Simplicity

Whenever you watch a master do something that you have been working your ass off trying to do well, they always make it look so simple. And every time I watch this, I always feel like I leave with a new perspective that I can't quite put my finger on.

From experiences and sources, without proof, only speculation, I feel like the path to mastering something begins by making it very complicated. You start off learning and applying the most basic concepts. As you better grasp, understand, and apply those, you add more to it. As you add things into the mix to improve and grow, things begin to get more and more complicated. You know that you are at this point when you cannot explain anything well and completely within one sentence. Often you are familiar with even the smallest, most technical details and frequently refer to some of your thoughts, writings, or conversations. You sound quite knowledgeable about your work, and you are.

But I don't think this is mastery, I believe it is only halfway. The path to master begins by going from simple to complex; starting with nothing and acquiring a collection of information and skills. But eventually things begin to clutter up. There is so much that there is less focus on the most important things. It's divided amongst everything. Not evenly...the most important things get more attention than the smaller details, but that is divided focus nonetheless. This is when we must begin to simplify things. To get rid of the details. We will never forget them, but we somehow find ways to no longer pay any attention to them. I these are things a master has internalized, almost like breathing or reacting when someone calls their name. They become natural, leaving the focus more on the things that matter the most. And once the clutter is cleared, real insight or enlightenment occurs. We can see what matters and fixate on the things that can lead to epiphanies. We can see things clearly and for what they are, why they work, and how to use them in ways others have not yet been able to see. If this process were graphed, it would look like a bell-shaped curve. We all start by focusing on just the basics, build up to a peak, but people who master something begin to simplify what they know and the curve falls back to the basics.

This may explain why things seem so simple when someone who has mastered a skill does it or explains it. I've often found more insight from a single, short phrase than an entire book. They have reduced their focus back to what matters, gotten rid of the clutter, and it's allowed them to see it in it's purest form.

One person that I admire greatly is a man that was beyond his time, Bruce Lee. He's known for martial arts and movies, but most people don't realize what he really was: a philosopher. This is what he really excelled at and what made him special. Martial arts for Bruce Lee was not a way to kick someone's ass. He admits that it was just an outlet to express himself. He became so innovative and great at what he did because of who he was. The truth is, he'd have become great at just about anything he did. There are a lot of old black and white videos on youtube of him. Things he says are incredibly insightful. His quotes are pretty amazing. And while he's known for martial arts, all the things he says can be applied to anything. Martial arts is just one of the things he applied it to and mastered. Simplicity is a very big theme in what he says. Breaking the complex down into the simple, most practical forms. This is how he created Jeet kun do. The took what worked from other styles, understood why they worked, and created this no-nonsence, brutally effective style from it. And from Jeet kun do grew what we know today as Mixed Martial Arts, and Bruce Lee is known as it's father.

That's just one example of many examples that you can find from histories greats. Start with the basics, build it up, and the extract what matters. I'm in the climbing phase, but I hope this bi of insight will push my understanding further than my peers when I reach the peak and know where to go from there.