Oogway’s Peach Tree: The Illusion of Control
Dreamworks’ 2008 masterpiece (You read that correctly) Kung-Fu Panda is packed with wisdom and nifty quotes, all of which is usable in real life. The best, and most useful of these come from the wise old tortoise, Master Oogway. It deals with the idea of the illusion of control.
Oogway does very little in the film, but what he does do is important. He has a few short conversations with Po, the aforementioned panda, and Master Shifu, the grumpy yet adorable little cat bear thing (apparently named a red panda) and teaches them both the wisdom they need to overcome their problems and fulfil their destinies. Most principally, he teaches Shifu about the illusion of control.
‘If you want real control, drop the illusion of control. Let life have you. It does anyway. You’re just telling yourself the story of how it doesn’t.’
-Byron Katie
At the midpoint of the film, Master Shifu learns that his ex student Tai-Lung has broken out of prison and is returning to the valley of peace to have his revenge, and Shifu has at most a few days to train a Panda who has zero practical ability in Kung-fu, to a level where that same panda will be able to defeat Tai-Lung. Things seem impossible. Would any of us know what to do? Here’s the full scene:
