Your Hidden Dragon

A fellow fan of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"gave me a link to an interesting article "Looking into Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". This article basically outlines the main characters by looking into various theories of Taoism or the true way of self. Like many people that watched the film, I was amazed at the cinematography, fight choreography, and storyline. But at the end of the movie I felt a bit confused by the ending message of the story. I suppose it would be because I did not fully grasp the spiritual affiliation and moral background of the characters in their journeys. The story is far more complex than love and destiny when paired with Taoist and Confucian ways of life and thinking. Basically everyone has a destiny or road map that can carry them to happiness. Everyone that is serious about their true spirit will flourish in life and discover their own path. This is the overall message that is conveyed in the film.

Now what many people do not know about Taoism, is that it is pretty structured in the way that one would care for themselves from a mind, body, and spirit perspective. Many people believe that Taoism is an excuse to behave any way they wish. Sort of like a rotten child without watchful parents to guide them. But as one quickly finds out after a bit of research and a return to this wonderful movie, soulful discipline mixed with compassion for others is a small piece of the long backbone of Taoism. ...or the true way of self. Evil, greed, anger, and jealousy are all human flaws, and we deal with them the best way we know how. But in the end it is how one chooses to deal with them on a regular basis when confronted with additional emotional obstacles.

If one is to recognize these things as natural feelings and focus on them to be undesired, then one has a good chance of moving into the true way of self by stripping away the excess feelings that can keep one from focusing on happiness. The hang-ups and barriers caused by these few rough patches of humanity become external to ones true nature. -Meaning if you are an artist... painting, drawing and creating become your life. If another artist comes along that is better than you, you have a few options. You can get angry that this artist is better at art and hate that artist or you can continue to create your own art while being inspired by the better artist. If you are the one that has become jealous of the other artist, you have caused yourself great hardship and fallen from the path of your true self, which was a person that was happy to be their own artist. If you befriend the better artist and celebrate being two great artists, there is a greater chance of being happy while producing more art. And the funny thing is that it would result not only in better art, but more expressive art as both of you are free to continue along the artistic path without further distraction. The social interaction and exchange of creative ideas would cause you to think less and feel more. The result would be positive creative energy instead of negative energy produced by greed and jealousy.

This is reflected throughout the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" movie. The main characters either struggle within themselves and with others as they face greater opposing forces while finding the light within their spirits.

It is a story that can be seen in all of us as we face battles with work, home, love, and money. Life forces us to make multiple decisions that will either help or hurt our well being and everyday surrounding environment. So with your natural powers, what will you do? -help or hurt yourself and others? Does this reflect your true nature? Does this feed into a better you? Are others around you affected by who you are? Is it a positive or negative affect? After rethinking my process and my purpose in life, I took another look at this movie through clearer thought perceptions and revisited the content listed in the article mentioned earlier and I understood the story and my personal process much better.

So if you are serious about discovering the "real you," keep peeling away the things that do not define who you are. If you work hard at removing the imaginary barriers of ego, pride, and extra material possessions by striving to discover a more complete self in health, work, and play, your hidden dragon will be revealed and life will become magical.