(R)evolution, a spiral of forces Posted by P.Kao on August 26, 1999 at 15:32:23:
In Reply to: legitimacy of traditional vs. evolved spiritual practice posted by princepawn on June 16, 1999 at 18:07:48:
Hello, my name is Philip and this is my first move, ever.
As per princepawn's questions and comments concerning the legitimate spiritual world order, I would like to respond by first exploring the notions of "tradition". This may be something of an understatement, but tradition is not static, and in any sort of reduction, tradition develops into a very dangerous and powerful grip. To state an example, at the University of Chicago, the tradition there tends to be one of reifying tradition. Tradition masks the dual nature of tradition and that is history, with both a past and redeemable, changable and revolutionary future.
I know a little humble amount of chi kung theory and some wing chun. And to state one example, our Wing Chun Club had to DIVERSIFY in order to remain intelligable to ourselves and to the greater syncretic world. We adopted Jeet Kung Dao, Escrima, Boxing, and even Jujistu. Now I understand that chi kung practices toward buddhahood function differently, and the rules may be more stringent, but the spirit and roots remain the same. So in getting to your question of a legitimate spiritual practice that is more pure and real vs. one that has taken commodified and superficial transformations, I would say that you need both schools of thought. The true evolution is a dialectic between synthesis, nostolgia, "modern" and "primitive". To qoute from Hesse's GBG, "The origins of music lie far back in the past. Music arises from Measure and is rooted in the great Oneness. the great Oneness begets the two poles; the two poles beget the power of Darness and Light"(Hesse 29). The world was created exothermically, and after it cooled down, an almost perfect heaven resided on earth. It was called Wu Chi, and pretty soon the Yin and Yang forces became exacerbated with the Tai Chi. Ever since, the whole aim of humanity and Chi is to not only balance the forces on earth, but to coalesce the three Chi's into one spiritual whole, man, earth, and heaven. My answer then, is that you must give validity to even the most bogus of practices for the sole reason that ever since our fall from grace, any recalibration must be welcomed as just one more step toward an infinite bound.
A successful work of art is not one which resolves contradictions in a
spurious harmony, but one which expresses the idea of harmony negatively by embodying the contradictions, pure and uncompromised, in its innermost structure.
- Theodore Adorno