Despair

There has been a lot of activity on the internet this week concerning mental health due to Robin William’s death. I am dismayed at the level of ignorance displayed by so many smart people when it comes to suicide and mental illness.

Suicide is not simple matter of choosing to live or choosing to die. There is no way to quantify the mental anguish a person is enduring behind their public facade, yet so many are quick to judge something they know little about. Expecting the mentally ill to reason their way out of their despair is the equivalent of expecting quadriplegics to walk themselves out of a forest fire. Empathizing with the physically disabled is easier than finding empathy for the mentally anguished yet the latter often only requires a moment of logical reflection.

Mental illness indirectly affects all Canadians at some time in their lives. One in five will personally experience a mental illness. If a physical disease had these types of statistics, money would flow like water to find a cure and smart people would spend less time judging and more time supporting.

“The so-called 'psychotically depressed' person who tries to kill herself doesn't do so out of quote 'hopelessness' or any abstract conviction that life's assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire's flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It's not desiring the fall; it's terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling 'Don't!' and 'Hang on!', can understand the jump. Not really. You'd have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling.” - David Foster Wallace (1962 - 2008)

The Power of Abstraction

The advanced concepts I have been presenting to my black belt students over the past few months have resulted in exponential growth for some of them, and a quantum leap forward in my own training. It is one thing to have a working, physical grasp of a concept but your understanding achieves a whole new level when you are challenged to pass on that knowledge — especially abstract knowledge.

I like abstractions. They are defined by ideals, not specifics. Abstract knowledge is acquired through experience, not lecture. A mentor can show you where to look but cannot tell you what to see. The personal, organic nature of abstract knowledge is why it is unique to each individual and it is what separates science from art and a master from a student. Scientific knowledge is limited by paradigms that are often only broken through the application of artistic, abstract creativity.

I challenge my students to ground their training upon a foundation of values. Without that foundation there is no focus for your training or your lessons. Do you want to be a fighter or do you want to be a martial artist? Do you want a black belt or do you want to be a black belt? Do you want to feed your ego or do you want to feed your soul? Answering these questions can completely change the application of a lesson, opening doors of understanding, or slamming a door of opportunity. The meat of a lesson is not found in the specifics but in the abstract ideal.

“The more abstract the truth you wish to teach, the more you must allure the senses to it.” - Friedrich Niezsche (1844 - 1900)

Black Belt

The black belt is one of the most misunderstood achievements a person can attain. The only people who have the ability to fully appreciate and understand the rank are those who have achieved it. Unfortunately even those who achieve the rank are not guaranteed to fully comprehend the soul of the black belt.

As an instructor I feel a great responsibility when it comes to upholding the ideals of the rank of black belt. I take every possible precaution to ensure people who earn a Silent River Kung Fu black belt are solid martial artists and, more importantly, are strong moral characters who understand the spirit of the rank and the responsibility that goes with it.

No instructor is perfect. You can do your best to weed out the candidates who are in it for their own ego but despite all the safeguards you put into place, people can, and do, mislead you. I don’t know of any instructor who has not had the embarrassment of having one of their unqualified first degree black belts decide that they have arrived and branch off on their own. Having thirty years of blood and sweat trivialized by someone who thinks the rank of black belt is the end rather than the beginning is only worsened by having that embarrassment instigated by one of your own.

The black belt has changed and it continues to change. Schools have stopped teaching styles and only teach techniques. Students are judged and ranked solely on what they do in the training hall. Honour, kindness, loyalty, humility - these attributes that form the foundation on which the martial arts are based, have little value in today’s schools. It is all about the next student and the latest craze. Want to learn tae kwon do? We have an instructor of that. BJJ? No problem, we have an instructor for that too. The great grandmasters like Morihei Ueshiba and Wong Fei Hung are being replaced by Greg Jackson and Billy Blanks. Our industry has lost its way.

I think the genesis of a solution lies in each of us who wish to attain the rank of black belt. This may be as simple as making your black belt mean something by keeping the following truths in front of us:

• Training is not a sacrifice, it is an investment. If your training is a sacrifice, you are only doing it to satisfy your or someone else’s ego. Remember, nothing is for free. If you want the benefits of training, you need to put in the time and make your training applicable to your life outside the training hall.

• The black belt is a journey, not a destination. Make your journey something to remember and you will never regret it.

• The black belt is earned, not given. Your journey is unique so what you do to earn the rank will be just as unique.

• Your black belt is defined by who you earn it from. Every black belt has a lineage attached to it. Some have meaning, others do not. Earn your rank from someone who understands what the rank means and whose lineage has not been severed by ego and ambition.

• Never forget that the black belt represents skill in a complete, all encompassing system. Getting a black belt for knowing a bunch of individual techniques that allows you to fight well is the equivalent of getting a degree in literature for memorizing the dictionary. 

With the popularity of the UFC and our society’s tendency to seek instant gratification, true martial arts are difficult for the public to identify and are becoming endangered. It is only the schools that stay loyal to the integrity of the art over the public’s demand for easier standards and the latest crazes that can ensure the future of the two thousand year old discipline.

“To all those whose progress remains hampered by ego-related distractions, let humility – the spiritual cornerstone upon which Karate rests – serve to remind one to place virtue before vice, values before vanity and principles before personalities.” – Sokon ‘Bushi’ Matsumura (l809 - 1901)

A Good Day

I left our annual boot camp yesterday inspired and proud. Sixteen hours of sweat, endurance, and comaraderie can be the life-altering experience that becomes the catalyst that ignites the spark that defines a life.

The boot camp is focused at challenging and inspiring. Pushing yourself beyond your arbitrary limits is the only way to eliminate mediocrity and make mastery a part of daily practice. Illness and injury are limits that are not arbitrary but how we respond to them often is. It all comes down to participation and engagement. Mastery is a relentless pursuit and anyone devoted to it understands that 99% of it is just a matter of showing up.

I was fortunate to be part of something extraordinary yesterday. It is an anchor experience that will colour my motivation and training forever.

“Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.” - Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924)

Patience, Trust, & Progressing Wisely

Something I have thought about a lot over the years is why the rank of black belt is so difficult to attain. I don’t mean difficult as in physically difficult but difficult as in hardly anyone who sets out to achieve it actually does. I am convinced the issue is approach. The approach I am referring to is all or nothing. Our western culture is based upon consumption and instant gratification. We want what we want and we want it now.

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked what I thought of weight training when it comes to kung fu. My intended reply was that weight training to build strength is one thing but training to build bulk is another. Bulk interferes with natural motion and thus it interferes with kung fu. My student’s all or nothing response to my answer was a reminder of why westerners have so much difficulty with the martial arts.

An all or nothing, quick fix approach forces a person to choose between two incompatible activities. Kung fu or weight training for bulk. An approach with wuji (balanced, without extremes) allows the pursuit of both disciplines with the understanding that mastery in kung fu will take longer. Either approach has consequences but one is more sustainable than the other.

The benefits one experiences from a lifestyle change are only there as long as the changed lifestyle is maintained. For example, if you want to lose weight, and keep it off, whatever you do to lose that weight must be maintained for the rest of your life if you wish to keep the weight off. Kung fu is no different. Never sacrifice something over the short term if you are not willing to sacrifice it over the long term. Sustainable practice is the key. If you enjoy weight training for bulk, you do not need to eliminate it to master kung fu. You can have your cake and eat it too, it just takes longer.

You have the rest of your life to train and your practice can enhance your lifestyle without limiting it.

“He that can have Patience, can have what he will.” - Benjamin Franklin (1708 - 1790)

Sixteen Years

Time is relative. Obviously. Yet it may not be so obvious. I have been thinking about what time represents and more specifically what sixteen years represent.

Sixteen years is the required age for acquiring a driver’s licence. I know it was a lifetime for me to get to that age. I have vivid memories of daring deeds and experiences all accumulated before I was eligible to drive.

When my daughters were born, it was a lifetime before I had to worry about them dating or driving. Again, many vivid memories of their life milestones over their first sixteen years.

The squirrel chattering at me while I write this was not around sixteen years ago, nor will he be around sixteen years from now.

Sixteen years ago I mortgaged my house to get a permanent home for Silent River Kung Fu. I look at photos from those first few weeks while we worked to turn two empty bays into a unified training space, and cannot help but smile at our naivety. There’s Sifu Hayes and I grinning from ear to ear while we grouted the tile that we had carefully laid throughout the building only to have to jackhammer it all out a couple of days later. There’s the memory of crushing the main water line during those first renovations but somehow managing not to puncture it. We had no expertise but we all shared a vision.

While the memories of our initial construction exploits remain vivid, they seem to come from two lifetimes ago. So much has happened in the past sixteen years. The kwoon has expanded, along with the mortgage, and the spirit and love of a whole new generation of martial artists is embedded within its walls.

Sixteen years. Seems like a lifetime when you are a kid. Seems like a lifetime if you are paying off a mortgage. A lot can happen in a sixteen year time period, but most of us only have five of those in our lifetime.

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Anchor Experiences

Life is hectic. The faster the pace of my surroundings, the more hectic my state of mind. It is a constant battle to adapt my environment to my rhythm and resist the pull to join the pace of the rat race. The vividness of the memory of many amazing moments have been lost because I have not been in the proper state of mind to mindfully experience the moment. Without proper reverence for the present, a memory’s grip is fragile, making it difficult to keep. Some days I am more successful than others but that is why it is called a practice. There is value in perpetual effort despite knowing that complete achievement is impossible.

My I Ho Chuan team had a great Canada Day this year. We spent most of the day with each other, performing, laughing, and sharing the experience. A spontaneous demo and experiencing the joy of new Canadians receiving their citizenships made the day one I will never forget. I consider that day seized.

“The secret of a good memory is attention, and attention to a subject depends upon our interest in it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep impression on our minds.”- Tyron Edwards (1809 - 1894)