[OT] Yet another martial arts help thread.....so, please help!!

[Drakmar]

Interesting. Lannon, would you be able to see if you can find statistics on "Fights involving Martial Artists" and statistics on "Fights that don't involve Martial Artists". That would be quite an interesting statistic to know. I don't know what the results would be... but my guess from my life experiences, there will probably be more fights out there involving people who haven't studied any martial art.

I do agree with some of your points. It is possible to find alternate forms of exercise, or mental exercises suitable for your own version of mediation.

As for the Musahsi story.. I agree with you and your interpretation of the story. However..... In my mind that just means that if you study Martial Arts, you must be concious of your humanity. And.. the lesson I learnt from it when I first heard it was different.

When I was in high school I had been studying Tae Kwon Do as well as a small amount of Hung Gar and Aikido. I had also done some amateur wrestling. Most of this had been done at a private school. A single sex private school. So much testosterone in the air you could almost feel the potential violence. As someone who has been raised to believe that violence against another is completely unacceptable except in dire circumstances, I found it very stressful. I was an Angry Young Man.. however, the ONLY place I could release this violent anger was during my Martial Arts classes. There, it was acceptable to do so. That is not to say that I ran around beating the bejesus out of people.

Now, when I changed high schools, to a co-ed public school in year 11, I changd dramatically. I no longer had that anger. I gained the nickname of "Hippie" because I grew my hair long, and wore a peace symbol. (I am 26). However, this bugged one of the Seniors.. A 6'5" bully, who was a junior kickboxing champion. I knew this. He knew it. He was one of those buff people with all de muscles.

So.. when he tried to provoke me to a fight.. All I did, was take a deep breath and try to promote an "aura" of peace. I had a neutral and peaceful face. You know what his reaction was? He back down and left. Never had any problems with him.

Now.. you might say that this is a good example of why you don't need a martial art. Why a non-violent approach can work. I definately agree with you. But. I learnt this ability to control my fear and emotions from Martial Arts.

Mind you.. At the same time my little story does highlight a bully who was a Martial Artist. Yup. But.. at the private school, almost none of the bullies studied a martial art.

Now.. about 10 years latter.. I have just gotten serious with my training. I am training everyday. I don't study Hung Gar, to become a Great And Mighty Warrior. I don't study it because I want to defend myself in a fight. I study it because I like the feel of the exercises. I like focusing my mind into my body. It is my meditation and my exercise.

Weights.. bores me. So does running.. and a whole slew of other "non-violent" activities.

I like couple dancing though.. that's fun.

So. In my mind, I don't believe that Martial Arts promote violence. I believe that society, and media, promote violence ( you should watch Bowling for Columbine sometime). And I don't consider them to be a waste of time.

You get out what you put in. I don't focus on violence.

Now. Whether or not you have been trolling, doesn't really matter. For me, I have known what I have just written for about 5 years. This thread may assist others in achieving something similar. There is always a use for a Devil's Advocate.

 

[Darius101]

Did I ever say the mystical practices of the martial traditions were embraced by western science?? I do not believe I did. I also did not subtly suggest this either. I did however state that ideas of anatomy and the way the body works are being embraced as truth in a cultural exchange between the eastern and western sciences. I did use different wording and perhaps that is where you got confused.
Lannon you continue to twist things to your own way of thiniing rather accept things for what they are. The story of Musashi did not create a violent reaction from the snake it created a reaction of fear and the snake ran away. Musashi did not invite the snake to fight. A snake is a snake not anything else in that story. In fact it was specific snake ...a cobra. Again you did not read carefully enough before making a conclusion about something of which you have no experience.
You also know little of snakes as I stated in the story that Musashi knew any movement would cause the snake to attack. A snake is a reactionary being. A snake is also a predator as I recall from Biology class. The very nature of a predator is to attack for survival, to attack when threatened, to attack when afraid. You have suggested that a Martial artist is a predator in your mind where as I would say a Martial Artist attacks only when there is no other choice. They do not go out of their way to fight, at least not the good ones. They do go out of their way to avoid a fight as has been demonstrated by the posters here. They also do not in any way invite violence into their lives....what sane being would?

I also noticed that you still avoided my comments about your casual observations.

The other site listed the average incomes according to the amount of education a person recieved. It clearly indicates that more education generally leads to a higher salary.

Neither of the conclusions on these websites was informative at all?.

Informative ...yes. Enlightening ...NO. Statistics are geared towards a goal and/or a particular agenda. I do not find old numbers/data to be partiularly enlightening, as you may have noticed from my postings where I have tried to stay away from statistics. The data on that site you posted is #1 a little on the low side and #2 more than 5 years old.
This is unimportant to this dicussion anyway. You have tried to steer this dicussion to things that do not pertain to the original topic at all in any way, shape or form. Shame on you....Keep your personal agenda to yourself.
I am only answering your post for one reason...people e-mailed me asking to. If it was up to me I would ignore you completly thereby avoiding any conflict and further showing how deeply you can imerse yourself in falacy. I will admit that I have to some extent cotrolled what you were going to post by insiting particular comments from you...I aplogize for this but it was so easy to do I couldn't pass up the opertunity that you presented to me on a regular basis. Kinda of a chess match with words eh?
Those who know all, know nothing as you have clearly shown the other posters here time and time again.
Oh well, Later...
Darius

I am just a guy who like to have fun. My fun may not be the same as your fun but there is no need to attack people like you have and then cause yourself to defend and backpedal. This itself has been entertaining to me. Thanks for all the fun dude.

 

[Darius101]

Drakmar ...Well met . Good post.

 

[Drakmar]

Thanks. Over the years I have done MAs for three different reasons. 1st.. Rage/Anger/Physical release... 2nd.. Just cause I had always done it. 3rd.. and my current reason.. Because I enjoy the feeling doing kung fu gives me. Both mentally and physically.

And I found those two links interesting as well. However... they just indicate the Western medicine doesn't have a good understanding of alternate therapies. That is not to say the practitioners of Eastern therapies have a good understanding either. But... if people have been doing it for thousands of years, it is worth investigating thoroughly to see if it does actually have merit.

As for the Education/Wages link. That was interesting as well. You will actually find it is truer to say that the larger you vocabulary and the better an understanding of vocab you have, the more you are likely to earn. The reasoning behind this is that someone with a larger vocab is better able to communicate ideas and thoughts to others. Society is all about communiation. Why else would this Interwebby thingy take off.

And everybody.. Have a great day/night.

 

[Darius101]

Drakmar,
Could you elaborate more on the inner feelings of peace that the Martial Arts gives you?
I think that might help some to uderstand better a number of points.

I know I feel calm and relaxed after a good work out be it Martial or weight training (when I used to do Weight training). I have no aggressive thoughts after training...i am just relaxed.
Is the strategy used in combat training what makes you feel mentally relaxed or is it the quieting of your mind while doing moving meditation that mentally relaxes you?
Thanks,
Darius

 

[Cyragnome]

I'm still trying to figure out what the correlation of me having a B.A. Anthropology and a funny colored belt have to do with each other...what was the "education" portion of this discussion again?

 

[Darius101]

Cyragnome,
Ummmm there actually is no corelation at all.
One has nothing to do with the other actually...thanks for making my point.
He fell into that one well I thought.
Hence my statement:
"This is unimportant to this dicussion anyway. You have tried to steer this dicussion to things that do not pertain to the original topic at all in any way, shape or form."

Darius

 

[Toj]

I guess I'll chime in a little.

I started taking martial arts after I entered the Marine Corps. Why did I take it? I figured knowing how to defend myself would benefit me tremendously in the Marines.

So initially my sole focus was on the combative side of martial arts. After a few months though my focus changed more to the sportive side of martial arts. I got involved in a lot of tournaments and other competitions.

Eventually I changed my thought process again, but his was due to teaching. You see many people believe that because they study Tae Kwon Do, or Aikido, or Shotokan Karate, that they know how to defend themselves. This is a horrible misconception. The sad thing is that many instructors actually think that they are teaching people how to defend themselves, but they have no real-life experience, only the heresay of their instructors.

So I turned again to combat martial arts, where you seek to defend yourself. I focused on simple manuevers that were easily learned and could become instinct. Many people practice something complicated where it takes months of practice. These kinds of things generally fail the real-life test.

Taking martial arts can be for a variety of reasons; fitness; self-esteem; social gathering; spiritual enlightenment, or self-defense.

Saying that people who take martial arts are more likely to get into a fight seems to be a poor conjecture. I have seen no evidence to support this theory, but it would be interesting to see a study conducted on it.

 

[Darius101]

I will post a study that is written up in the Martial Arts Journal if you would like me to.
Darius

 

[Cyragnome]

So I don't need to wrack my brain for a subtle, clever and ultimately unfunny reply, Darius

Thanks!