Building Self Awareness in the Martial Arts
I am speaking of the classical martial arts.
some types of Karate,
some types of kung fu
aikido,
tai chi…
that sort of thing.
I am not speaking of MMA
and the various arts
that fall under that umbrella.
First,
there is sport
and there is art.
Sports are when you try to beat somebody
Art is when you try to discipline yourself.
Huge difference there.
Trying to beat somebody doesn’t make you wise
Disciplining yourself makes you wise.
But,
I’ll be in your face with this,
if you don’t understand the difference,
why this is so,
then you’re just going to be pissed off at me if you’re into the sports
And you’ll be a parrot supporting your art if you are classical.
So,
here it is…
what is the difference?
This universe consists of motion.
Objects fly through space.
Go on,
think about it.
cosmic forces impinge on a planet,
a planet forms.
Gravity and such causes compression,
rocks heat up,
heat rises to the surface
a volcano blows up
people run for their lives.
Living in this world
is like living on a game board.
But,
on this game board we call earth
there are humans
and humans have choices
and can even affect the game board.
They can move away from the volcano.
They can dodge meteorites.
They can step out of the way of cars.
Or they can get into the cars and drive through crowds.
All there is in life
is the analyses of the flow of objects
period.
So how do you analyze the flow of objects?
In boxing you hit the bag
and there are drills for bobbing and weaving.
But the point isn’t to analyze the flow of objects.
The intent is to make the body strong
and to create knee jerk reactions.
Yes,
this is good,
but it does not build the awareness
that will turn into wisdom.
You won’t get wise by being punched,
otherwise we could make Mozarts with clubs.
You won’t get wise unless you pursue awareness.
So,
we come to the martial arts,
and the point I am trying to make here.
Some martial arts,
many martial arts
have gone the way of boxing.
Boxing works,
after all.
Even though it doesn’t breed wisdom,
or elevate one’s awareness and self awareness.
In the classical martial arts,
the real ones that haven’t fallen to knee jerk training methods,
there is a pursuit of awareness.
There are drills that cause one to become more aware
and more self aware.
Smarter and wiser.
Sure,
boxing works,
and it can be used to beat people up pretty ruthlessly,
but what good is the ability to beat people up
if you keep walking into the traffic?
So,
let’s delve into this subject of awareness in the martial arts.
There are four methods for enlightenment.
scripture
yoga
fakir
martial arts
One can study scripture
and eventually figure out wisdom.
Very intelligent approach,
but not useful for self defense,
but…enough wisdom and one can see a fight coming
and avoid it.
One can study yoga,
which exercises the body
and holds on still long enough
that he might see the motion within his body
and that tends to bleed over to seeing the motion
outside one’s body.
and hopefully the yoga will see the fight coming
and avoid it.
One can deny the existence of the universe
as a fakir does
until he sees himself
and becomes aware of himself.
Sort of a crazy method,
but it works.
But it is difficult to get punched in the face
and say it didn’t happen.
And then there are the martial arts,
which I will describe in a second,
after I have made a brief summation
of the other three methods for pursuing enlightenment.
A scripturalist
learns ABOUT the motion of the universe
until he becomes aware of potential consequences,
and in this method he is enlightened,
which is to say
he is made self aware.
A yoga
looks at the universe inside his body
until he can see the similarities of motion
between the universe of his body
and the game board universe in which he lives.
A fakir says nothing exists
denying the universe
until he figures out that he is all that exists.
A martial artist
studies the flow of fists
until he understands that the universe
is nothing but the flow of objects.
He becomes aware that he cannot see the flow of objects
unless he looks at them,
and he can’t look at them,
unless he looks at himself.
Self awareness.
Of the four methods
the martial arts are the best and the surest.
This is because
reality impinges if he doesn’t look.
How many times have you heard something like this…
‘He tagged you,
better open your eyes.’
Yet most martial arts
have put aside the drills that open the eyes,
and gone the way of such as boxing
with their emphasis on knee jerk reactions.
A knee jerk reaction is a jerk of the body to a threat.
It is not self awareness.
And you have instructors touting muscle memory,
instead of teaching people to ‘open their eye,’
or attain self-awarenes.
And there is just enough truth in muscle memory,
that people think there is more.
You are walking through a dark house
a tap on the shoulder
and you turn around and smack the guy.
Wonderful!
Except the guy happened to be your granny
offering you a fresh baked cookie.
That is muscle memory.
You are walking through a dark house
a tap on the shoulder
and you turn and hug your granny,
or smack the guy with the club,
because that is not muscle memory.
That is awareness.
Looking at the flow of objects
on the game board of this universe,
Now analyze force and direction
until you are aware of force and direction
to the point at which you becomes enlightened.
Self aware
Wise.
Now,
if you are still with me,
I have one more point to make.
There are degrees of self awareness,
and these degrees can be arranged in a scale.
A baby walks into walls, falls down.
He isn’t aware of his body much at all.
He/she might be fantastically aware of themselves,
but as the game board of the universe impinges on them
hits them on the nose with enough walls,
awareness of self falls to awareness of hard objects that flow.
A teenager is aware of his body
but not of himself.
He/she is usually out of control
(unless they have VERY enlightened parents)
and deliberately runs into the walls of the universe.
A fellow who has started the martial arts
has taken a step towards self control.
And this is a discipline
and a step towards self awareness.
Unfortunately,
the state of the martial arts,
the obsession with hitting people for fun
keeps them in a very low state of self awareness
A black belt…in a GOOD art,
an art that is logical and based on physics,
has a greater degree of self control.
He has awareness of himself,
but not to any great degree.
He is a baby in a new universe.
The key here is this:
while there is an art to destruction
the true art lays in control.
A fellow who has mastered a true art,
one based on physics and with the precept just mentioned
is aware of himself to a great degree.
He is somewhat enlightened.
But he is like a teenager in a new universe.
How do you become totally enlightened?
Totally self-aware?
Don’t give in to the games of the universe.
Don’t teach to dominate.
Don’t play politics.
And…
Do study other arts,
and study fields outside the arts
with the intent of developing self awareness within those fields.
Most of all…
teach with the idea of helping others.
And here is the fun fact…
there is no end to developing self awareness,
and that is the True Art.
Okay,
time for the obligatory ad.
If you do the one simple exercise in the Matrix Karate course
you will be close to, and might even attain, enlightenment.
That is because it puts the observation of the flow of the objects (fists) of the universe
to logic.
That which is logical is ten times easier to learn
ten times faster to absorb.
But here is the cruel trick.
Most people read the drill,
it is called
‘The Matrix of Blocks,’
and they say,
‘Oh, I’ve done all those blocks.
So I don’t need to.
I understand what he’s saying,
and it’s enough that I’ve read it.’
Grrr.
I am close to saying a dirty word here.
That’s like saying
‘I’ve been in a car,
so I don’t need to know how it works.’
Or,
and this is a good one,
‘I’ve seen water,
so I don’t have to take a bath.’
Stupid, eh?
So you have to get the course,
and…GET A PARTNER.
And…DO THE MATRIX OF BLOCKS.
Knowing about it is not enough.
Having a surface knowledge of the basics isn’t enough.
You have to experience the blocks
and how they work together
in the Matrix of Blocks.
Just a few times through,
until you can do them as easy as you count from one to ten,
and then you’ll have it.
But please…
don’t read about it and think you know it.
Don’t be a paper tiger.
Be the real thing.
And,
my HanaKwanMass present to you,
If you order the Matrix Karate course,
you may order any other course you wish,
of comparable value.
That’s the Master Instructor course,
the Matrix Aikido course,
the Shaolin Butterfly
or whatever.
To be specific,
any course that’s $40 or less.
Just make your order,
and write me and tell me what course you would like
and I’ll send you the download link.
email me at aganzul@gmail.com
Write me if you have questions.
Now…
HANAKWANMASS!
And have a great work out!
Al
And don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np
BTW
I’ve got nothing but five star reviews on
The Science of Government.
It’s really nothing more than applying matrixing to politics.
Matrixing + Politics = Sanity
I told you matrixing works with anything.
Here’s the link…
