I just finished reading The Tao of Wu by The RZA. I didn’t think I’d stay up and read the rest of the book last night, since I was on pg. 130-something and the book was 200-something pages, but for some reason I stayed up and just told myself to finish the rest of the book.
I guess I should start off by saying that RZA is one complex and interesting character, to say the least. I mean, I first got this book because I was intrigued about RZA as an individual, how he took different philosophies and religions, then tied it into his own experiences to create the realm of Wu-Tang. It’s interesting to find out about his eccentricities and his love for chess, comics, and random history. But it’s definitely more complex than that.
And no offense to him, but at first, when I was reading all his observations about how things in life tied into his knowledge about Islam and his understanding about the ‘Five Percent’ (which I’m still a bit confused about) I first thought to myself, “Well, this is a lot of high-blown mumbo-jumbo.” You have to read the book to know what I’m talking about, about how he realizes that numbers play a role and offer a sign about how Allah/God seeks meaning behind everything. Like when he talks about a spiritual rebirth he had on September 7, 1997 he links it to a year of Born God, a new birth. On that day, he found himself at a new crossroads in his life and after a couple of years of spiritual torment and misfortunes, he was reborn again. Part of me is like, “Okay, this is a lot of bullshit, trying to link up life to random signs and numbers.” But then again, I thought about it and realized that which of us doesn’t try to find some meaning in their life by associating events with a greater meaning, or random signs, or a larger unexplainable power? I can say for myself that I catch myself doing that shit all the time. Call it a cop-out, but I think we all try to find meaning behind everything. It’s how humans naturally try to make sense of the world, right? I mean, what’s the main question every single human wants to know the answer to? “Why are we here?” So I shouldn’t hate on someone’s belief on trying to connect the dots.
I also have to give props to RZA for writing this book. It’s a long book, but not for a single moment did I believe that he was writing this book to impress peers or add the title of ‘author’ to his list of accomplishments. He wrote this book strictly to share his wisdom and knowledge with others. And not once did he stray away from his true self, either. The whole book was basically a “stream on consciousness” kind of book. When he wanted to explain philosophical things in an intellectual way, he did so to the extent of his vernacular. When he was talking about Shaolin and Staten Island and drinking 40s and “fuckin’ bitches,” he felt no need to censor his words or switch up his slang so that people can get it. I think that’s an admirable quality of his. Pretty much giving this book to you straight.
The most tear-jerking part of this book was when he started to talk about the death of ODB. RZA described ODB as a person that was drowning. To quote what RZA felt after a night of watching ODB do drugs, RZA said, “He showed me he had lost his vision and all understanding of who he was.” To me, that was kind of scary. To be so high on a pedestal of wealth and fame, and then to fall. He capped off his anecdote about ODB’s death with the lesson of helping people who are drowning in life. Yeah, we’re often too timid about the things that irk us, but if we don’t speak up, we commit a bigger injustice and offense to ourself and to others. So if you wanna do someone a favor, call them out on their bullshit and the fucked up things they’re doing. I don’t think I’d mind it if people would do that with me more often, just so long as it’s a tactful way of pointing out my flaws. Y’know, put a little sugar in your poison before you serve it to me. Thanks for that Aesop’s nugget there, RZA.
There’s more I can say about RZA and his book and how different things can be applied to my own personal philosophies, but I’ll save it for a real-life discussion. Thanks for reading.
