Teachers have a love of knowledge and uplifting people and explaining things. Masters -of art, of science – have a love of novelty, discovery, understanding, connections and application. Seldom do these two personalities unite well within a person. This is the paradox. People who teach things are rarely masters of the things they teach. People who are masters of things rarely see teaching what they know as important as pushing the boundaries of what they know. There are exceptions. Such people are…exceptional.
The martial arts are no different. The people who are the most capable in the
most situations have often gotten their experience the hardest way of all –
through actual combat – and these people usually have a difficult time
explaining what they do and an even harder time explaining how they do it. Hence most of the eastern martial tradition
is recorded in terms of metaphor, allegory and imagery rather than
straightforward instruction. On the
contrary, those most eager to impart their wisdom usually 1) speak in absolutes
and certainties (of which there are few) that 2) hint at their superficial
understanding of the vagaries of combat.
The true martial artist must remain forever
a dispassionate skeptic. You have failed
this first lesson if mere words impress you, if its source impresses you or if
training causes you to be impressed
with yourself. If you are ever to be
regarded by others as having some skill - if you are ever to be justified in
thinking that you have something worth teaching - you must hold the spirit of
skeptical exploration in you always, building your physical capacity and mental
understanding while always on the lookout for illusion and deception. The martial arts, as well as life, is meant to be examine with a questioning eye,
examine your teachers with a questioning eye and have no expectation of a human
being’s infallibility or invincibility.
We are fallible. We all
bleed. Learn that lesson the easiest way
possible – in training, not in combat.
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