Please take a look at Articles on self-defense/conflict/violence for introductions to the references found in the bibliography page.

Please take a look at my bibliography if you do not see a proper reference to a post.

Please take a look at my Notable Quotes

Hey, Attention on Deck!

Hey, NOTHING here is PERSONAL, get over it - Teach Me and I will Learn!


When you begin to feel like you are a tough guy, a warrior, a master of the martial arts or that you have lived a tough life, just take a moment and get some perspective with the following:


I've stopped knives that were coming to disembowel me

I've clawed for my gun while bullets ripped past me

I've dodged as someone tried to put an ax in my skull

I've fought screaming steel and left rubber on the road to avoid death

I've clawed broken glass out of my body after their opening attack failed

I've spit blood and body parts and broke strangle holds before gouging eyes

I've charged into fires, fought through blizzards and run from tornados

I've survived being hunted by gangs, killers and contract killers

The streets were my home, I hunted in the night and was hunted in turn


Please don't brag to me that you're a survivor because someone hit you. And don't tell me how 'tough' you are because of your training. As much as I've been through I know people who have survived much, much worse. - Marc MacYoung

WARNING, CAVEAT AND NOTE

The postings on this blog are my interpretation of readings, studies and experiences therefore errors and omissions are mine and mine alone. The content surrounding the extracts of books, see bibliography on this blog site, are also mine and mine alone therefore errors and omissions are also mine and mine alone and therefore why I highly recommended one read, study, research and fact find the material for clarity. My effort here is self-clarity toward a fuller understanding of the subject matter. See the bibliography for information on the books. Please make note that this article/post is my personal analysis of the subject and the information used was chosen or picked by me. It is not an analysis piece because it lacks complete and comprehensive research, it was not adequately and completely investigated and it is not balanced, i.e., it is my personal view without the views of others including subject experts, etc. Look at this as “Infotainment rather then expert research.” This is an opinion/editorial article/post meant to persuade the reader to think, decide and accept or reject my premise. It is an attempt to cause change or reinforce attitudes, beliefs and values as they apply to martial arts and/or self-defense. It is merely a commentary on the subject in the particular article presented.


Note: I will endevor to provide a bibliography and italicize any direct quotes from the materials I use for this blog. If there are mistakes, errors, and/or omissions, I take full responsibility for them as they are mine and mine alone. If you find any mistakes, errors, and/or omissions please comment and let me know along with the correct information and/or sources.



“What you are reading right now is a blog. It’s written and posted by me, because I want to. I get no financial remuneration for writing it. I don’t have to meet anyone’s criteria in order to post it. Not only I don’t have an employer or publisher, but I’m not even constrained by having to please an audience. If people won’t like it, they won’t read it, but I won’t lose anything by it. Provided I don’t break any laws (libel, incitement to violence, etc.), I can post whatever I want. This means that I can write openly and honestly, however controversial my opinions may be. It also means that I could write total bullshit; there is no quality control. I could be biased. I could be insane. I could be trolling. … not all sources are equivalent, and all sources have their pros and cons. These needs to be taken into account when evaluating information, and all information should be evaluated.” - God’s Bastard, Sourcing Sources (this applies to this and other blogs by me as well; if you follow the idea's, advice or information you are on your own, don't come crying to me, it is all on you do do the work to make sure it works for you!)



“You should prepare yourself to dedicate at least five or six years to your training and practice to understand the philosophy and physiokinetics of martial arts and karate so that you can understand the true spirit of everything and dedicate your mind, body and spirit to the discipline of the art.” - cejames (note: you are on your own, make sure you get expert hands-on guidance in all things martial and self-defense)



“All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.” - Montaigne


I am not a leading authority on any one discipline that I write about and teach, it is my hope and wish that with all the subjects I have studied it provides me an advantage point that I offer in as clear and cohesive writings as possible in introducing the matters in my materials. I hope to serve as one who inspires direction in the practitioner so they can go on to discover greater teachers and professionals that will build on this fundamental foundation. Find the authorities and synthesize a wholehearted and holistic concept, perception and belief that will not drive your practices but rather inspire them to evolve, grow and prosper. My efforts are born of those who are more experienced and knowledgable than I. I hope you find that path! See the bibliography I provide for an initial list of experts, professionals and masters of the subjects.

Why do you study karate?


Recently in a post on the Shinseidokan Dojo blog Mr. Michael Clarke wrote about ulterior motives of today's karate-ka. It is a good question we all should ask ourselves from time to time. In my question, the title of this post, I mention the word study. I think this is more apropos to the word practice. I don't just practice karate, I tend to study it. 

I devote my time and attention to gaining knowledge of martial arts by means of physical practice, mental intuitive effort and by academic study through books, films, blogs, articles, etc. I research to learn, I investigate to understand and I practice to apply it to my body, mind, and spirit. I endeavor, encourage, strive and make diligent efforts to study, benkyo [勉強], the art of Okinawan karate-do. 

When I ask myself the question I tend to find that the answer changes yet the core or essence of why remains steadfast and has been so through out my entire life span within the martial art of karate-do studies. I never neglect my study, I work hard at my studies and I endeavor to study while I pass on what I understand to others who may follow the same path as I. 

Study means to seek out answers and knowledge yet it also means to not accept the answers as final since they may change due to new knowledge. This is a key, change is inevitable and when it arrives you have to be willing to allow for that change even if it goes directly against what you study, you know and what you believe. 

If I has asked why I practice karate then I would be limiting my understanding of karate. Study encompasses practice, it encompasses training, and it encompasses far more than just practice. I guess this is why some use the sound bite that it is a way of life. 

A way of life sounds a bit dramatic but if you take the study of martial arts to its full length and breadth then the practice of the physical aspects are present but a part of a greater whole. 

It is influential as to how one acts outside of training halls or dojo or what ever you wish to label the place where you study karate. Clarke Sensei mentions about ugly lives outside of the dojo and he is right. I go one step further to say that if your karate studies are not positively influencing how you live life outside then you are missing out on true, realistic self-defense aspects. Many of the more social events that end up in the fight come from a lack of social skills and to practice karate-do fully, to study it to its infinite ways is to lose site of what can benefit you in the most serious of events in life, in a conflict. 

I believe Clarke Sensei that to truly study karate or any traditional/classical martial system you want it, you need it, it must be a part of who you are, not just something you do. 

I also believe as I suspect Clarke Sensei believes that today's martial arts would benefit from changing the current mind-set to the full and complete study of the arts to make it your own, to make it a part of you and to remove it from something you do to something you "DO (doe)."

Bibliography:
Clarke, Michael Sensei. "Ulterior Motives." Sunday, April 14, 2013. <http://www.shinseidokandojo.blogspot.com/2013/04/ulterior-motives.html>
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