Warrior-Poets

I originally wrote this on myspace on  Thursday, December 06, 2007

    I have a million or so thoughts in my head that i’d like to end up written here and be somewhat comprehendable.  I was thinking of some thoughts on the Martial Arts of course.  And who knows what other subjects I’ll end up with on here by the time I’m done.  Philosophy, life, love, art, pancakes, society, who knows.

   So yeah, the martial arts… I’d definitely say that dispite the fact that I really haven’t been training regularly for quite some time, martial arts is one of my biggest passions in life.  I’ve never done any drugs, not even tried them, but I think that the feeling that you get; the state of mind that fighting/sparring puts you in, that rush, that hightened sense of everything is one of the greatest things ever.  Who knows, maybe heroine is that much better and I just don’t know what I’m missing.  Well this is good enough for me.  But that whole concept is just hard to fathom even for people who have experienced it, and frankly, alot of people think I tend to over analyze it and think that there’s more there than there really is.  Some say its merely an adrenaline rush.

   Those people are fools.  It truly is a form of meditation. It can only last a moment but it always seems like an eternity, and I don’t care who a person is or what they’ve been through, you are truly alive during that moment.  Every ounce of passion and feeling is poored into each technique, each movement, and your mind basically takes a back seat to your animal insticts, there is no time for thought or reason.  The techniques you’ve trained and trained and trained in are all you know.  I can almost bring myself to tears of joy just trying to explain it.

That, is what martial arts is to me. 

     The sad thing is that to most, at least in America, its just a hobby or a sport.  Watching some egotistical brutes pummel each other and then cuddle together on the ground in UFC.  Or little Timmy going to Master Bob’s Karate Dojo on tuesday and thursday nights after school.  And all the dissension among the different styles!  Why the different styles of martial arts can’t stop arguing, and just have a mutial respect for each other is beyond me. 

  But I guess thats how every aspect of society has always been, and probably always will be.  But basically to me, the martial arts is something that should be taken seriously.  It’s all about bettering one’s self.  I believe that if a person takes it seriously enough, and is passionate enough about their training, that anyone can and will better themselves.  Physically, mentally and even spiritually.  It isn’t about muscles, or brute strength. Or even winning or losing.  Those are such trivial concepts really.  What does a winner win? and what does a loser lose? Honestly.  If no ones life is at stake then, the loser actually gains some insight on how to become even better in the future. The winner gets nothing but a bigger ego and a false sense of faith in his own ability, which may not even be that much better than the “loser”. 

  Seriously I think that “Mixed Martial Arts” like we see in the UFC gives martial arts in general a bad image. Being a martial artist is not about being a brainless meat-head who just wants to kick peoples asses.  And before people stop me and say “wait Jared, you can’t judge each and every fighter in the UFC to have no brains and be nothing but ego.”  That is true, I can’t. But the IMAGE that the marketers show us on television is what I’m talking about.  Americans love to watch big giant guys smash into each other, run around with balls, and sweat all over each other.  And mixed martial arts is this americanized image of what martial arts is.  People in the western hemisphere really need to learn a little balance.  martial arts isn’t all about muscle, physical strength or ego.  One needs to learn the soft as well as the hard.  I’m talking about Yin and Yang here, so get your minds out of the gutter. 

   Contrary to what alot of people think, a martial artist shouldn’t be all sweat, power and furious battle cries.  This will sound strangely cliche but a martial artist should also have a sensitive side.  He/she should also know how to dream, how to enjoy poetry or art, or express themselves through music.  How to feel joy.  However, I’m not saying that every guy who fancies himself a martial artist should just chop his balls off and start going by a girl’s name. 

  All in all, a martial artist should be so well balanced in the masculine and feminine sides of life, that they become well rounded individuals.  He/she should know when to be strong, and when and how to end a fight with expert precision.  But the martial artist should also know how to listen, how to laugh, how to think. How to love. 

We should all live like Warrior-poets.