The Form of No Forms

[not_that_spike]

Too much sitting around and doing nothing. Bars are fun, but not every day and since I can't seem to leave and go back to where I was, no point in sitting around complaining about it. At least there's the lake.

There's no set forms to practice but at least I can move. At least I can stretch and stay in some kind of shape and I remember what Bruce Lee said: Having no way as the way. Having no limitation as your limitation. It's something you really get to understand and believe and if Jeet Kune Do is an art form and life imitates art, that means there are no limitations here either -- except the ones I impose on myself.

So that means the door at the bar will open for me when I'm ready for it to open. How Zen of it.

I'm pretty sure I'm dead. That's a fucked-up statement. Can't even try to get my brain around that concept, because it blows away all the other concepts of finality I ever held as true. It was supposed to be the end: I kill Vicious and he kills me and then we're both free. So what lets me end up at some bar at the end of the universe without him following me all through eternity?

(bow) Bruce Lee again: Set patterns, incapable of adaptability, of pliability, only offer a better cage. Truth is outside of all patterns.

It's sure outside this pattern.

(breathe) Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit in with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any techniques which serve its end.

Bound by none. They call being stuck here being Bound. So who or what binds us?

(stretch) Learning Jeet Kune Do is not a matter of seeking knowledge or accumulating stylized pattern, but it is discovering the cause of ignorance.

Have to always remind myself of that: discover the cause of ignorance.

Opening the mind and at the same time closing the mind takes concentration but (lunge) gets me to a state of (kick) meditative nothingness (block) where everything becomes fluid (tumble) like water and time slows down (punch) and every movement sends vibrational echoes (kick) that you can see just like (kick / balance / block ) waves of heat off (roll) desert sand.

Movement is good. Movement has repercussions. Movement has lasting effects.

Relax.
Balance.
Visualize.
Focus.
Perceive.

(kick / kick / kick / kick / balance / breathe / breathe / breathe)

Thank you, bar.

Comments

[maid-of-astolat.livejournal.com]

Elaine had come out here a few moments ago, and now watches Spike. She doesn't know what he is doing, but he seems quite intent on doing it. His movements remind her of her brothers practicing swordplay, but yet...it is also nothing like that. These movements are much more graceful and more powerful, even with no weapon at all...

[not_that_spike]

...and somebody is watching.

He used to only practice in privacy, back on the ship, but that's not an option any more. He wipes off his forehead on his shirt sleeve and walks over to Elaine. He simply nods, catches his breath, and smoothes down the front of his shirt.

"You made it outside. Good for you."

[maid-of-astolat.livejournal.com]

She smiled up at him. "Thank you," she says, and it's a hard thing not to say "sire" or "my lord", because apparently, that is just not the way things are done. "I was watching you, and wondering what it was that you were doing? It puts me in mind of my brothers' training with the broadswords, but at the same time, it was something very different."

[not_that_spike]

With a grin, he scratches his head: how do you explain martial arts to someone from that long ago? By habit he searches his pockets for cigarettes and lighter, but then remembers he left them in the bar the night before. He hasn't missed them yet today. "It's... like what your brothers did but without a sword. It's a form of fighting without a weapon... well, no, that's not true. It's a form of fighting where the person doing it is the weapon and at the same time, not the weapon. Have you ever heard of..."

He stops, pondering. "Have you ever heard of Asia? Japan or China? Huns, maybe, guy named Attila?" He was definitely before her time.

[maid-of-astolat.livejournal.com]

Elaine nods. "I eavesdropped on a few of my brothers' military history lessons. He was from the East, and a conqueror of cities, but that is all I know."

[not_that_spike]

"Right. Other side of the world from you, and that's where this discipline originated. It started as a method of self-defense to use in battle, and... well, I guess it still is. I've been doing it for a long time; I started learning when I was just a kid. Seems like a lifetime ago."

He doesn't really expect Elaine to understand and he knows it's not a very good explanation, but he's thirsty. "Want to walk inside? I need a glass of water. I can tell you more about it there."

[maid-of-astolat.livejournal.com]

Elaine smiles. His explanation so far makes a sort of sense, though she can't imagine how a fight like this would look. "Lead on, sir. I could use a refreshment myself."

[not_that_spike]

Together, they head inside to the bar. Maybe he'll find his lighter there.

Or maybe not.