Lost in Time - The Modern Way

[Menjo]

That was a really profound and insightful article. Made me feel guilty actually . A all-round exellent.

[Hitman]

I have come to the conclusion that I wanna meet you White Warlock- and Ninjanurse as well. We seem to have similar ways of thinking.

I think that this involves the old "respect your elders" thing. I am in the sometimes unenviable position of having been taught by my father, so this topic hits REALLY close to home here. I am generally more atheletic than my father, a little bigger, a little stronger...MAYBE a little faster. But all you have to do is watch one of my forms, or watch me spar and you can see my father and his influences as plain as day.

This is also true of the martial Artist who is not related to his teacher though- if you look at his form, his style of fighting, you will see a younger version of his teacher. AND NOW, that teacher has many more years of knowledge and wisdom under his belt (pun fully intended).

It's really too bad that we, as a society, do not fully respect our elders as we should, nor do we fully tap into the valuable resource that is their entire lifetime of experiences.

GREAT article...keep 'em coming.

[harmoniouswarrior]

White Warlock,

Congratulations on a very fine piece. It took me half a century to understand how little I understand, especially about those who went before--those who made my journey possible.

Nor do I know much about all the technological updating you mentioned in the followup, being a non-techie myself. But I know a little about teaching, and teaching from a place of experience and accomplishment, for which there's no substitute.

So thanks for speaking the truth so articulately, profoundly, and fearlessly. Keep the faith.

HW

[IronWarrior]

I'am from the old school style of karate no pads e.t.c.. thats how I learnt and i'am only 28 started when I was 5..Its mostly about money $$$ now, thats why theres like 5 ufcs a year now..lol I always thought it was going to stay a 1 year event like the Sabaki Challenge e.t.c where the overall champ defends his title yearly, I find it very boring now..and we have pushed aside the pioneers of the arts..but like I said its the almighty $$ taking over our honour and respect for the arts..

[Menjo]

That was a really profound and insightful article. Made me feel guilty actually . An all-round exellent.

[atalaya]

the unfortunate thing to consider when trying to make the martial arts available to everyone is that a student must seek out the master. a teacher can't "push" the martial arts on anyone- otherwise they won't be able to appreciate their art and study.

also, there is simply no substitute for hands-on instruction. you can "learn" all you want from a book or a video, but until the master can give you proper guidance, you are simply mimmicking a martial artist and are not actually a martial artist yourself. i have had run-ins with people who believe that by watching kick-boxing videos and doing the exercises that they will learn to be kick-boxers- they don't have the refinement or the experience that a teacher could give them. there is a different "feel" to them.

[White Warlock]

It is clear and evident that you can only learn so much on your own, and that in order to truly master an art you must learn work with an existing master. However, the capture of knowledge, insight, and style presented by various masters is beneficial to anyone who is already well practiced in the arts. By examination of what they did, we can gain insight into aspects of their approach that could very well help us to make leaps in our understandings, as well as ensure the arts don't morph so badly as to be unrecognizable from it's origins.

Indeed, there are already some minor efforts in capturing the masters and grandmasters of some karate systems, and what i've seen of these videos gives great insight that could be very helpful to a master aspiring to greater ends.

After all, if we don't attempt to capture this... and the master dies, what use is it to want to study with him face-to-face? The goal here should be to archive as much as 'humanly' possible, considering the mediums we presently have available. How could that possibly be construed as a bad endeavor?

[bushido_man96]

I just read this one for the first time, and I enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing it with us.

However, I don't share the feelings towards the MMA. I don't think that it has hurt the traditional styles all that much.

[bushido_man96]

...sorry, I had to cut myself off before finishing all that I wanted to say above.

I do think that there are still many practitioners out there that are listening to what the old masters taught, and are striving to carry on their teachings.

I will also state that now MMA has been around for a short while, we have seen some of the big names of from competition retiring, yet still carrying on a legacy of their own, and I don't feel that they reach out soley to the competitors. Also, there are several competitors out there that do have a traditional background, and I don't think that they have completely abandoned the knowledge that they have acquired from their years of study.