Topic: parkour and daoism

[andrew le]

let me start off by saying that i am not a daoist, i do not practice the belief at all.

with that taken care of, ive been immersed in chinese philosophy for the past month or so and have fallen upon daoism. for those who do not know daoism in the most simple of terms is the philosophy of "doing nothing" or letting nature take its place. obviously there is much more to the philosophy than im leading on but ill leave it to the reader to go more into it if they so wish.

after a few weeks of reading into laozi (believed creator of daoism) and the dao de jing (the scriptures of daoism) i've begun to believe that almost at the very core of our discipline are some very daoist ideals.

in a sense we are doing nothing to the enviroments around us, we dont look to force our way through our obstacles but more or less flow around them, leaving things unchanged. flowing like water and bending around what holds us back.

becoming more in tune with our new concrete "nature"

[Nick Casey]

I'm linking to this in my Sig.
I liked it alot

[Corndogg]

Me too!  I'm about halfway through Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu (sounds like the same book) and there are tons of similarities and parallels.  Awesome stuff, has definitely helped me refine some views.

[Gabe Arnold]

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoffman

A great, entertaining introduction to Taoism, explained through Winnie the Pooh. It's not the best for getting in depth in the philosophy/religion but it's definitely a thought provoking book. I've read it a dozen times or more.

"And when you try too hard, it doesn't work. Try grabbing something quickly and precisely with a tensed-up arm; then relax and try it again. Try doing something with a tense mind. The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard--one that thinks too much."

"There was a man that hated his footprints and his shadow, so one day he thought that if he ran fast enough, his footprints and shadow would not be able to follow him and then he never ever had to look at them again. He ran and he ran as fast as he could, but the shadow and the footprints had no problems keeping up to him. And he ran even faster and all of a sudden he fell dead to the ground. But if he been standing still there hadn't been any footprints and if he had been resting under a tree his shadow had been swallowed of the trees shadow."

"When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun."
 - quotes from the book.

That last line especially applies to us: Life is Fun!

[andrew le]

taoism = daosim

dao de jing = tao te ching

lao tsu = laozi

evidently i looked it up and its all the same, just different interpretations of how the translation of words turned out

[Brandan Mendenhall]

"When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun."

That, right there. Story of my life.

[Adam "Echo" C]

This thread survives, but I remember a few months ago there was one guy talking about how parkour had helped him in his Christian walk...it got deleted...Am I missing something here?

[Will Solomon]

http://www.americanparkour.com/content/view/132/406/
thats an article on apk in the philosphy section(if you havn't already seen it) its not exactly what your talking about but it does talk about daoism a little bit

[andrew le]

This thread survives, but I remember a few months ago there was one guy talking about how parkour had helped him in his Christian walk...it got deleted...Am I missing something here?

I tried to indicate in my original post that I was making a connection in the terms of philosophy rather than religion. I realize that there is a time for religion and politics and ido not feel that this is it

unfortunently I do realize that the line between chinese philosophy and chinese religion is vague and difficult to make out

[Leon Mederos]

If people want to talk about connecting a Christian way of life (humility and respect) and how it mixes with parkour, then its cool because it's the philosophy. It's a very thin line and I actually opened this thread thinking I was going to have to edit/move it... but I am happily surprised 

[Adam "Echo" C]

I tried to indicate in my original post that I was making a connection in the terms of philosophy rather than religion. I realize that there is a time for religion and politics and ido not feel that this is it

unfortunently I do realize that the line between chinese philosophy and chinese religion is vague and difficult to make out

Oh okay. My bad. 

[andrew le]

It's cool man. No harm no foul

[Chris O.]

dude, i never thought id say this, but: i think your gonna have to teach me some of this philosophy in our spare time.

[Grant.Miller]

Lol, what a coincidence, check out my signature!

[Shawn Meilicke]

although your sig sounds more like its for tai chi than anything else, i really like it

(im saying this from a "normal persons" perspective, obviously all of us think parkour)

[Grant.Miller]

Wei wu wei is a daoist concept. The rest of the signature is my application of that to parkour.

[andrew le]

Wei wu wei is a daoist concept. The rest of the signature is my application of that to parkour.

very true

i was actually thinking about seeing if my guys would like the crew name "the wuwei tribe"

lol

[Shawn Meilicke]

why is grant a guest now??