Bruce Lee: The Instinct to Follow and Imitate

This post is the first (I hope) of a series of commentary-posts on the section of Bruce Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do entitled "Organized Despair" - the entirety of which may be viewed here. My plan is to write a paragraph-by-paragraph commentary on the whole thing. 

Note that this will not be a "pure" commentary, in which I merely elucidate Bruce Lee's words. Instead, my goal is to explain his teachings and share some examples of how they have influenced my life as a teacher, a learner, and a gamer. 

Click here for a printer-friendly version of this blog post.

Bruce Lee: The Instinct to Follow and Imitate

- Organized Despair: Paragraph #1

Bruce Lee begins with an introduction to the problem which is the subject of the entire section:

In the long history of martial arts, the instinct to follow and imitate seems to be inherent in most martial artists, instructors and students alike. This is partly due to human tendency and partly because of the steep traditions behind multiple patterns of styles. Consequently, to find a refreshing, original, master teacher is a rarity. The need for a “pointer of the way” echoes.

The two key terms here are "the instinct to follow and imitate" and "a pointer of the way." The former is a disease. The latter is the doctor who holds the cure. 

I should clarify what I mean when I refer to this as a "disease." The instinct to follow and imitate is present in every human being. It is absolutely necessary for our survival and development, and there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that. However, there comes a point in the development of every craftsman when this instinct outlives its benefit. Imitation gives way to stagnation rather than growth. That is the disease.

There are many reasons why we follow and imitate, and I'm sure we can speculate about these reasons at length. However, since our aim here is to gain from the insights of Bruce Lee, it would behoove us to see what he has to say on the subject. Elsewhere in The Tao of Jeet Kune Do he writes: 

There is a powerful craving in most of us to see ourselves as instruments in the hands of others and, thus, free ourselves from responsibility for acts which are prompted by our own questionable inclinations and impulses. Both the strong and the weak grasp at this alibi. The latter hide their malevolence under the virtue of obedience. The strong, too, claim absolution by proclaiming themselves the chosen instruments of a higher power - God, history, fate, nation, or humanity. 

Similarly, we have more faith in what we imitate than in what we originate. We cannot derive a sense of absolute certitude from anything which has its roots in us. The more poignant sense of insecurity comes from standing alone and we are not alone when we imitate. 

In Bruce Lee's opinion, there are three reasons why we desire to surrender ourselves to the instinct to follow and imitate: (1) we believe this will free us from taking responsibility for our actions - particularly, those which are prompted by "our own questionable inclinations and impulses"; (2) it helps us to bolster our self-image in the short run, since "the virtue of obedience" makes an effective cover for the parts of ourselves we wish to deny; (3) we feel that it will provide us with security and certitude, since - according to Bruce Lee - we tend to be insecure and lack faith in whatever we originate. (Why this is the case is a very good question. Something we need to think about.)

I can definitely relate to this experience in my own craft. When I first started teaching I came to class armed with arsenal of classroom management techniques and tricks which I gleaned from several sources: some I had learned in graduate school, others I read in books on classroom teaching, and many I gained from watching my own teachers. When I was faced with my very first class, I desperately clung to those techniques. I placed my trust in them and naively believed they would guarantee my success. And when one set of techniques failed, I fell back on another. My plan A, plan B, and plan C were all based on imitation. 

Of course, I soon realized that I was wrong in my approach. Even worse, since I had taken so much stock in those techniques and blamed them when they failed me, it took me that much longer to face the fact that I was powerless to manage my own class. The image of the Master Teacher I sought to imitate blinded me from recognizing how ineffective I really was. Had I not eventually confronted and accepted my own inadequacies, my development would have been severely stunted. I would have remained in a deadlock of futile imitation and frustration.

How does one escape this craving to follow and imitate? The odds of breaking out on one's own are very slim. Most of us require a teacher to act as a guide. But how can such a teacher help us without becoming yet another authority figure whom we follow and imitate? 

That is the role of the ideal teacher - or, as Bruce Lee calls such a teacher, a "pointer of the way":

A teacher, a good teacher that is, functions as a pointer to truth, but not a giver of truth. He employs a minimum of form to lead his student to the formless. Furthermore, he points out the importance of being able to enter a mold without being imprisoned by it, or to follow the principles without being bound by them.

Similarly:

A teacher is never a giver of truth – he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself. A good teacher is merely a catalyst.

To the extent that the teacher embodies this ideal, the student will gradually be able to liberate himself from his need to follow and imitate. His teacher will set him on the path of self-knowledge and self-actualization and guide him in discovering the truth of his craft on his own. It was for this reason that Bruce Lee constantly reminded his students: "Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it." 

Thankfully, I met just such a "pointer of the way" in graduate school: a humble and gifted educator by the name of Rabbi Dr. Chaim Feuerman. Dr. Feuerman always encouraged me to think outside of the box and to follow and develop my own intuition. And then I "met" Bruce Lee - the "pointer of the way" par excellence. Together, with the help of my living mentor and the living words of my late mentor, I was able to develop my own style of teaching and classroom management, and find success.

At graduation, in my speech, I ended with words of gratitude for both of them:

Lastly, I would like to thank my teachers – all of them – for showing me what it means to be a teacher. I would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Feuerman, for acting as my mentor during my time at Azrieli while simultaneously letting me take charge of my own learning. Dr. Feuerman always encouraged me to follow my intuition and to think outside of the box. His contribution to my development as a teacher can be summed up in the words of my other mentor, Bruce Lee, who said: “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” Thank you, Bruce Lee; and thank you, Dr. Feuerman.

Bruce Lee's entire style of Jeet Kune Do can be summed up in the quotation I chose. This will become evident as we proceed through the rest of Organized Despair, בג"ה.