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With a funeral to go to tomorrow I’ve been trying to distract myself with writing. One of the chapters of my second book is about Darth Vader. I’m sharing a little part of it, just to put it out to the universe, to see how it’s recieved. I think I will be doing this quite often, so if you have any feed back, I’d love to hear from you, thanks.

Ultimately Darth Vader was following a path, the same path set before him by his master. He, like a lot of us, followed the path of those who came before him, for Vader it was the Dark Side, he followed his master, the Emperor, for us it’s jiu-jitsu and we follow our red or coral belted masters (and black belted professors).

The thing about paths is that they must be chosen. Darth Vader chose his path, so did Luke, and we chose ours—we chose the Arte Suave, the gentle art, and with that choice came a philosophy and way of living, a way of training and a way to address our ego, but jiu-jitsu alone is not enough. Jiu-jitsu is kind of like the Force, it’s something we use; it’s something we accept. The way we use it is the important thing. If I go out and beat people up for no reason or intimidate people or act like an asshole because I know jiu-jitsu, then that’s Darth Vader, that’s the dark side, but if I’m humble and patient and kind and I use jiu-jitsu to make myself a better person(and use jiu-jitsu as self-defense), then that’s Jedi. So, both groups use the Force (jiu-jitsu), they only differ in the way they use it.

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I was given a letter yesterday by Blake Fluhart, one of the members of West Side, a friend and serious warrior. In this letter, he wrote, what to me feels like a sermon, something insightful and strong, and uplifting. It made me feel better, so I asked him if I could share it, and of course he said yes. Here it is:

Sometimes there is trouble and tragedy everywhere we look. Loss and death may cloud our view. At the darkest of times it is sometimes hard to find light. When despair and doubt cast their shadows, we can remember ahead; seeing ourselves in the future, looking back at these times of trial. We may see the celebration that comes of victory that is earned over great odds and fear. Doing this, we let adversity not define us. We remember that when found, the light shines all the brighter for the darkness. We let our actions define the future by recognizing these challenging times for what they are: What makes our story great.

One love.

When someone you know unexpectedly dies it kind of shocks you into reality. It reminds you of the uncertainty and ultimate finality of this life. For me it is also a reminder to get off my ass and move froward, to not worry about stupid things and work towards happiness.

I’ve got a funeral to go to on Friday, third one in so many years. I haven’t written on this blog for four days enough time to show my respect, but it is time to move forward. One Love.

Life’s lesson’s come to us in a variety of ways; for me they’ve come in watching the awkward slowness of a sloth and feeling the power of an ocean wave. I’ve learned lessons from both bees and bulls and a praying mantis and a King snake, from a mountain path to a fast river, all these things transfer into lessons for jiu-jitsu, lessons for life. Once we dig deeper into things, we realize that nature’s lessons, all lessons, become lessons for us, lessons about life, lessons about the universe.

* Man, I’m pretty deep.

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I still need to market my book Jiu-Jitsu on the Brain; It’s my freshman effort and although I like it, it’s pretty short. I’d like to do something bigger, more in depth. I’ve outlined the chapters for my next endeavor, Jiu-Jitsu and the Universe: Ruminations on the Art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Chapters:

1. The Tao of Darth Vader
2. Jiu-zen: rolling meditation
4. Conquer I
5. Jiu-Jitsu Saves
6. The Saints of Arte Suave
7. Universal Principles
8. Martial Science
9. Singing on the Mat
10. The Rhythm of Jiu-Jitsu
11. The Cult of Submission Grappling
12. Symbolism
13. Beasts and Buddhas
14. Breath
15. Nature (The sloth and other magical things)
16. Mecca
17. Jiu-Jitsu Jihad
18. One Love
19. The Jiu-Jitsu Jedi
20. The Devil and Other Bad Guys
21. The importance of Silence
22. Life’s Work
23. Borrowing my Master’s Bicycle
24. In Search of Yoda
25. The Jiu-Jitsu Hermit
26. Life on the Ground
27. Ji and Ri: Technique and Understanding

I’m looking to do a book of about 80,000 words, almost four times as long as Jiu-Jitsu on the brain. I better get started.

Self-promotion sucks. It feels like begging. It feels like I’m a kid trying to get attention from my mom, “Hey Mom, look at me, look at me! Look at what I did!” I don’t like it at all. I do appreciate all the people who are helping promote my book, kind people, people who just want to help; you don’t know how much I appreciate that.

So, when I first published my book on Amazon it ranked 23rd under “BJJ” for Kindle ebooks, right now it’s at number eight. I can live with that for now, but I’m looking for number one. I guess the competitor in me is coming out because I’m looking to be on the top. Anyway, this post is more or less about how bad self-promotion sucks and a thank you to everyone who is spreading the word for me. One Love.

P.S. the book is also distracting me from all the other shit I’m supposed to do. I keep looking at the rankings on Amazon instead of doing other important things. *Note to self: focus

I’ve always dreamt of building an academy that was much like a temple. I mean something that really looked like a place of worship, with ancient wooden floors and surrounded by trees, austere but alive–maybe on a mountain side, but definitely near water—a natural place that seems to grow out of its environment.

I’d like to build something that makes you feel alive as soon as you enter; something with energy. The vision sits somewhere in the recesses of my mind; it’s something to move towards. I’d like to learn something about the effects of environment on learning, because my main goal is to teach, and if the environment helps people learn jiu-jitsu then that’s important.

Just a little rambling, a little dreaming, a little pondering.

* I just wanted to thank all of you who have read this blog and have bought and reviewed my book, thanks a lot for the support and the kind words. One Love.

Mecca is in Saudi Arabia and it is the purported birthplace of Mohammed—it is Islam’s holiest city. Malcolm X made a pilgrimage there. Muslims are expected to make a Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. They must visit the holy land.

The holiest city in Brazilian jiu-jitsu has to be Rio de Janeiro; that is where Brazilian jiu-jitsu was born. All jiu-jitsu people should make the BJJ Hajj to Rio. One of these days I’m going to have enough money and time too go. I’m not sure it will be a religious experience, but it would be pretty cool.

I’ve always been a fan of the bad guy. When I was younger, Darth Vader so fascinated me that I wanted him to whip Luke Skywalker even though whiney-ass Luke was supposed to be the protagonist–the hero. Even though all my friends liked Luke Skywalker, I was all Darth Vader.

As an adult, I still enjoy the idea of Darth Vader, the desire to be an ass-whipping machine still appeals to me, even with my Buddhist inclinations. I wonder sometimes how Darth Vader would have been if he had known jiu-jitsu, what would he have been like with the art of BJJ?

Darth Vader already knew how to choke people. He had probably one of the sickest chokes in the universe—maybe even the cosmos. He could choke people from across the room by simply raising his hand. If Darth Vader had followed the path of jiu-jitsu, he could have done any of the vast array of BJJ techniques without even touching his opponent. Flying arm bar? Don’t make me laugh. Shit, jiu-jitsu Vader could do that from across the mat. He’d be invincible. How do you counter the Force?

*(starting to work on a second book, I will have a chapter on Darth Vader and jiu-jitsu).

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