Lost.

I am switching gears. There is so much BS in this community and the vast majority of people buy into it. 

From secret 'Woo Woo' stuff to the outright ridiculous notion that any of it translates to anything at all. What is the point? No one, in the grand scheme of the larger world even cares about any of it. 

Filled to the brim with Self-Important, Self-Appointed experts/Cult Leaders whom must NEVER be questioned at any time, even if something makes zero sense at all. 

In order to find anything of any real applicable value one needs to look at other arts to 'decipher' meaning from seemingly meaningless movements that only vaguely resemble actual combative motion. 

The function has been lost and most spend their time trying to piece things together in order to make any of it work, or they find ways to justify why they are doing what they are doing... Cognitive Dissonance much?

There is talk about 'Stances,' but nothing really about Footwork or Positioning relative to any opponent that is actually throwing anything significant at you. 

No one plays around with corner escapes, wall escapes, nor utilization of the environment to one's advantage. No one talks about switch steps, drop steps, v steps, L steps, moving to the inside or the outside, grounded or loose stances, open or closed stances, nor the advantages and disadvantages there-of. 

Karate itself, at least the point fighting form of it (Kumite), has become a pretty significant force within MMA right now, but when asked about Kata, most of these Karateka state that Kata is pretty pointless to them, though they do respect those who study Kata, they see no value in it for what they do. 

Lyoto Machida is HUGE on the concept of Bunkai and Oyo, but does not hold a high regard for Kata itself. 

Why would he? Kata is extremely overrated when it comes to actually training Combatives. There are far more direct and easier methods one can utilize toward these ends; methods which are far more applicable to actual methods and strategies of combat.

So what is the point of Kata? Ti/Di was originally without Kata, Okinawan Fighting Arts as a whole had no Kata. Karate, itself, is a modern performance art mimicing combatives in some cases, but going no farther than to simply state 'This is how we do things... Just because.'

Some schools like to say 'Well our school is far more effective because we do not practice sparring,' which is another example of the absurdity that runs rampant throughout the Karate Community... No, your school doesn't practice sparring because your Sensei does not know how to teach sparring strategy and cannot guide you towards becoming an effective fighter either in the ring OR for the street.... Sorry, not sorry.

There was a time when Karate was actually taken seriously, but these days it is relegated to nothing more than an activity suitable only for Children, and only for a short period of time... A passing interest with Commercialism at its' core.

What happened to the spirit behind the whole thing? When one bows, steps onto the floor, forgets the outside world in the moment in order to face the crucible of training and come out the other end changed?

When the Teacher/Sensei/Coach actually had some guidance to give and the Student took things learned from the ordeal to life, applying it all in every aspect in order to become a better person, not just a successful person, and not just a physically fit fighter?

Strategy and Tactics are a HUGE part of the process, to develop that warrior spirit, that warrior mentality, but not just that, to really delve deep into the soul and to have respect at the beginning and end, to push through and dominate oneself.

We live in an age where moments rush by us in an attempt to hustle towards the top, to overcome others rather than ourselves, to succeed at the expense of others. 

Yes, competition is a good thing, but competition for competition's sake is never a good thing. We have lost sight of what is most important and, to that, we must aim, toward that we must travel, in that we must succeed in getting back what has been lost.