversity can blow us down, but it breaks us only if we choose to let it break us.  Choose to be like the reed in the wind, and it won’t break you.

From perspectives on understanding oneself and one’s place in nature to ideas on countering racism and relieving stress to learning about the art of fighting without fighting, there’s far too much of what I love in this book to share in the limited space of this review, so I’ll share simply one idea related to my future career field: education.  Here’s what Bruce Lee thought about education:

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Learning is definitely not mere imitation, nor is it the ability to accumulate and regurgitate fixed knowledge.  Learning is a constant process of discovery — a process without end.  In JKD [jeet kune do], we begin not by accumulation but [by] discovering the cause of our ignorance — a discovery that involves a shedding process.

I find that approach to education fascinating.  In the context of that perspective, Bruce Lee devised a four-step process towards educating oneself, which I also endorse.
     1. Research your own experience.
     2. Absorb what is useful.
     3. Reject what is useless.
     4. Add what is specifically your own.
Straightforward and very practical, this approach reminds me very much of some advice I once got from my grandfather in a letter (yes, that’s snail mail for you young whipper snappers).  He never wrote much of anything, and so the one letter I got from him I eagerly received.  I don’t remember much of what the letter had to say, but I do remember how it ended.  “I don’t know if anything I have said is any good for you, but if it is, keep it.  Throw the rest away.”

Most of what I found in Little’s book is good for me.  It expands my mind and provides alternative perspectives from which to view the world and my place in it.  And it has inspired me to pursue studying the martial arts as a way to discover more of myself and how to express it.  Though I don’t agree with everything in the book, I do recommend it for others. 4 out of 5 stars.

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