Martial Arts in the real world.

Martial Arts in the Real World

By Andy Pearce

I am a frequent reader of several Martial Arts Internet blogs. It amazes me the amount of time and energy spent disparaging fellow practitioners.  A few of the gentlefolk may wish to remember that an MMA match is not combat. It is a sport. The referee will make sure to blow the whistle and stop the match should you become unconscious.  In war there is no referee. As my friend John Enger says: “There will be no referee called Big John McCarthy to stop the fists raining down on your skull until your brain hemorrhages. The only medical person on scene will be often times far after the event when the paramedics are attempting to insert an airway to help you breath after being choked and purposely crushing your larynx. It may be that the only medical personnel to arrive will be the medical examiner who will pick up pieces of your skull that has been splattered all over the street after being struck multiple times with a baseball bat or to place your eviscerated intestines back into your stomach cavity from a knife wound in the county morgue. I have personally witnessed these things many times.” To that I add a hearty AMEN.

What do I suggest? I am always told to have a ready answer instead of only criticism; so here is what I would say to those who are looking to be able to sort the wheat from the chaff. 

1.     What is the point of view of the school training in martial arts?

2.     What are the instructor’s credentials?

3.     What is the instructor’s world view

That is about it.  “Wait” you may be shouting, how can that be it?

1.      By determining the point of view of the school you can determine if this is for fun, fitness, sport, or self-defense.

2.      By determining the instructor’s credentials, you will see the life history of this person you trust your life, or the life of your loved ones with.

3.      What does the instructor believe? This is the biggie!  If your instructor is not grounded with a moral underpinning, the philosophy will surely follow.

What should you look for in selecting a school? 

I don’t know because I am not you.

I would select an instructor who is consistent in what he teaches and how he lives. Your instructor should share your worldview. Unless you would like to change yours to your instructor’s?  Bottom line, is he/she moving his/her class in the direction you are already wanting to travel?

Now if you have stuck with me this far I will share with you what I have found over the years to be successful in allowing myself to continue to deprive the world of oxygen. 

 The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.

    [When you decide to start a war; there are five things that never change you need to know when you figure it is in your best interest]

4. These are:  (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.

  {1} Does it square with GOD, {2} does the Weather permit it, {3} what it the terrain like surrounding your objective. {4} Who is running this show, {5} Organizing folks and stuff.

5, The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

   

Hopefully you recognize Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” in the above paragraph. It is still true today. First decide if you must fight. Second decide if what you would fight for you are prepared to die for. If you are still willing, then these steps should serve you well. If your opponent is strong, strike him when he is weak. If you’re opponent is weak crash over him like the ocean.  Speed, Surprise, and violence of action. Only with these can you carry the day.  If God is on your side, no man can stand against you. Just make sure you are on God’s side.