Aggression

Tai Chi Chuan is a martial art and as such its natural scenario is the fight for one's life. This has nothing to do with self-defence – I am not defending myself when I fight – I am simply fighting for my life, and that life is always through the fight – without the fight the life is less. In such a situation there can be no room for distance because as soon as I allow or create distance the other is likely to fill it. What this means, technically, is that from the outset I must be using front-foot energy. Front-foot energy – basically spirit – is fundamentally aggressive – claims new ground, whereas back-foot energy – extending flowing energy – is fundamentally defensive – defends that ground. It is the same when the baby grasps at some object she likes the look of (desires). Firstly she attaches her spirit to the object through her eyes then her hand slowly (because inexpertly) moves towards the object, encloses it with her fingers, grasps and draws it in, generally to her mouth – she brings the world into her body. The front-foot works in the same way – it reaches out and claims territory – pulls that ground into my body (by pulling my body into that ground). This is basically an aggressive act – I must be prepared and eager to supplant whatever I find there – and it needs to be felt as such if it is to be whole-heartedly engaged. With my back-foot I create distance – space and time – by extending my root downwards and therefore my expression up and out. With my front-foot I create connexion which is the negation of space and time – of distance. And in my joyful enthusiasm I almost overreach – beyond and before. This is the danger and excitement of the front-foot – it takes me beyond myself.

Seated meditation is a fundamentally back-foot occupation. How meditators get around this I have yet to discover.