Bruce Lee, one of my personal heroes (November 27, 1940–July 20, 1973) turned to this central question of existence and approached it with the same subtleness of insight and sincerity of spirit with which he approached all of life. He died all too soon, and the Bruce Lee foundation recently released his personal writings.

Lee was a rebellious youth and his parents sent him to live in the United States, where he attended college at the University of Washington, Seattle and majored in philosophy. He developed his own special blend of martial arts/kung fu that included his past training in fencing, dance (he won a cha-cha-cha dance competition in Hong Kong), and classic martial arts.
He cowrote the script for the classic movie “Enter the Dragon,” released in 1973, and fought long and hard for Eastern philosophy to be included in the movie, while the producers wanted to focus primarily on the kung fu scenes. They conceded. On set, he frequently wrote in his journal about his personal psychology and philosophy reflections and questions.  He believed in self expression, personally, socially, and professionally. He described his vocation as an “artist of life.”

How to be yourself, such a universal yearning.