When it comes to tech and trends, I’m pretty much up to date on everything. Even back in my early days before the internet was around, I was dabbling online when 56K speed was the norm and the static dial tone screeched through my house signaling a connection. However, there has been one thing that seems so foreign to me and that would be blogging. It’s not that I wasn’t aware of it, I struggled early with it’s value. Often I’d hear news stories that, people actually make a living doing this, and my reaction is … how was that possible? And, finally I’ve come to the point where I finally felt that to blog was to know more about the book – Kirin Rise The Cast of Shadows. Overall, on the outside I may appear to be very open and social when you get to know me, there’s always been that part of me that’s only let out a portion which I’ve felt comfortable. To me, blogging was an opening to the inner soul which I was not yet prepared to share, let alone to anyone randomly online to anyone willing to invest a few minutes of their time. However, it dawned on me that you can create a great book, but you want to help those who are not quite ready to see the full picture, see it.
I’ve been fortunate in my life to experience quite a bit and to see both the good and bad that the world has to offer. Thus, the opening of the title isn’t going to be answered by a singular answer, since I see life always from both angles. To say a book is just a book, limits the possibilities, but yet sometimes one reads, enjoys or hates the time invested in that moment, and then continues on. This is inevitably true, but too me a good book does more then just entertain.
To understand why I made the book, I want to share the process to how roughly 3 years of my life was devoted to creating it. First, an introduction is necessary, as the author of Kirin Rise, I am a Gung Fu teacher above anything else. The story of Kirin Rise was being forged almost 35 years ago, when my dad help guide me on my path by signing me up to my very first martial arts class. Eventually I’ll go into detail regarding that, but for now all that is needed to know, is that art has been my religion to understanding the world around us.
When I began writing the book, it came from a time like many have felt at some point in there life, where they feel lost. I can already tell you that from my experience, most consider this to be a bad thing, and at the early times in my life, I hated that feeling. But, I’ve come to learn it is at this time within one’s life that when you are searching for answer, that this creates the greatest possiblities for change. Thus, when I finally began to put pen to paper and write Kirin Rise, it was as a teacher should do and help a student through these times. And as a father of two young boys, to remind them when they get to that point, that they weren’t alone. So, when I say a book is just a book, Kirin Rise was designed for more than just entertainment, but as a teaching guide to the world around us.