Thinking about Martial Arts

I think there are 4 reasons why learning martial arts has become important to me.

Self Control As a young person Self Control was incredibly important to me as a kind of autonomy from my parents. They were very controlling. Self consciousness, and discipline allowed me to anticipate their decisions and emotions – and by anticipating manipulating them which in turn empowered me in an otherwise powerless situation. Alas, along with feeling powerless comes anger but anger that cannot be expressed because it weakens ones position anger none the less that must be absorbed. Absorbing anger is like eating fire. As an adult one grows out of, hopefully, those strategies they developed to survive adolescence and into strategies that support a long term relationship and a family, and so for me Self Control has come to mean other things as I’ve matured. One insight is that I have no control over other persons, but, I have total control over myself whether I realize it or not, whether I practice it or not. Another insight is that I don’t always have to be working and doing things to prove something to someone. If I feel tired it is ok to rest. If I feel hungry it is ok to eat. So long as I keep those things in balance. Hence self control is now more about balance in my life then about whipping myself to do and make more.

Self Determination Martial Arts in as much as they prepare one to have the Survival Mentality are valuable. I think the notion of a Survival Mentality is much better then simply panicking and either making the situation worse or, doing nothing and being run over by the situation. Violence and trauma comes in various intensities and styles and so modulating your responses to it is an aspect of mastery of martial arts. Martial arts are knowledge sets that limit susceptibility to violence and trauma. At times sophisticated communication skills are the martial arts one needs, for example, managing a bullying supervisor in the workplace. First Aid, CPR, is also martial arts. Martial arts for me are, in part, a way of preserving my privacy, a mind set of self protection. Certainly this links back to an experience of childhood powerlessness. But it also looks around at the institutions like our government, our schools, and our employers with an eye of suspicion. Likewise, our society is so much about exposing persons to public scrutiny and ridicule look at our various media, TV reality shows, talk show radio, YouTube, MySpace and so on are very much about exposing ourselves. What does it mean when our public institutions and our entertainment want us to be passive consumers, exposed to scrutiny? Why is so much of our culture about teaching us how to be victims?

We are a still a sexist culture. And as such we want our women to be weak so that it is easy to victimize them. I think it is doubly important for women to understand that they will be victimized at some point in their life and to prepare before hand for how they will respond to that. I feel that many women are hiding from this reality in hopes that it will just go away. And ironically at the same time, I think many young women are feeling the youthful immortality that nothing can happen to them because they are young and strong and optimistic. Both are delusions. There are bad people who want to do bad things -- I think it is important to understand this and to do everything in ones control to not surrender power to these predators. Oftentimes women come close to martial arts through yoga or tai chi. The Chinese talk about internal and external kung fu. Yoga is an example of internal kung fu, so to speak, and so it is true that it has significant value. But if one studies it alone he/she risks being out of balance. Likewise, to study Karate, an external kung fu, so to speak, alone risks being out of balance as well.

Learning Learning external Martial Arts is particularly easy for children, they are sponges, and their bodies are flexible. But for adults it is more difficult and hence a worthy challenge. I think that the distinction between body and mind is largely a meaningless distinction. But, much in our society divides these and so we tell ourselves a fiction until it is true. Martial Arts is a tremendous way to reunite body-mind. As one ages one forgets how to be a body. Children are mostly their bodies and must learn to be minds. Adults are mostly their minds and have forgotten to be their bodies. Elderly people are at risk of losing both. Hence, I think learning martial arts and practicing them throughout life is important in keeping mind-body youthful, tough, and resilient.

Finally: Spirituality is very different from Religion and as such is interesting -- I don't pretend to understand much here but I will try to say the little I do. I think an important component of Spirituality is respect. Respect is kind of a sense of wonder and a kind of politeness. There are mysteries like how it is that birds migrate, or how a person can have the strength to break stones with their punch that earns respect. I am less certain that the fictions, the repetitive motions, and the list of should nots that people have fabricated and call religion actually are about self-control, self-determination, learning and respect, rather I think religion is about being a passive consumer exposed to scrutiny. Instead, I think that hard work and failure and hard work again creates an appreciation and an humility that is respectful. Perhaps, that hard work is a hard climb to a mountain top, or a long canoe paddle to a remote and solitary place, or that hard work is struggling with a particular kata or throw until one does understand it and performs it perfectly. Certainly, folks gabble on about the spiritual aspects of the internal kung fu, but, we often forget the spiritual potency of the external kung fu. I think also that much of our popular culture is about distraction, multi-tasking is the opposite of attention span. Meditative practices are about the discipline of focus, counting the breaths and quieting the internal voices -- voices that express our self-doubt, our fear, our weakness. Martial arts are a form of meditative practice and as such a source of good things, spiritual things that I want for my favorite people. Spirituality is also about persistence and effort it is not a pill that we can take to fill the hole in our soul. Rather it is the practice of building virtues in the void.