A thousand apologies in advance for my signature verbosity….
I at no time would want to purport myself as any kind of scholarly pundit on the subject of Eastern martial culture, and count myself as chief amongst the rankest of amateurs of pugilist, as well as a troubling student. However, on the subject of the Western counterpart, and its myriad of letters and methodologies, this I can speak of with less fear of misstep, and herein I think lies a convergence of contradictions that beset the Teacher and Student in this arena.
Admittedly, fewer people ascribe as many historical and philosophical precepts to their daily life as I do, and this is to their better, as they probably have better social and sex lives than I, owing greatly to this fact. That having been said, I think that chief amongst the pantheon of problems beleaguering the modern Eastern Combative instructor is the philosophical/cultural antithesis that is in play in the structure of martial arts, and the acrimony of thought that is to sub sequentially follow.
In the notion of the West, that is until more recent times, the combat instructor was akin to a servant, hired out in the same manner as a mercenary, to impart and instruct the people of consequence who would have the where with all to access such learning. It was one of many things that was expected of the upper class, and was given its place in a myriad of disciplines. In fact, the thralls of ancient Rome were more often than not freed slaves with the blood of many on their hands from the sand arena of the gladiatorial games. The master at arms, the war fighter, the duelist, were all relegated to these places, necessary elements, and though lifted higher than the assassin or executioner, they were to be functionaries of the whole society and its various hierarchies.
Granted, this seldom enters the mind of the average student, however just as in all things that we involve are self in, our ancestors thoughts are carried with us. We live out the bedrock of culture founded before the time of out modern nations.
The art becomes part of a larger construct of things that we are encouraged to be mindful of, the notion of success, civics, duty, family all these things reaching back far into our Western heritage back to the times of the Caesars, regardless of our European or American addresses. It is a time of social and economical glut that virtually all of us, the conformist and iconoclast alike, are working in concert to unconscious and sleeping social machinations that are as intractable as we are incapable of extricating ourselves from.
Now conversely, the Eastern combat instructor is operating from a diametrically opposed paradigm, where the notion of singularity of purpose, unfettered attention, and total meditative attention to perfection is the key element. How then does one rectify itself with the other? The problem becomes doubly confounding when the instructors themselves are of Western origin, and are themselves at war with their conditioned nature, as we all are despite our relative levels of understanding.
True, the general ennui and lack of tenacity is something of a generational peculiarity, a frustrating one to boot, but the root of that is less found in the individual, and more in his sociology. This would account for the dichotomy of the student who says one thing and does another. The conflict is self evident.
This more than any other reason is the need for the injection of Eastern thought into Western culture. Without the hybrid vigor of this most tenuous of marriages both cultures could slide into their own respective atavistic quagmires.
The teacher is as important as the priest.
And at the end of the day, we are all human
oh and by the way... my main reason for posting this was to make a grand excuse for myself being a truly crappy student (yu shan is a saint, don't let anyone say otherwise), so please just let the geek kid ramble. pay me no mind, and for the love of G-d don't go find any online resources (lexicons, concordances, any such thing) to make me seem like a ripe piker. collegiate philosophy and AP high school Latin was so far in the past for me
that I'm sure my Socratic method is for the dogs. I really don't want to be pwn3d, so be nice.
Last edited by devout; 12-21-2004 at 04:36 AM.
Listen on..... listen on...... This is the truth of it..... fighting leads to killing ... killing gets to waring and that was d**n near the death of us all....... look at us now.... busted up and everyone talking about hard rain...... but we've learned by the dust of 'em all....... Bartertowns learned !!! Now when 2 men get to fighting it happens here..... and it finishes here........ 2 men enter.....1 man leaves..... And right now I got 2 men....... 2 men with a gut full of fear...... Ladies and Gentlemen........ boys and girls....... DYIN' TIMES HERE!!!!!!!!!
)
Reply With Quote
What is a serious student?
