This Might Be A Tough Queston...

[JR 137]

I know some with little time in the arts think they know much and others that have vast amounts of time realize they know very little.

Textbook Dunning-Krueger Effect.

“In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. The cognitive bias of illusory superiority comes from the inability of low-ability people to recognize their lack of ability; without the self-awareness of metacognition, low-ability people cannot objectively evaluate their actual competence or incompetence.”

Taken from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

The opposite is also true - the more you know, the more you realize how much more there is that you don’t know and is over your head.

[Shizentai]

You've been in the MA for [insert] years...

What do you know for sure??

I've been training for 18 years.

I know for sure that (at least after I've passed 30) if I want to have a good class, I need to stretch my legs

But seriously, like good science is not just a collection of facts, I think good karate is more than just what you know, it's about how to interact with the unknown. It's a form of problem solving, a way of increasing productivity of reactions in a crisis.

[Tempest]

I have been training for... I don't know how many years off and on. But CONSISTENTLY for about 9-10 years.

I don't KNOW anything for sure. But I have come up with a few things I BELIEVE to be true and that have stood the test of time and evidence.

The first one and probably the most important, is aliveness. I have posted about that elsewhere, mostly copying Matt Thorton's work on the subject, but the longer I train, the more confirmation bias as well as observed evidence leads me to conclude he is correct.

Aliveness is key. It is the foundation of every good martial art and is the defining test for if you HAVE a good martial art. And mostly, the more aliveness, the better.

The second thing I believe and have evidence for but can't really claim to KNOW is that attributes, delivery systems and experience and understanding of an operational environment are more important than techniques.

I don't know that these things are true, but I do believe them and have evidence to support that belief.

[IcemanSK]

I've been training for 36 years.

One thing I'm sure of is that the value is in embracing the suck. The best part is in the difficulty. The sweat. The struggle. The working through the confusion about a technique. The feeling of "I'm not sure I can keep doing this" in the middle of class, followed by the "I get so much out of being here" feeling as I leave.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Only one thing is certain and sure. It is that after years of learning and practise, there is still much much more to be learned and more still to train. The more one practises and the longer one trains the more obvious this certainty becomes.

[KarateNewbie]

I'm only a baby compared to you guys - only training a year and a half but wishing I discovered Karate 20 years ago. I know I will never know it all - there is always more to learn. And I know I will never be perfect in my Karate. I'm a perfectionist by nature so this was a bitter pill to swallow but in realising it, I think I've become a little stronger.