Part of living in the moment, is taking the time to reflect on your feelings and your dreams and judge them against the path that you are on. Just don't cross the line and fall over into the pool, make sure that once you've thought your thoughts you do the things you want and/or need to do to continue on your path.
There is another Oogway quote that can be taken in a similar wrong way. He says "There is just news. There is no good or bad". Immediately after Shifu tells the news and Oogway hilariously responds "that is bad news". He seems to be contradicting himself, but I think the lesson should be taken from his demeanor, not from his literal words. Shifu is clearly distressed about the news, but Oogway takes it calmly. Not worrying, but carefully considering.
Such a great movie :)
Ahh, but don't forget, there's a small pause before Oogway continues "...if you do not believe that the Dragon Warrior can stop him"
Admittedly, I only know this because my oldest daughter is obsessed with Kung Fu Panda at the moment and we watch it daily.
"Happy man, the happy man Doing the best he can, the best he can "
Surprisingly deep wisdom from such young artists, I think.
This might be why modern people feel so disconnected from past people, even though we're basically identical.
I connect a lot better with:
> "Forget the future. When and if it comes, you’ll have the same resources to draw on—the same logos"
(from Gregory Hayes translation, if I'm not mistaken)
https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Marcus-Au...
What's news to me is that people in the present are translating old non-English texts into some older form of English - is that true?
More likely, it's an old translation from the Latin. Many of the translations we have now originate from 150+ years ago.
> This might be why modern people feel so disconnected from past people, even though we're basically identical.
If the original text used what was already considered an archaic or rarefied register at its time of composition (as is often true of various classical works, indeed this is often basically what a "classical language" means), then a translator, in the process of trying to convey the original author's tone and intent, might choose to do the same in the target language.
The original quote with thou and thees that you're curious about instead speaks to the intrinsic motivations being available when the future arrives not resources.
So there is your answer? Meaning is lost in translation so best to stay as true to the original message as possible.
Surely any major human language can accurately capture a translation from any other major human language, even if it requires more words than the original to convey the meaning.
"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present."
In English, thou was the informal, you the formal, as the subject in a sentence, with thee and ye the object form. Hence "God rest ye merry gentlemen" is better translated these days as "God rest you, merry gentlemen".
The T-V distinction is also why the Quakers maintained the thou form for some time, to indicate equality among all men (in the gender-neutral sense of the world), as you implied a difference in status.
The question of why the Bible used thous and thees is another interesting rabbit hole.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/16/opinion/sunday/pronouns-q...
"Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the now the primary focus of your life."
Bear in mind that Kung Fu Panda is to philosophy is what Kung Fu Panda is to martial arts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIkp6n53g2w
"if if if, it doesn't exists" - Rafa Nadal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T6S9Kbh69Y
"I can lose, he can beat me, but i can't give up" - Rafa Nadal
I can be moved by this philosophy all the way to tears and crying (and it did happen in the past). However, the even more tragic part is that it doesn't exactly apply in today's world where most people are bound to their jobs. If they don't "worry" about the future and quit and try to do something else that doesn't work out... well... rent / mortgage installment is still due in two weeks.
I really LOVE the philosophy you cited. I just can't see how it's applicable to today's world. The system is specifically made to keep us as hamsters on wheels.
The problem as you correctly put is that people worry, but that does not lead to a solution. There is really no point in worrying - if you cannot change something, why worry about it? If you can change it, why worry? You might have to think deeply about how to change it and act on it, but just worrying is like praying - it gives an semblance of action without actually doing anything.
The hamster, the wheel and the cage are illusions. We choose certain things as more important to us than others. You can always quit and walk out, but a lot of times we prioritize our comfort, an (illusory) stable earnings etc. over freedom.
Worrying clearly has a function, or else we would not have evolved to do so. Worrying motivates action - it is a countervailing force to laziness. Worrying draws conscious and subconscious attention to problems that need solving. It is necessary, like pain. How do you know you can't change something without thinking about it? Why would you think about it if you weren't worried about it?
I charitably interpret all the anti-worrying propaganda as an exhortation to try and maintain worry as a transient state that goes away when you commit to a course, as opposed to an ongoing coping mechanism.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Peace-Every-Step-Mindfulness-Everyday...
1. Can I do something about it right now? If so, do it, and stop worrying.
2. Can I do something about it later? If so, wait til later, do it, and stop worrying.
3. There is nothing I can do. If so, there's nothing to worry about because I can't do anything about it.
Jesus said, "who of you by worrying can add one moment to their lifespan?" (or in another saying "...add one inch to their stature?")
We are more mobile today than at any point in history, to be honest[0]. Indentures servitude has been abolished to a large degree[1] and slavery has been outlawed[2]. Conscripted military service is gone in America and a lot of European countries[3]. Job mobility and the ability to save money is, while not easier than any point in history on a point by point history basis[4], on a macro scale of history - comparing medieval, renaissance or previous Europe and Russian and Chinese wealth distribution, mobility and freedoms of self - rent/mortgage may be due, but you can still break your agreement, sell your house[5], quit your job and be a homeless ascetic if you want. There are dozens of YouTube channels on VanLife you can watch people doing it... not for me, but you can do it. You can join an abbey[6]. You can leave the system and jump off the wheel, you just have to jump off the wheel and stop getting what the wheel gives you.
[0] at least in western European style cultures... for a large portion of the world, this statement might hold true, but to a much lesser degree, if at all
[1] this can be argued, but this is argumentative on the basis of predatory and college loans
[2] again, this can be argued than prison labor is a form of slave labor in states like California when used to fight wildfires, but I'm not sure how much water those arguments hold
[3] though several have mandatory service requirements
[4] the 60's and 80's, I believe were easier... check my math, I might be wrong, there may have been others
[5] there may be a penalty
[6] though, I think you could have always done this... I'm not sure about this
I'm not sure it's really all that different now than it has ever been. Sure, it's not like people were always and everywhere working for some other entity in what we'd tend to recognize as a "job", but there has always been a struggle. The struggle in the past was to be able to grow enough food to last the winter to stave off starvation.
If the rent is due and there’s no money, what can you do now to fix that? What action can you take, right now, that gets you closer to paying rent? All the worrying in the world does nothing to fix the situation.
Yes have a long-term plan, follow a strategy, even make time in the day/week/quarter to realign and think about that stuff. But when shit hits the fan, only doing something right now gets you closer to a solution.
(Although lately I've been realizing that if we were just cold calculating machines maybe we wouldn't have complex drives and passions, so probably emotions are not just an extraneous 'curse', and are part of why we do what we do.)
Learning to focus is one of the hidden lessons in "Kung Fu Panda." Po's journey allows him to finally reveal to his father his true passion because he learns to focus on his own destiny rather than letting the pressures of the larger society, as represented by his father's expectations, control him.
No, it's not easy. But there's also the early retirement people, who spend little and save aggressively to escape the hamster wheel.
And there is also the mentality of not letting the thing you do to pay the rent or mortgage define you. Put in your 8 hours, but don't let it consume you outside of those hours.
You don't have to spend your whole life in the noodle shop. There are other ways to live.
This seems like a minority these days. Most people are just chasing the house ownership hamster wheel.
It's funny that another Jack Black movie, "The School of Rock" (2003), has a similar message: Do what you love because you love it. Even if you are not very good at it, you can find a way to fit it into your life. https://moviewise.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/the-school-of-roc...
Another movie that shows this lesson is the 2013 documentary "Salinger": Be driven by making your work great, not by the reactions of others. https://moviewise.wordpress.com/2015/08/03/salinger/
Which is influenced by Hinduism, "you should do your work as perfectly as you possibly can with no thought of rewards, and only that way can you be a really happy person.”
It's about being able to identify what you can and what you cannot control, focusing on the can control and just letting the rest occur. This is something I struggle with.
I see things, constantly, that are just rage inducing in terms of how stupid they are and how the problems they cause impact my life negatively. And I can't do anything about them. Yet I still spend time being negative, anxious, or otherwise focusing on them. It doesn't help, the problems still happen, and I spent time ruminating about them.
I think the frustration often arise when we create the illusion of control and unexpected events shatter that idea, bringing ourselves in denial.
A good measure is to keep a buffer for unexpected events and prepare yourself sentimentally.
That's what Marcus said? Or rather a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeery old and dusty translation of what he said?
This idea of finding comfort or guidance in movies is exactly how I feel, and it is what motivates me to catalogue the life lessons found in movies on "moviewise."
(Rainbow song)
Sometimes you just need to stop thinking so much and get through the day.
There is a similar point from Marcus Aurelius where he says (in this old timey translation): "Let not future things disturb thee, for thou wilt come to them... having with thee the same reason which now thou usest."
PS. Another example of unexpectedly good writing is when the student-turned-bad-guy bitterly says, "What I ever did, I did to make you proud! Tell me how proud you are, Shifu", and then after a pause Shifu replies with genuine agreement: "I have always been proud of you... And it was my pride that blinded me... too much to see what you were becoming."