#216 Flowing with the Simple Truth
Today’s episode of the Bruce Lee Podcast is a solo Shannon episode. She thought as we head into Lunar New Year she might just take a moment to dive into the philosophy as we head into the year of the metal Ox. Gung Hay Fat Choy!
The word “truth” gets tossed around a lot. But we don’t often stop to question our understanding of truth. So what is Truth? Shannon knew her father had a lot of writings on the subject of truth so she thought she would read through them and see what his perspective was on Truth and then attempt to share it with you all with some of her own interpretations for this final episode of this season of the Bruce Lee podcast.
So today’s episode is called: The Simple Truth
We look at truth through a few different lenses in this episode – personal truth, universal truth, what truth is or isn’t, how to be in relationship with truth, the need for independent inquiry and the simplicity of Truth.
Below are the Bruce Lee quotes Shannon discusses in the episode. We’ll be back in the spring with more episodes, but for now, Shannon hopes you tune in and enjoy, The Simple Truth!
Bruce Lee quotes from this episode:
“I have said before, “truth is nowhere to be found on a map.” Your truth is different from that of mine. At first, you may think that this is truth, but later you discover another truth, and then the former truth is denied – but you are closer to the truth. Perhaps when we have found out more about what is not the truth, we will be that much closer to the truth. To relate something to someone other than myself seems to be where the difficulty lies – it is an impossibility.”
“Do not cling to partiality, however, fantastic – see things from totality. When the totality is taken apart it is no longer total. All the pieces of a car that has been taken apart are there, but it is no longer a car and cannot function to its nature.”
“Truth is not to be found in a book. Independent inquiry is needed in your search for truth, not dependence on anyone else’s view or a mere book. Furthermore, such a book merely presents another barrier to progress in your search for truth.”
“Not conviction, not method but perception is the way of truth. It is the state of (awareness) - effortless awareness, pliable awareness, choiceless awareness.”
“Truth comes when your mind and heart are purged of all sense of striving and you are no longer trying to become somebody; it is there when the mind is very quiet, listening timelessly to everything.”
“Truth is a pathless road. A road that is not a road. It is total expression that has no before or after. How can there be methods and systems by which to arrive at something that is living? To that which is static, fixed, dead, there can be a way, a definite path, but not to that which is living.”
“This evening I see something totally new and that newness is experienced by the mind but tomorrow that experience becomes mechanical, because I want to repeat the sensation, the pleasure of it – the description is never real. What is real is seeing the truth instantaneously, because truth has not future.”
“Truth exists outside of all molds and patterns. Truth is never a set idea and definitely not a conclusion. The truth of life is a process.”
“Truth cannot be structured or confined. When there is no center and no circumference, then there is truth.”
“You can’t organize truth. That’s like trying to put a pound of water into wrapping paper and shaping it.”
“To be neither occult nor complex, but open and simple.”
“The truth and the Way exhibit in the simple everyday movements. Because of this, many miss it (if there is any secret, it is missed by seeking). If there is any secret, one must have lost it by striving for it. The truth is here but men want to decorate the simple truth – the snake with feet.”
“The oneness of all life is a truth that can be fully realized when false notions of a separate self – whose destiny is apart from the whole – are forever annihilated.”
“The beginning and the end turn into next door neighbors. On the musical scale, one may start with the lowest pitch and gradually ascend to the highest. When the highest is reached one finds it is located next door to the lowest. To know but to be as though not knowing, is the height of wisdom.”
“The ways of truth consist of seeking after truth, awareness of truth (and its existence), perception of truth (its substance and direction, like the perception of movement), understanding of truth, experiencing of truth, mastering of truth, forgetting truth, forgetting the carrier of truth, the return to the primal source where truth has its roots and repose in nothing.”
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