If language means everything, if syntax means anything, and if words mean everything and anything to us MAists...

The procurement of knowledge means everything; then serious and intense training means everything.

Let our discussion begin off this prefaced statement.

Of course. Martial Artists should know more than most that knowledge is power. We need not only train our bodies but our minds. In the end, it is our ability to think that will make us stand out, not our physical prowess. When it all comes down to an end, we remember the philosophers better than the world champions.

Someone said that a nation that does not value courage and wisdom equally will be run by cowards and defended by idiots, or something like that.

We need more Lord Byrons in the world. He wrote She Walks in Beauty, and fought for Greece's independence when the British army wouldn't accept him. Well, that other matter we'll just pretend didn't happen.

You learn, you train, you analyze, you train more, and thus, you learn to train, and train through learning.

To talk shop and philosophy is a good thing, I think. But forcing others into an ideology is not. Regardless, through training and personal experiences, along with individual values, morals, and ideals, everyone really puts together their own on the way.

Please understand that my intent with this topic is NOT to force my ideology and the like unto anyone...I just desire a simple conversation and nothing more. If it seems that I am forcing my ideologies please forgive me!!

Please understand that my intent with this topic is NOT to force my ideology and the like unto anyone...I just desire a simple conversation and nothing more. If it seems that I am forcing my ideologies please forgive me!!

No, no, Bob! That's not what I was thinking at all! Its just something I always keep in the back of my mind when discussions of this nature arise.

Its like reading Funakoshi's The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate, and then deciding that you have take everything Funakoshi said and adhere to it word for word in order to do Shotokan Karate. They are great principles, and each deserves its own amount of study and attention. But, I also think its important to not delve into the hero worship of every old master and feel it necessary to live as they did. I just don't think they are all that much better at life than I am. So, after reading and evaluating such precepts or ideologies, its important for everyone to compare and contrast each ideal or precept along with how they live and what they believe, and decide which fit their way of thinking, which don't, and which are worth considering in making one better.

Hope that helps. I would never accuse you of forcing anything like that on any, Bob. But tuite, you did force that on me, rather abruptly, I might add..... (what a great time!)

It is not in the knowing, but in the doing of the art, that truly makes one a warrior.

We recite that at the end of every class.

Please understand that my intent with this topic is NOT to force my ideology and the like unto anyone...I just desire a simple conversation and nothing more. If it seems that I am forcing my ideologies please forgive me!!

No, no, Bob! That's not what I was thinking at all! Its just something I always keep in the back of my mind when discussions of this nature arise.

Its like reading Funakoshi's The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate, and then deciding that you have take everything Funakoshi said and adhere to it word for word in order to do Shotokan Karate. They are great principles, and each deserves its own amount of study and attention. But, I also think its important to not delve into the hero worship of every old master and feel it necessary to live as they did. I just don't think they are all that much better at life than I am. So, after reading and evaluating such precepts or ideologies, its important for everyone to compare and contrast each ideal or precept along with how they live and what they believe, and decide which fit their way of thinking, which don't, and which are worth considering in making one better.

Hope that helps. I would never accuse you of forcing anything like that on any, Bob. But tuite, you did force that on me, rather abruptly, I might add..... (what a great time!)

Solid post Brian!!

Ahem, you had to experience Shindokan's brand of Tuite in order to appreciate it, and I loved forcing, I mean teaching/demonstrating, Tuite on you...heheheheeheheee, I'm sick that way...heheheheheheeee..ahem....excuse me.

It is not in the knowing, but in the doing of the art, that truly makes one a warrior.

We recite that at the end of every class.

Solid post!!

What you recite at the end of every class is what I think that the OP statement is speaking about. However, personal choices are so very important to any practitioner of any MA.

Of course. Martial Artists should know more than most that knowledge is power. We need not only train our bodies but our minds. In the end, it is our ability to think that will make us stand out, not our physical prowess. When it all comes down to an end, we remember the philosophers better than the world champions.

Solid post!!

Perceptions are real to that person, and how that person reacts to their perceptions means quite a lot, not only to that person, but to those who've experienced that persons perceptions and the like.