Westerners have some very good ideals. One is that they like the guts, they
want to go to the heart of the matter and get the real stuff. They don't
care about all the fluff. How does it work? Tell me how it works, then I'll
do it.
The Chinese way is to have faith, do it a long time and maybe I'll tell you
how it works.
(Allen Pittman)
The history of tai chi
Every tai chi school likes to recount their own unique version of the
history of tai chi.
Almost every tai chi book does the same thing.
Well, here is a break from all that: we don't know and we don't really care
about tai chi history.
History
Oral tradition, eye witnesses, books and manuscripts are not reliable sources of
information.
Anyone can get a book published.
If you cannot find a publisher, you can pay for it to be published yourself.
History should be treated with scepticism.
What is 'history'?
the branch of knowledge dealing with past events
a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, person
the record of past events and times
a past notable for its important, unusual, or interesting events: a ship with a history
a systematic account of any set of natural phenomena without particular reference to time: a history of the American eagle
None of these definitions mention the key factor:
'bias'. History is an interpretation of what occurred.
It is not fact.
The word
is not the
thing.
No essence
Consider water.
Water feels a certain way. Regardless of what you
call
it. This is the
essence, nature, character, quality of water.
It is part of what makes water 'water' and not stone.
History is not like this. It is protean, interpretative, changeable.
Quite often, the ruling power at a given time re-writes history. They give their
version of what happened, their perspective.
Do the Japanese see Hiroshima in the same way that the Americans do?
It seems unlikely.
Mind
All of the sensory information gathered by our bodies is sent to the brain.
The mind then assesses that information and determines what to do with it.
Can you see the problem?
The mind is also dependent upon our conditioning. Our education, upbringing,
perspective, politics, standpoint, opinions...
Who we are colours what we see and determines what it means to us.
Bias
The presence of the mind at the centre of everything causes bias.
We are fundamentally subjective.
Everything we experience is filtered through our memories and our perceptions.
No one is objective.
We accept or reject a historical perspective relative to whether or not it
pleases us.
Folklore
If somebody puts information in a book, people have a tendency to accept
it as being accurate.
Why is this?
Is a written story any less true or false than a legend? Why do we accept one
and reject another?
A university essay relies upon reference to prior essays and research. The past
insights are seen to somehow authenticate and validate the present.
This is quite an odd convention.
More...
Page created 15 April 1998