Thoughts on art, legacy, and the meaning of life :)

[Victoria Pich]

Tonight I went to forms class and was the only one there, so I got a private lesson. There was some real weather, which probably kept everyone else at home. 

Mr. Bronson and I ended up discussing legacy, our connection to history, and what  we can do to preserve some sort of context for our arts. He has talked of this in some classes, explaining where our forms originated, where his teachers came from; and for me this had the lovely perfume of a plea to us - please remember our lineage! This went straight to my core. I, too, am a teacher, a teacher of an arcane art, at least arcane to many. And as a teacher I find myself searching for the magic words, that statement which will open a window for the student, so that the student understands our plea and why we make it.

Why is this important? Why is it important to our society that we remember the elders? What's in it for young people, who may feel betrayed by us for failing to stop the environmental degradation that is happening (or those of us who not only didn't try to stop it, but also participated in it whole-heartedly for profit)? Why should they listen to us?

Why indeed?

There is, of course, beauty. If we do not try to find or create beauty around us, be it in music, the visual arts, the martial arts, or any other art, have we not lost something? What sort of a world do we create and live in if we have no concern or awareness of beauty? Of perfection? For what do we strive? 

These are questions that, believe it or not, keep me awake at night, or else I ponder them because I'm awake anyway (!). 

I think of Sue's beautiful herbal teas and salves and food, of Sophia's photos and mandalas, as well as the perfection of the Kung Fu forms and the work of many of my own colleagues. These people and their arts give me faith, while I want to cry out to the people of this world that they are missing so much, that these things are so vital to life, that these are the things that make life worth living.

I feel that these few sentences are only the beginning; they are just notes. I would love to hear the thoughts of others, especially regarding the question of why we should value and listen to our elders. 

Thank you-