Mary Jane 2040
Harpooner in the Fog
We don’t generally think of ferocity as a child’s trait, yet every parent will recognize it. The term comes from ferus, which means wild or untamed…the same Latin root that gives us the words ‘feral’ and ‘fierce.’ Children are, of course, wild and untamed, feral and fierce. A child’s ferocity is so intuitive, so organic, that it achieves a purity of motion that few adults can equal.
It is the highest accord with existence when a one’s thought and action are spontaneously the same. So said Miyamoto Musashi, the 17th century master swordsman, in his classic manual of arms and tactics Go Rin No Sho, the Book of Five Rings. Spontaneous thought and action…that could almost be a definition of ‘child.’
We lose that as we get older. We become conscious of ourselves, of our selves, self-conscious. We think, then we act, and the natural rhythm is broken. We lose that primal grace. Hit with your body, and hit with your spirit, says Musashi, and hit from the Void with your hands.
Grace and ferocity, it is the ideal form sought by master swordsmen and the natural province of children.
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