I was over at my head instructors house several years ago(he has retired from teaching now)and I saw a note on one of his certificates in his hall. This is what it said:

In this life of mine,
I have known nothing,
seen nothing or noone,
not even myself or my God,
that has not been both hard and soft.

I'll never forget it. It seems to have so much meaning and applies to everything I know.I've seen it from each of our members too. Just thought I'd share that with you and see what you think of it.
Of course I do Goju so that's where the hard/soft aspect of that started,but it goes much deeper. Thanks.

The obvious answer to this is silly putty. Its hard if you hit it very fast, and soft if you squeeze it slowly.

I don't have any comment as to the meaning of that quote ...Just want to say that I loved it.

Thanks for sharing.

-Ket

Thanks Ket. Anyone else?

I also loved it. It also has a bit of a dual meaning, I think. Everything can be harder or softer when regarded next to its superior (Except diamond. Diamond is forever ). But I suppose that's not entirely true, either.

I think that the forum members are an excellent example.

Is not hard the opposite of soft? This saying seems to be Taoist in nature to me, reflecting the duality of the universe. Everything is hard and soft. Can not the same man who plods along with no grace at all be taught to dance and flow with the music? To some, it might seem impossible, but it is truly possible. Does not our soft flesh cover hard bone? Do we not find soft sandstone as well as hard granite? Compare gold to steel. Every where we look, we find opposites, and Goju is just another example of how the world flows in opposites.

I have a feeling that quote will not become foreign in my mind neither, now. I thank you.

The statement pretty much speaks for itself, I really have nothing to add to it. It stands supports the Yin-Yang, basically.

I wish I could think of more to say to give this recognition but my mind's a blank.

It's a knife.

A knife of discrimination. Hardness and softness are relative qualities, based on an individual's subjective assessment. They are not an absolute truth - what one individual finds to be hard another will find to be soft and vice versa. The only purpose this knife serves is to establish its own truth, using the power of reason and the surrounding phenomena of the manifest physical world all around us to site itself, creating something out of nothing i.e. its own reality.

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