The Restless Raven

I have always wanted to believe in magic. The idea of a mystical power that can be seen and manipulated by some wizard.

My first inclination on strange occurrences is in fact always magic first, then slowly the analytical mind battles its way to the forefront of my brain and starts to break it apart.

Classic example… I was out in the back yard with my roommate and on the ground there was a round blue hairy mass shaped like an egg on the ground.

“Oh!! An alien egg!!!”  I had exclaimed.

“Umm…. No”, my roommate uttered with a raised eyebrow. “That is a rotten lemon.”

I guess Tai Chi has that appeal to me. I feel like I am in the realm of wizards  who have spent centuries toiling away and the hidden mysteries of chi and the human body. Passing their knowledge down the best they can to the people that will listen and practice.

But it’s getting lost. So few practice the art anymore it seems, lots of the masters are gone, the demands of the modern world prevent delving in to the depths of the art as far as some of the old masters. The cultural revolution led to the destruction and deaths of thousands of the old masters. Only a handful survived,  and the ones that did went in to hiding.

The knowledge lost makes me a little bit sad. I suppose that is part of the reason I want to focus so intently on it. I could spend my whole life learning it,  and barely scratch the surface of what has been learned. Most of the Tai chi masters spent their lives studying multiple martial arts by the time they took up Tai chi. I have done nothing of the sort.

What happens when there aren’t any more masters? The knowledge learned in Tai chi can’t be held in books, all books can do is show you how to practice. Only the people who have that passion for it will uncover the knowledge. But, maybe that is the way it’s supposed to be.

Only a rare dedicated few become magicians.

Here are some links on the cultural revolution if you are interested:

http://www.history.com/topics/cultural-revolution

http://people.howstuffworks.com/chi-kung-exercises2.htm