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Write a new blog they said!
It will be easy, they said!
Make it about Zen and Pyrrho and your journey through the world of philosophy, martial arts, comedy, Motion Capture and Acting.
Tell us about the olden days Bob and what it was like in the 18th Century!
So I said yes!
I always say Yes!
I am a people pleaser!
It’s funny really because I like my own company as well as being with others.
I have no preference.
That has been my attitude to things since I can remember.
I enjoyed the solitude of sitting facing the cold grey sea off the coast of South Shields, my hometown. I would look across to the distant horizon and imagine what was lying out there just out of reach. I found a spot with some friends once. I think I was 14, and we called it the end of the world. It was a little outcrop of rock that jutted out into the sea and although the town was only a couple of miles away, I always felt that I was in the middle of nowhere.
I felt I was alone with others.
I loved it.
When I went through my Tibetan phase (The Kargyupta School of Mahayana Buddhism) me and a few crazy friends took some Tibetan Prayer Flags and hung them down there and watched them flap about in the cold easterly wind that always seemed to be blowing. To be honest, I can never remember it being cold. I guess I was used to it.
Ever since I was 12, I had this realisation that I was different. Maybe I wanted to be different. I’m not sure, but I never wanted to conform to the norms of my working class life. We lived in pretty grim circumstances compared to today, but I never felt I wanted for anything. I had books from the Library and I had my crazy Buddhist friends and my martial arts to keep me going.
When I finally succumbed to the pressures of working class life and got a Fitter/Turners apprenticeship in the Middle Docks, they called me ‘Kung Fu’. This was a character from a TV series. He was a Chinese American Shaolin monk. I like that appellation. I liked the name, and it meant I was different. Not arrogant different, just comically so. I liked to make people laugh, even if I was the butt of the joke.
I didn’t go out drinking or smoking with the lads from the shipyard. I would rather sit and discuss philosophy, music or make up strange and weird comedy shit that at that time made no sense to anyone but my close friend. However, I still lived a life that shaped me. I’m still being shaped. By my environment and the influences in it. I’m still chasing that solitude at the end of the world and I hope I never catch it. Once I take ownership of it I know it will vanish. Like trying to grasp water. I have always enjoyed the journey and not the destination.
Before Lockdown, I drove a lot. I enjoy driving and being alone in the car. Driving to Aberdeen and deliberately taking as long as I could just to savour the time on the road. Once I had arrived I also enjoyed the time with the guys up there. Teaching Muay Thai and self protection. Talking to different people with fresh ideas and sharing a meal or two. I have made a family outside of my own family and this journey continues. It’s just happening online at the moment.
My childhood taught me one really important thing.
Embrace Change.
Change is the constant that governs us all and that will be my next blog post.