Spiritual / Personal Growth

[Deathcometh]

I woud have to agree with you guys it is kind'a like meditation in motion.

[dtstiachi]

When a person finds himself, he can discover what he needs to do to make himself better and he can do it. This would be spiritual growth (in a non-Christian sense) for that person. Am I correct?

[markusan]

That's how I look at it too. Personal and spiritual growth to me is about learning about myself, learning how I tick. And the best way I know to do that is to put myself under mental and physical pressure. Test the system and see how I react. Martial arts does that in so many ways. It makes me look at my more primal side and also to recognise why I react to other people the way I do. When I started MA i reacted to confrontation with fear, as my confidence grew I replied to agression with agression, now I'm at the stage where agression does not concern me that much and I feel like I'm free to act more appropriately and logically to a situation. I think the thing that stunts our spiritual development is fear, and ma training lets us chip away at that fear in a supportive environment.

[dtstiachi]

good for you.

[Harlan]

Well, we live in a material world. Consider 'spiritual' to be anything other. The realm of thoughts, emotions, perception/consciousness. Then consider the body to be the vehicle that is used in an experiential way to reach the non-material.

Spiritual attainment through the martial arts would then be when you are in a perceptual place where the body/material and mental/spiritual are experienced as one...no dichotomy.