The fundamental concept behind Taijiquan and the basis for its martial applications is clearly represented by the yin-yang symbol for Taijiquan:
In Taijiquan, one almost never counters against an attacking force with an opposite frontal counter force with the purpose of overpowering that attacking force with a larger counter force. Instead, the Taijiquan practitioner usually sidesteps to avoid the frontal attack either completely, or partially and at the same time uses a small side force to deflect the attacking force. The Taijiquan practitioner basically allows the attacker to continue in the direction of his force, and utilizes that momentum to cause the opponent to lose his balance. Once the opponent senses that he may lose his balance and moves in the opposite direction, the Taijiquan practitioner also changes direction and counterattacks along the momentum of the opponent’s new motion.
Need for Establishment of a Center for Future Studies
As we all know, there are many serious problems facing the U.S. and the world today that could become catastrophic and make the world a very unpleasant place to live in for our grandchildren, say 50 years from now. In particular, I am referring to those problems that may require 10, 20, or more years of research, development, and implementation to have any chance of solving those problems.
Unfortunately, politicians and government agencies in general are not interested in such long-term projects because the beneficial results won’t be available to help them with their next election, or even the next couple of elections after that. Similarly, corporations also do not want to invest in that kind of long-term R&D. With corporations’ focus on the annual, if not quarterly, financial reports, R&D that can give rise to financial benefits in 3-5 years is already considered to be long-term.
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