Most bizarre question ever…

April 15th, 2012 by Jan

What would you do if….?

I was at a party years ago, and when it became known that I was a martial artist, some lug asked what I would do if he hauled off and punched me in the face! I told him I would charge him with assault and have him arrested.

When I first understood Tai Chi to be a martial art I had a very limited idea of what that meant. My first teacher, Jim Eisenman held an interesting view as well and I puzzled at some of his answers to questions I asked.  I think he might have been one of the first free thinking philosophers I ever really paid attention to.

Jim would talk about martial application, from a very peaceful perspective. “what would you do if “ questions would be answered with “I wouldn’t be there.”

“But, what if….” I would continue, and in his gentle way I started to understand that what I was asking was unanswerable.

We can and should have a plan or an idea in mind of what we could/should do in this situation, or if _______ (fill in the blank) was to happen. But the reality is, we don’t know what we would do in any given situation until it happens. We can train, practice, hold a philosophy, principle, or belief and then we deal with what’s in front of us as it is.

One thought on “Most bizarre question ever…

  1. Laura B

    Jan, one of the greatest compliments I ever received was given to me as an aside. A taiji friend told me she had met another taiji person in another city, and that that person was talking about all the uses for various moves and how she would deal with this or that situation. My friend said that she described me to that person and said, well, Laura just wouldn’t be there when you arrived. She’d disappear from in front of you.

    Reply

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