"One of the core mandates of jeet kune do and my father's life was this process: 'Research your own experience. Reject what is useless. Accept what is useful. And add what is essentially your own.'
"As we saw in the opening story, it was extremely important that my father took full stock of his experience in that Oakland fight. Had he felt troubled by certain aspects of his victory but just casually pushed them aside until later (or until never, as if often the case), he would have missed a huge opportunity to grow and evolve. But because he took heed and gave serious attention to the entirety of his experience, in particular the troubling bits, he created a new art form and philosophy and went on to change the landscape of martial arts globally.
"While Bruce Lee's life provides us with an impressive example, remember that we are focusing on you here, and the course and direction of your life. His life story is complete in the form of Bruce Lee. Yours is ongoing. And Bruce can be an amazing pointer of the way in fact, he himself said:
" 'Remember, I am no teacher; I can merely be a signpost for a traveler who is lost. It is up to you to decide on the direction. All I can offer is an experience but never a conclusion, so even what I have said needs to be thoroughly examined by you. I might be able to help you to discover and examine your problem by awakening your awareness. A teacher, a good teacher that is, functions as a pointer to truth but not a giver of truth.'
"Another way to say this is: Don't give up your sovereignty or personal power. Claim your own path and your own experience. Be respectful and grateful for the signposts you encounter, the lessons you learn, and the teachers who point the way, but remember that you and you alone are responsible for your path and your growth.
"There is always something to note about your experience. The best place to start is with how something makes you feel — energized or flat? Engaged or bored? This allows us to assess everything we experience with discernment and figure out what speaks to who we are. In this way, we are attempting to attain (or to remember) our nature. Recall that water stagnates and evaporates when it is not given what it needs to be itself — movement and connection to the source. In order for us to research our own experience, we need to be learning from what's around us — we need to be in full flowing connection to assess and pursue the energy that makes us feel most alive and good and essentially ourselves."
