Has parkour lost its meaning?

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Traceur Vert	Has parkour lost its meaning?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 7 (Sun, Apr 20, 2008 09:37) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None I am posting the question, 'has parkour lost its meaning?' and I say this because I have found that nearly everyone has lost sight of the philosophy of parkour. Sebastian Foucan talks about everyone has their own 'way',and he calls it 'my way' and no one seems to talk about their own way. So I am asking, what is your 'way'? and if you can't answer that then ask your self why you can't. Because if nobody has their own 'way' then has parkour lost its meaning. I guess the polite thing to do is to start with my way, 'my way' starts three and a half years ago, when I was first told of this sport, and for the first two years I didn't take it seriously, and mainly had fun with my mates. Until recently when i found that I cannot ettle down with a normal 9-5 job, this is because of my mentallity (no I am not insane) I cannot do repetative jobs, and especially i can't do something i dont enjoy, thats why I am not doing very well in my A-levels, because of free running (sorry to be a bit of a bad influence) but anyway 'my way' is this, I either Find a job in free running, I have a few ideas for this already, or I fail and end up with a crappy job knowing that free running ruined my life. So 'my way' is to make a living of free running, and i have made this is my motivaion. So what is your way?
Dom Silentmotion		#1	[-]
Posts: 72 (Sun, Apr 20, 2008 10:48) Rookie Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I think there are a lot more people starting parkour/freerunning without much regard for the philosophy and meaning behind it which is a shame. I started about the same time as you and parkour/freerunning has given me a lot; a great bunch of friends, good health, confidence and the ability to view the world from a different perspective. Surely though, if you have learnt anything from pakour then it must be that there is always a way, a path. It is never just a case of either-or, there is always another option. I am baffled as to why you have not applied this level of thinking towards your 'career' plans. Freerunning doesn't have the power to ruin your life; only you can do that! If you can get a parkour related job then great, but if you cant it doesn't mean you have to work in an office. You could become a farmer, or a coach/instructor for outdoor adventure courses or if the idea of being an employee doesn't suit you then start your own company and do everything your way. "If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere."
Biomech		#2	[-]
Posts: 5137 (Mon, Apr 21, 2008 12:40) UF Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Personally I've found MORE philosophy and meaning in PK over the last few months. Biomech Parkour Merchandise \| Get Paid to Google \| Join the UF Tube Video/Photo Community! "Either you define the moment, or the moment defines you" 2007 Mod of the Year :)
suburbantracuer		#3	[-]
Posts: 81 (Mon, Apr 21, 2008 01:35) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	its sad because lots of people now start parkour because they think it's cool and they want to jump off buildings and do sweet "tricks" and they don't really know what the meaning of parkour is or how you should go about doing it or learning about it. it's not just a sport or a game or activity its a life style and i seem to find so many different ways to apply that to life, not just in tough moments but also when i'm doing parkour, when i first started out i was sort of giddy and i want to do this and that right away but you grow and so does the sport i also realise that now when i'm doing parkour and i happen to get my foot caught on a rail i don't panic as i used to, i just let the moment flow and live in the moment and so while i'm sailing through the air i don't think " OMG OMG OMG I"M GOING TO DIE OMG!!!!" i just calm down and wait and take action and everything turns out fine. Last Edited By: suburbantracuer Mon, Apr 21, 2008 01:37. Edited 1 times.
kanahmal		#4	[-]
Posts: 467 (Mon, Apr 21, 2008 01:50) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Friedrick Nietzsche, Noam Chomsky, Tenzin Gyatso, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were great philosophers. Sebastian Foucan, not so much. Sebastian Foucan is a great traceur...does that mean you should live your life by his word? Uhhh no. There are thousands of great philosophers for whom you can look for guidance, people who have spent their entire lives developing ideas about the way the world works, people who are smarter than Sebastian Foucan. Parkour philosophy is cute, but parkour is a sport and I would no sooner look to its founders for philosophy than I would to the founders of baseball, football, or hockey. So by all means continue the sport, it's one of the few sports I enjoy watching and participating in. Even look to Sebastian Foucan for guidance for the sport, but if you want philosophy please look farther than your favorite physical activity, and maybe pick up a book.
suburbantracuer		#5	[-]
Posts: 81 (Mon, Apr 21, 2008 03:25) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	k i have to admit that i went on a bit of an uncontrolled rant there but some it was true to my heart, ( not the philosophy parts, the falling over railings bit) it does have quit a bit of influence on me
Dr MamBo		#6	[-]
Posts: 1232 (Mon, Apr 21, 2008 03:57) Regular Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	kanahmal wrote: Friedrick Nietzsche, Noam Chomsky, Tenzin Gyatso, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were great philosophers. Sebastian Foucan, not so much. Sebastian Foucan is a great traceur...does that mean you should live your life by his word? Uhhh no. There are thousands of great philosophers for whom you can look for guidance, people who have spent their entire lives developing ideas about the way the world works, people who are smarter than Sebastian Foucan. Parkour philosophy is cute, but parkour is a sport and I would no sooner look to its founders for philosophy than I would to the founders of baseball, football, or hockey. So by all means continue the sport, it's one of the few sports I enjoy watching and participating in. Even look to Sebastian Foucan for guidance for the sport, but if you want philosophy please look farther than your favorite physical activity, and maybe pick up a book. People find inspiration where they can. Some of the most inspirational and philosophical people I have met are just everyday (and some not so everyday) people who are just getting on with life. Just because someone is smarter than another person does not automatically mean that they have a deeper philsosphy or indeed a more valuble philosophy on life. Its all relative to the individual. If this guy finds his inspiration from seb (or from whoever) then leave him to it. The ideas left to us by people like aristotle etc are valuble, but at the end of the day, not for everyone. So I put it to you, look deeper into your physical activity and put down the books. p.s my way reflects my life. I always try to learn from it and keep it simple and fun.
kanahmal		#7	[-]
Posts: 467 (Mon, Apr 21, 2008 08:18) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Inspiration is the key word there. I believe Seb is a very inspirational person. I also agree that many of my own philosophies come from the type of people you run into in the grocery store. However parkour philosophy is still pretty thin. If some kid stumbles onto parkour on youtube, learns a few moves, and claims that he does parkour than that should be just fine, no need to complicate things with 'the way' or other philosophies. If you get inspired by Seb or even want to incorporate his teachings into your own personal philosophy that's great, but leave parkour out of it. At the end of the day parkour is just a fun activity, one you can attach to your personal philosophy, or just leave it at face value, but to attach a 'way' that needs to be followed is not what I think parkour is about.
Fatal Error		#8	[-]
Posts: 49 (Mon, Apr 21, 2008 02:36) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	No offense intended, however: I think that to force parkour and philosophy together as the same thing is an elitist backlash to rising popularity. Can parkour become a lifestyle, wherein you do it all the time, just getting from place to place, you constantly think about it, you draw your life lessons from it? Why not? Basketball can become that for people, so why not parkour? However, I do not believe that parkour and philosophy necessarily always go together. I think that someone bouncing off a wall, grabbing the landing of a staircase, and pulling themselves on it, has just as much claim to be practicing parkour at that point in time as someone who has embedded their parkour with philosophy. Parkour is a domain of movements. Just like basketball, skateboarding, and swimming. But maybe I'm just one of those that doesn't possess the "true essence" of parkour, so go ahead and ignore me, because I am just the unwashed masses.
strider4660		#9	[-]
Posts: 321 (Mon, Apr 21, 2008 05:59) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	lol I havent even read the guys post...his title just did it for me!
DonHarry		#10	[-]
Posts: 255 (Mon, Apr 21, 2008 07:17) Newbie Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Until recently when i found that I cannot ettle down with a normal 9-5 job, this is because of my mentallity (no I am not insane) I cannot do repetative jobs, and especially i can't do something i dont enjoy, thats why I am not doing very well in my A-levels, because of free running Wtf is this shit. My mentality means i cannot do a 9-5 job? Get your backside into the real world and grow the fuck up. Is it below you to do a 9-5? Well shit some of us have to do it because we need money. I have a near enough 9-5 and have done for the last 3 years and some days it's boring as hell but that's how it is, it pays reasonable money and it's going to pay for me to go back to college in September. Sometimes we have to get off our high horse and do things we don't want to do. Don't you dare use Freerunning as the excuse to you bailing your A-Levels - that's down to your own laziness and nothing else. 'I can't do something i don't enjoy' - Can't doesn't enter into it, don't want to maybe, or to lazy too but not can't. Kids these days. Jesus wept. "The only way of finding the limits of the possible, is by going beyond them into the impossible"

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