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Staff
Nature
vs. nurture. Which contributes more to our being, our personalities,
our way of life ? Nurture of course represents all the acquired
influences of society and family. Nature represents our inherited
"genetic" characteristics. The problem is not a simple
one because it is given one more twist by a very pernicious influence
that blinds us to the division of these two forces.
Nature
and Nurture. What mom taught and what she gave naturally. The hard
thing is to know which is which. When people study T'ai Chi or Shaolin
they often come across this problem. "That doesn't feel natural,"
they say. And what do they mean ? We must assume that no one over
the age of 3 really remembers what "natural" is. The moment
we are born we begin a process of change away from the natural.
Show a student Cloud Hands, for instance, and they complain about
how unnatural it feels. "O.K. what is natural ?"
you ask, wondering. They make the motion of driving a car. They've
been driving so long they don't even remember a time when that wasn't
"natural" to them. But when we examine human movement
we see that we have conformed to the machines and the structures
that have surrounded us for so long that we no longer remember the
twists, turns and spirals of truly natural motion.
Our
study is based on the central concept, that there is an "original
self" in each of us, a face behind convention's mask that we
might see had we the proper mirror.
The
story goes that a woman once approached Picasso and criticized his
painting. "My three year old son could do that." Picasso
nodded and added, "It takes a long time to become young."