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Just a Technician
Phil's hammer falls in the form of lovely Rita.
After enough repetitions of Groundhog Day, his eyes
begin to open to her beauty and character. While she
is a much more worthy object than his other selfish
pursuits, his wooing of her is flawed.
 Seeing
that Phil is a technician, without deeper
understanding of his art, Rita slaps him. Of course,
Phil misses the block.
Learning
as much as he can about her through repeated interactions – her
background, her ideals, what she looks for in a man,
etc. – Phil tries to
shape himself into her ideal companion. He learns French,
so he can recite her beloved 19th-century poetry in
its original tongue. For her sake, he learns to play
the piano and demonstrates his creativity by
becoming an expert ice sculptor.
But mastery of the martial arts requires more than
technical expertise. If the transformation wrought
through training does not go to the core, then the
practitioner is hollow and bound to be defeated by
a skilled opponent.
Phil's knowledge of Rita and the unlimited amount
of time he has to hone his approach almost succeed.
He lures her back to his room but before he can seduce
her she realizes that she is being manipulated by Phil
and rejects him, with the first of many slaps.
She can tell that his training lacks sincerity.
Even though things return to status quo when the day
is next repeated, Phil cannot get any further with
Rita. In fact, he can't get as far as he did this first
attempt at seduction. He gets slapped again and
again.
This is a common pitfall for a martial artist. After
making a breakthrough in their training, they fail
when they try to recreate the experience. They know
what they are supposed to do and how it should feel,
but they just can't repeat it.
Their mistake is to try to hold onto something that is
done and finished. The experience is part of the past
and can't be relived. A martial artist must always look
to create fresh, spontaneous experiences and not become
mired in nostalgia. |
