"One must still have chaos in oneself, to be able to give birth to a dancing star."
-- Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra
This asymmetrical short-sleeved rash guard design was created to represent the fiery, chaotic energy of the sun, which is contained and controlled and given shape by its own mass and gravity. Nietzsche wrote that a man can only create -- that he can only "give birth to a dancing star" if he has chaos inside him, if he is still able to criticize and even "despise" himself. In some sense, it is that desire to improve and perfect what he sees in himself that can never be "good enough" that drives him to achieve excellence and become "self-luminous" and admired by others.
This seemed a particularly applicable theme for the practice of submission grappling and jiu-jitsu -- where new students tend to have disorganized, "spazzy" energy, and more advanced practitioners become increasingly calm and controlled. Because they've learned to control that chaotic energy and use it more effectively and efficiently.
The design includes the brand name PH2T3R, which represents the Proto-Indo-European root for "The Father."
The Nietzsche quote about chaos is on one sleeve, and the symbol for the cross-cultural warrior archetype The Striker is on the other. (See Donovan's Fire in the Dark for more.)
Finally, at the bottom hem, you will find the "Stay Solar Ṛta" symbol, again evoking solar cosmic order.
About the Rash Guard
The rash guard runs reasonably true to size, and was made in China of polyester and spandex.