Just musing over Dropship's recent thread and many others that came before it - and thinking that "you know, it would be so easy to start a new religion. So easy."
Lee died in 1973, and the rumors started. His thousands of loyal fans grieved and told tales. His wife even wrote a book to document the REAL story, but it didn't take with a lot of folks. There are still people who are slavishly devoted, and the tall tales of his exploits get more amazing by the year. There is even a video on YouTube showing Lee playing pingpong - with nunchucks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SncapPrTusA This, of course, was a cool video editing trick for a Nokia ad, but if you suggest to a bunch of Lee fanatics that it's fake, their heads practically explode. (Read the comments.)
So, the timing is about right, if you're following the "beloved dead leader" model. All you need is a charismatic and marvelously skilled Jeet Kune Do instructor to claim that his marvelous new techniques were given to him by the Spirit of the Master himself. And then he would assert that if a student followed the Master's training path and memorized "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do", the Master would eventually make himself known and guide them as their personal instructor as well.
You would have people in the school and online begging you to take their money. As soon as the instructor realized that he had a huge amount of power and money coming in, he would probably start to believe that he was the "One the Master Chose". The first ones to attain a high level would begin swapping stories about how the Master appeared to them, and what they were inspired to do. There would be a huge one-up-man-ship battle. Essays would be written claiming to be inspired additions to the Master's work (which he was unable to finish on earth due to his untimely death). Lee would be upset, if he wasn't dead. He was an atheist.
Bam. New god, new gospels, new church. It would be so easy . . . and so lucrative. You'd make SOOO much money . . . But damn, I couldn't support a preacher/con artist. But damn, you'd make SOOO much money . . . --- Fuzz
Lee died in 1973, and the rumors started. His thousands of loyal fans grieved and told tales. His wife even wrote a book to document the REAL story, but it didn't take with a lot of folks. There are still people who are slavishly devoted, and the tall tales of his exploits get more amazing by the year. There is even a video on YouTube showing Lee playing pingpong - with nunchucks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SncapPrTusA This, of course, was a cool video editing trick for a Nokia ad, but if you suggest to a bunch of Lee fanatics that it's fake, their heads practically explode. (Read the comments.)
So, the timing is about right, if you're following the "beloved dead leader" model. All you need is a charismatic and marvelously skilled Jeet Kune Do instructor to claim that his marvelous new techniques were given to him by the Spirit of the Master himself. And then he would assert that if a student followed the Master's training path and memorized "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do", the Master would eventually make himself known and guide them as their personal instructor as well.
You would have people in the school and online begging you to take their money. As soon as the instructor realized that he had a huge amount of power and money coming in, he would probably start to believe that he was the "One the Master Chose". The first ones to attain a high level would begin swapping stories about how the Master appeared to them, and what they were inspired to do. There would be a huge one-up-man-ship battle. Essays would be written claiming to be inspired additions to the Master's work (which he was unable to finish on earth due to his untimely death). Lee would be upset, if he wasn't dead. He was an atheist.
Bam. New god, new gospels, new church. It would be so easy . . . and so lucrative. You'd make SOOO much money . . . But damn, I couldn't support a preacher/con artist. But damn, you'd make SOOO much money . . . --- Fuzz
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein