Comment Reposted

I really like the comment George Breed of the "Warrior Notes" blog posted on the last post...to many posts :-). I am re-posting it again here because I feel it says a lot more than I could say on my own. Thanks George!

George's comment: We humans live in at least two major worlds. The slam-bang beef-on-beef world of physical action is the easier one of the two, we strut and fret and punch and kick and hate and fear and sometimes (shudder) show affection.

This psycho-slammo world is generally the entry level to the martial arts and where many folk seem to stay.

The other major world is one of calm and open reflection, of understanding of the energetic principles of martial arts and of life through BEING the energy. The Samurai put it this way: "The best defense is total vulnerability" -- a foreign way of being to our psycho-slammo self, which insists on total invulnerability (which is a myth of course).

One of my favorite Zen koans is "Who is it carrying this corpse around?" The beef-on-beef martial artist can be considered to be doing corpse dancing. What you are calling the philosophical side is the "who is it."

- George Breed, Comment on "Why is there no discussion on the Gokui?" blog posted at Kenpo Gokui - All bottles are good site.

physical vs. cerebral:

George's comment stirs up the post I did a long time ago that talks of the mind-body-spirit connection where I talk about the minds control over the body resulting in the spirit of the soul. George's eloquent comments give a down to earth no holds barred description of our dilemma as young vs. mature followers of the sport vs. way of the fighting arts practice.

It also falls into the three phases of life. The first is full of hell fire and brimstone which many beginning fighting arts aficionado's fall into with the second being a more balanced life where we understand that the slam-bang-beef-on-beef world of physical action is tempered by our growing maturity which is our transition point in practice and life. We feel and need the third stage yet we still cling to the first stage with the misconception that if we let go we lose something of great value. If you still consider this valid then take a look at Sensei Ueshiba of Aikido when he was much older and past the first two stages yet still emulated the ability of the first and second stage while fully enveloped in the third stage.

The third stage is where we have matured and taken the value hidden from us and allow it to flower and flourish. This is the stage we traverse to reach the ultimate stage of both life and practice.

Failure to let go of the first stage usually means they quit the fighting arts/martial arts as they feel there is no value in it if they can no longer hold onto the physical yet would find if they just let go that the physical is freed and the achieve far more in the mind-body(physical)-spirit becoming "one". They surpass!

Consider this thoroughly!