An Educational Revolution?

[Venrix]

This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community.

We live in the age of information. Want to know the height of Everest? Then why bother with a trip to the library? Who needs to waste a few minutes hunting down a book with the answer? Google has everything a growing mind needs! Want six pack abs in just six weeks with no effort at all? No problem! Just type the old "search string" into Google.

Voila! There you have it, "Six Weeks to a Six Pack – Abdominal Workout for Men and Women." Marvelous isn't it? With zero effort we can learn just about anything from just about anyone! It's an educational revolution! Or is it?

I am no technophobe. Indeed, in a former life I was involved in the development of technologies that are now "household standard." I love technology. I believe it can be of tremendous assistance in achieving the goal of self development (mind, body and soul). My concerns therefore, stem not from "information availability" but from the dangerously dark pit of "information overload."

Isn't it a great feeling to have the light shone into the darkness of our questioning minds? Isn't it wonderful to have enlightening answers that leave us feeling all warm and fuzzy inside? But, what happens when the light gets just a little too bright? What about the times when, rather than getting a single guide with a single torch, shining the way to our seat in the cinema of knowledge, we get thousands of guides with thousands of torches and each light bearer claims to be the only true carrier of that which we seek (in this case – the way to our seat). Rather than being pointed in the right direction we find ourselves simply blinded by the sheer volume of light. Of course, all of this is nothing more than a metaphor for the scenario of information overload.

Who are the guides?

Anyone and everyone! That's the beauty of the internet and simultaneously its greatest downfall. Anyone that has the desire can simply put finger to keyboard and start waving their torch at anyone that's prepared to listen. To be honest, that's what I love about the internet. Prior to its existence, we were confined solely to the thoughts and opinions of those that were "connected." Those who "knew someone in publishing" that got them a book deal, those who's connections with the right people in show business had somehow got them onto the silver screen.

Knowledge was the realm of academics only and if we didn't have a membership card to the club of widely published opinion, our thoughts, dreams and ideas remained scorned at best or unheard at worst. We were denied the thoughts and opinions of the vast majority, those who with no academic background but a diploma from the school of hard knocks and a Ph.D. from the University of Life.

So, where does the torch come in?

A torch (in this case) is a small battery powered electric lamp; our American friends may better know this particular item as a flashlight. The amount of light it's capable of emitting into the darkness depends on a number of factors. How strong are the batteries? How well polished is the lens? How much power/electricity can the bulb handle? Just how big is the bulb anyway? In other words, it can only give out in light that which it has already taken in (in terms of power/electricity and sound construction). It is the container of all that lovely light. Problem is, the world of commerce offers us well constructed Maglite torches, which themselves come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, plus a healthy selection of dodgy "10 for 50 cents" torches that really aren't much use to anyone. This is really where our problem begins.

Bathed in the light of a thousand torches, how does one decide which guide to follow? Which beams of light are our friends in the darkness? Which are simply poorly constructed but well intentioned beams of misinformation? Who's holding the torch anyway? Are we really being guided to our seats or are we simply being lead down the garden path of wasted time? These are valid questions and failing to ask them could be the greatest downfall of all.

Bearers of the Light?

The martial arts have been good to me. Really. Without them, I have no idea what kind of person I would have become. I was raised in a somewhat "unconventional" family and those outside of it simply didn't approve. In order to help me understand this, I was regularly and severely beaten by large groups of well intentioned individuals, all waving their torches proudly and certain that I would learn from these little lessons. Between the ages of 8 and 16 not a day passed by that my face wasn't reintroduced to Mr. Fist and his faithful friends; Mr. Foot, Mr. Knee, Mr. Elbow, Mr. Head, occasionally Mr. Sharp-Object and, worst of all, Mr. Humiliation.

These puppets of facial reconstruction did the bidding of the masters that wanted - very charitably - to "teach me a lesson." To this day, I am actually grateful to them for what I have learned. What was gleaned from these classes may not be quite what my would be teachers had in mind but they certainly put me on the path that I follow today. So, thanks guys... I appreciate your efforts!

Of course, not all torch carrying guides are quite so ill willed. There are those that truly wish to help us find our seat. The problem is finding them and ensuring that they are indeed qualified to show us the way.

May I see your seat number?

Those who first begin a journey in the martial arts choose to get involved for all sorts of reasons. There are those who want to learn to defend themselves and those that wish to become the next Bruce Lee. There are those that wish to keep up a good level of fitness and those that wish to be the next Billy Blanks. There are those that want to feel connected to a simpler time and feel that Bushido is the way. There are those with low self esteem that wish to fill up on what appears to be the fuel of self confidence. There are the philosophers that wish to find the animal within. There are the animals that wish to become the next Siddhartha Gautama.

There are those with no friends that simply want to make some – and if those friends happen to know how to kick butt, well that's just a bonus! There are those that want to wrestle and there are those that are wrestling with the philosophical and physical nature of themselves. There are those that want to kick a trick but are struggling to kick the habit. There are those that want to punch up a storm and there are those whose interest in punch extends only to mixed drinks at a party.

The would be martial artist comes in all shapes and sizes. It's doubly certain that for every would be martial artist there are a thousand "guides," all "torch at the ready" and oh so eager to lead the way. The problem is, the people I've just described, are those who know their seat number and just a need a little help finding it. They know what they want and where they want to go. They just don't necessarily know the way. If their guide starts to lead them up the garden path in a direction that has no relation to their intended destination, then these people generally smell a rat and trade their guide for someone or something else.

Unfortunately, those that know their seat number are in the minority. By far the majority are those that have not booked a seat. They simply show up at the cinema and shout into the darkness, "I don't know where I'm going, I don't know what I want, I don't know why I want it, but could someone please show me the best way to get to the best seat for me?"

This is generally the point when 100,000 beams of light hit the poor soul square between the eyes, often forever blinding their ability to find a seat in the cinema of martial arts.

Learning to squint

The lesson is clear. The modern age of information overload has brought us giant leaps forward. However, if we are to progress as individuals, we're going to need to take a few steps back. The deeper we get into the forest of advice that our well intentioned guides have to offer, the less wood we are able to see. All those trees keep getting in the way.

We must therefore, learn to shield our eyes a little. Finding one's way in the blinding light is considerably more difficult than finding one's way in relative darkness. In the dimly lit room of limited information, we may well find ourselves chasing shadows but this - for me anyway - is far preferable to blindly following anyone that happens to be carrying a torch.

It's time to squint our eyes a little. Now is the time to shield ourselves from the blinding light and survey the scene for ourselves. To suggest that we would like to find our own way, when the cinema of the arts is bathed in darkness and only one man is carrying the light, would indeed be foolish at best and ignorant at worst. But, this is the information age. Lack of information isn't the problem anymore so it's time to get back to some old fashioned solutions.

It's time to decide for ourselves just where we want to sit and find our own way there. Sure, we'll pick up some help along the way and will always be grateful to those that offer it. But, total reliance upon our guides and failure to acknowledge that we are the ones making the journey is a mistake. It's a mistake that could mean we never actually make it to our seat.

Taxi please!

Would you ever get in a taxi and say, "Hi. I've never been to London. I don't know where I want to go, but please take me there. Be sure that you take me to all the places I want to see even though I don't yet know what it is that I want to see."? Of course not! That wouldn't be smart, now would it?

Surely, it would be far better to take a "sight seeing tour." Hop onto one of those big red buses with no roof and chewing gum stuck to the seat. Pay next to nothing, sit comfortably (relatively) for the day and be taken around the city for thirty second snap shots of anything that's worth seeing. During our trip we might even take some notes. "That place looked nice, I'll go back there." "Good grief, I didn't know that was legal in this country, I'd like experience a little more of that." Etc., etc.

After our little tour of the city, we could call our taxi driver again. This time, we're armed with an idea of where we want to go; we just don't know how to get there.

"Hi. I took a look around today and I know where I want to go. I'd like you to take me to Buckingham Palace and then a quick trip to Soho, please."

It's up to us to take the birds-eye view. It's up to us to survey the scene. It's up to us to decide where we want to go. Then, and only then, is it time to call in a guide.

My dad's bigger than your dad!

As we sit comfortably in our taxi, being driven to where it is we wish to go. Or, as we cling to our guide in the cinema, being led to our seat by someone that really does know the way, we will see other taxi's and we will bump into other guides.

Taekwondo guides with big bright torches will scream, "Don't follow him! Follow me! I know the best place for you! I know just how to take you there!"

Wing Tsung taxi drivers will lean out of windows shouting, "You're mad! You're paying far too much! I know a quicker way and I'm cheaper too!"

Karate children will scream, "My dad's bigger than your dad!"

Muay Thai travelers will shout, "Come with me! My guides better than yours! And he knows a taxi driver!"

But we few, those of us that are finding our own way, that have chosen our guides wisely and have decided for ourselves the seat that will be the most comfortable for us will smile politely and respond:

"I am glad you have found your guide. But, my seat is not yours. Yours is not mine. We are watching the same movie and we are in the same cinema. But, our seats are in different sections and the way is different for us both. I wish you success my friend. I hope you find your seat."

Then, with satisfaction, we will spot our seat in the distance. We will breathe a sigh of relief that we have found what we are looking for and prepare to drop into its comforts. Some of us will smile and succumb to its leather bound reclining charms. Others amongst us will say, "Hell! That was fun!." We will drop our tickets to the ground, turn to our guides and say, "Thank you. But, I'm not ready to sit down just yet. I think I'd like to try another seat. Maybe even a different cinema."

[Patrick]

Thank you for the submission.

[ninjanurse]

Excellent article. I am always looking for different ways to explain this. I like your analogy! Thanks!

[Kieran-Lilith]

You know, here in America, I don't think I've ever been to a single cinema where there's a guide to show you to your seat...we just kind of stumble around in the darkness until we see our friends, or we see a seat we like that's not already taken.

Love the analogy, though. And it's true, everybody takes a different path to their seat....and then some of us realize we don't like the movie or our seat, and we go find another one.

[bushido_man96]

That was a fun read. Very entertaining, and with a good point.

[Maxma]

Lovely article, and I can't help but notice how well the theme of this article also relates to religion...

That's a topic for a different post, however.

Again, lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed the extended metaphor and the point behind it.

With best regards...