Context is King.

 Budo is important as a foundation in life, beyond that it is not so important or special.

Yes, it does instill confidence, yes, it CAN be used as a foundation for effective defense against physical, mental, and emotional assault.

Does that mean it should take center stage above everything else in life? Does that mean one should dedicate their life toward its’ pursuit?

One need look no farther than Social Media or the evening News and Politics to see what happens when something takes center stage and begins to dominate a person’s life in every aspect, Heart, mind, and soul.

It is no different than an addiction, cravings consume a person, the person becomes the addiction, their mind, their whole persona, they are no longer themselves and will do everything they can, without even realizing it in some cases, to appease this thing that has dominated their entire being.

In other ways it is nothing like this at all. When kept in proper context it can yield tremendous value and guidance, but it is not the be all, end all; merely the beginning, the foundation.

It seeks to yield a blueprint, or loose guidelines, nothing really concrete, one can get the same thing studying the likes of Aristotle, Socrates, Pythagoras... All of whom, if I am not mistaken, were Martial Men in their own right, and in Ancient Greece, Martial Study was considered a foundational aspect of a Philosopher (in later times, an integral aspect of Religious devotees as well).

Recently I have been learning how to take care of a house... I had to replace a light fixture, something I had never done before.

Call me a slow beginner, but it was a very interesting undertaking.

The basics of a light fixture are the same across the board for the most part, with a few exceptions, and something Karate had not taught me, but had certainly prepared me for.

You see, endless hours of working Kihon, putting Kihon together into Waza, Waza going into Kata, from Kata to the Bunkai, from Bunkai to Oyo.

From Karate to Jujitsu and Aikido, to Okinawa Ti, they all utilize similar processes to learn and one can see that there are almost identical foundational principles for each aspect, from striking, to throwing and taking someone down, to grappling, to weapons.

It is the same and if you have foundation in one thing it is usually much easier to learn something else... Not that you KNOW something else from your previous foundation, but that you KNOW HOW to learn it.

Budo gives a person the tools for effective learning, it does not teach you what to learn, but how to learn... It does not tell you what to think, but how to think in many different ways.

One can take the principles they utilize to learn Budo and apply these to ANYTHING and it will reduce the time it takes to learn something (for some people) by quite a bit.

So, in proper context, yes, devote your time to this practice so that you may utilize it to better yourself in other areas of life that have possibly been neglected.

This is an aspect, I feel, has not been a proper point of focus in many Dojo... Especially with the younger crowd whom are sold on just learning to beat people up.

If they had proper guidance leading to proper focus with an emphasis on utilizing the PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING in ALL aspects of life at a very early age, just imagine what this could do for people as they grow older and seek more knowledge with deeper understanding! Imagine what it could do for the world!

Instead of allowing something to dominate our lives perhaps we should seek ways to harmonize that thing within our lives so that we could make the world, and ourselves, better, more knowledgeable, and, ultimately, wiser.

I could not tell someone how to invest their money or how to write the best Computer Code, but I CAN give them the tools to help them explore those things for themselves.

I am working on doing this within my own life, applying these Principles of Learning to personal endeavors in Self Education within Math, Physics, and Computing... Math being my weakest subject, which subsequently effects my computing abilities in certain areas.

This extends to everything, from Gardening to Car Maintenance. The key is focus, dedication, immersion, drilling the basics, putting the basics together in various ways after learning the basic patterns and drilling those endlessly.

Another aspect is in recognizing basic patterns themselves, which is a key that makes things even easier.

A Sensei does not know everything, most know little to nothing about many things and a great deal within areas of life upon which they have focused.

Just remember it is not about WHAT we know, but HOW we know it and HOW MUCH MORE we can learn utilizing the first HOW...

Wake Up Call.

 As each day goes by lately, the more I see, the deeper the pain.

In all honesty it does not just bother me to see people treating each other the way they are, it literally hurts, it hurts to the core of my very being and I cannot really explain why.

I do not even pretend to speculate what it is, nor what is going through people’s heads, but I often know, without words, rhyme, or reason, I know... I know people, often within the first five minutes of meeting them, I can feel what sort of person it is I am dealing with.

One can speculate this might be a side effect of my training, but I have done it my whole life and I have put people before myself long before I began my training.

Seeing the state of things and knowing the outcomes, this is not bragging, this is a warning. Work to better yourselves and overcome this, because there are people out there who feel it deeply, like a wound straight to the heart.

I think of my children, I think of other people’s children, I think of other people themselves, friends, family, people I have not even met; I wonder, how many people actually think of THEM as they are attempting to appear virtuous or resolute with whatever cause they happen to throw themselves behind?

Is it worth it? When all is said and done, do they realize who this will effect and in what way?

Children have already died because of this, people have already died, and what is being sought will cost the lives, livelihood, homes, and security of countless others.

Do they take the time to get to know their names? Do they even care?

Many don’t, most don’t, most just follow the directions of the mob, not even realizing they are following a contrary path to the very things they profess.

In the end, should any of this come to my door, I will have to do what is best for my own family, and I will have to live with the consequences of acting because of the actions of other people forcing me into such a position when all I want to do is live life the way I choose to live it and be left alone.

I have, and will always, stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, but there is a difference in that and what is being played out on the world stage, even the local stage.

This is not a game. People have died. It hurts to see you all act this way, with your opinions, your demonizations, your actions, your violence.

There will always be violence and there will always be a need to face it, why add to that? 

This will be my last post here. I see many in this community, of all communities, acting in this way when we should be leading the way towards something more meaningful and virtuous.

I am not perfect and I have acted in such ways at times, I also do not have even a fraction of the answers, but I do know that I can feel this deeply and it is taking a toll. 

How Do YOU Make This Line Shorter?

 Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, even the next moment is not guaranteed.

‘I will do it tomorrow’ is an empty statement based on the assumption that a person will wake up the following day.

Lack of proper perspective prevents many things and lack of follow-through stops everything in its’ tracks ensuring that nothing ever gets done.

Sensei, in the process of teaching something new, used to say ‘just do it, even if it is wrong, do it without a second thought,’ the correction would soon follow, but the follow-through to the completion of the intent was the most important thing... Never do anything half-assed, never leave anything incomplete.

Be present, fully, in everything that is done and see it through to the end regardless of the difficulty, even in the face of death.

Death is the ultimate certainty for everyone, no matter what you do, you are going to die, so in everything that is done, do it well, to it with your whole being, and do it completely.

This moment, right now, is all that we really have. Yesterday is gone and ‘tomorrow’ is a dream that may or may not be granted.

That line of intent that turns into a strike or something else is here one minute and morphing into something else the next, never static, always dynamic, continuous change, full of little deaths and little births, becoming and ending in the blink of an eye.

Planning for months is useful, but acting as though each day is a gift is where we will find the true power behind all accomplishment.

Even small accomplishments are great accomplishments when followed through to completion. 

Whether a person is performing a sword cut or completing an on the job report, being fully present, they are the same thing. Details and execution along the proper path make all the difference.

Putting something off for tomorrow means that execution has been thwarted today, the task will not be completed... 

Then there is the question ‘can this level of exertion be maintained over the course of months, weeks, or years?’ That question becomes meaningless when we realize that the timeframe may well be unreasonable.

The real power is in maintaining the exertion, the focus, the energy and intent for this moment... Should the next moment come, then maintain it there as well.

Each breath is a gift, the next is never promised.

Projections and Reflections.

These are very interesting times in which we find ourselves.

Civil unrest, global pandemic, very strange occurrences the world over, people all around us are definitely acting in very interesting ways.

Yet, at the same time, if we tune out for even a moment, nothing has really changed at the core. We have just become so engrossed in media and narratives that we have become disconnected from reality and the people around us.

We no longer know what is really going on, truth from falsehood, even right from wrong, we only know what we are told, what we have heard, and our energy is expended to those ends... Not our own.

This is the heart of the problems we face today... 

Not who is oppressed or who is not, nor the color of a person’s skin.

Yes, there are things wrong with the world, no one is perfect, injustice should be corrected, but that never begins with forcing others to change... That is tyranny... Fighting injustice with injustice only breeds more injustice.

Refusing dialogue does nothing to advance a cause or change a mind, it simply dehumanizes a person in order to justify actions that a person would not ordinarily condone, let alone participate.

No, true change begins with the one thing we all have control over, ourselves.

Can we be better today than we were yesterday? Are we making that choice each day? The mass mind and its’ ideology, whether left or right, would have us overlook that simple fact... With all the cookie cutter ideas infecting the mind turning each of us into chattering automatons incapable of individual thought or feeling, we have effectively given up our most powerful tools... The Mind and Spirit themselves.

There is a Zen story that illustrates the path to discovering the true self as attempting to polish a tile into a mirror.

Can it be done? Does it even matter? It does, but not when one identifies with all the things that cover the self, the real self, allowing actions from a confused stance to move forth as though they were wise.

Ideas are addicting, ideas can behave like a virus, good ideas bring about good things, bad ideas bring about bad things... This would be common sense, but it seems it is not so common these days.

To judge someone because of a set of talking points and the color of their skin, whether white, black, or brown, or even their sexual orientation, this would obviously seem like a very bad idea, but it is happening, it is driving some very destructive behaviors and very deep divisions... Why? Is it truly the case that the white straight male you have known your whole life is suddenly a bigot because they are white and straight? Have they said or done anything remotely racist because they happen to disagree with certain things? Are they suddenly different, or is it just the idea that tells a person they are suddenly evil and inhuman?

What do you actually believe? What do you actually think? Shedding all the media infused BS, what remains?

Is living life how you are told to live it enough? Is it truly worth it? Are you living the way you truly want to live and doing the things you are drawn to do? Do you even know what you are drawn to do anymore?

In the Dojo we are supposed to leave all the baggage at the door as we bow to enter, showing respect to the Dojo and all our brothers and sisters within.

We forget that worldly self for a bit in order to do battle with the things that hide the real self beneath the surface, to shake away the sediment, to look away from the reflection in order to see the actual source.

We walk away changed each time, hopefully a bit more humble with a little bit of wisdom... Better people all around.

We might go to seek some direction, to seek some clarity, to seek a better lifestyle, health on whatever level, to seek connection, to feel some sense of accomplishment.

Whatever the case, it all comes from within and it is all the result of breaking down old paradigms in an effort to grow.

On the flip side, we count on our Brothers and Sisters to hold us accountable and keep us on point while they count on us to do the same for them.

At the end of the day we learn to judge based on something even deeper than character, something that words cannot quite describe or even allude to at times.

We get to know them, we get to know ourselves, we take the steps on the journey hand in hand.

It does not matter if that other person is Gay or Straight, Non-Binary or Transgender, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Arabic, Male or Female... They will put you to the ground if you are not on point and they expect you to do the same with them and shake hands, laugh, and smile when it is done for the day and they will have your back, just as you will have theirs.

Maybe that is an idyllic sort of thing on my part, but it has been my experience in most cases.

Some have drifted over the years, but if they needed me in whatever capacity they should know I would be there in a heartbeat. 

To me they are family and at the end of the day I don’t care what beliefs they hold or don’t hold.

This is how it should be for those of us that enter the Dojo and it should carry over into every aspect of our lives.... It would be nice if that were the way of the world, but one step at a time and we can only start here, now, within ourselves.

Love thy neighbor, wise words, love thy enemy, even wiser... Wiser still, don’t hold anyone as an enemy, but a Teacher.

A Teacher to mirror yourself as, being human, we tend to project what is within upon others... Often what we judge and find wanting in another is actually something we either do not recognize, or refuse to recognize, within ourselves... There is where the work needs to be done.

We forget this stuff as we sit on our high horses screaming from our pedestals as if we were holier, wiser, and more virtuous than everyone else.

We forget to work on ourselves, especially now with the ideas that permeate (infect) our ‘culture.’ 

The mantra upon the lips of the masses speaks about how others must change in order to suite our needs and feelings.

How times have changed... 

The Void Strategy.

Forget Bunkai, analysis is a conscious thing... Train to work outside of thought in continuous flow of the void.
Understanding that most cannot have a partner right now due to Social Distancing, I am fortunate I can just grab my nephew and throw him around in the back yard whenever I want, but the imagination is useful, as is a bottle of water suspended by a string and swung at random.

Irikumi is something I first experienced (outside of point sparring) in the Dojo of Gene Villa Sensei, prior to that it was Randori in Aikido and rolling in Jujitsu (although I did learn to utilize a very slow form of Randori/Irikumi in Gene’s Dojo as well).
The point is, don’t train by analysis, train by doing and allow things to unfold out of the endless sea of motion, the back and forth, the pushing and pulling, the striking, the attempted throws, etc.
The form of Irikumi I see practiced in Genten No Ti is a VERY effective training tool in order to bring things to the surface along the lines of the mechanics taught and the modes of attack. Very strategic in nature and requiring very little thought, everything just flows out from the source (Genten).

I experienced this sort of thing for the first time many years ago. I was a member of the testing board at the Evergreen Learning Center and a green belt student of my Sensei’s was testing for his next rank.
He was older than me, but had a younger sort of vibe, so I can say that he was a shy kid, trapped in his shell much like I was at the beginning, although not as extreme as my shell had been.
Sensei wanted to break him out of that shell so he turned to me and said, ‘We are going to break from Tradition today,’ I simply stood there waiting to see what he would say next, ‘Jiu Kumite’ he said, it was not a question or suggestion.
I nodded and stepped onto the floor, bowed to my opponent, let out a kiai, and attacked without warning.
It took a few moments, but our Shy Guy started to fight back, and fight back hard... It was actually a pretty amazing thing to behold... He was on the offensive and was actually attempting to take the initiative and control the fight, mind you neither of us were wearing any sort of protective sparring gear.

He was taking hits, hard hits, I was taking a few as well and they were getting more and more powerful as we went, ‘Fight me,’ I would whisper under my breath, ‘You got this.’
At one point he landed solid on my ribs, which snapped something in my brain, after that, he landed nothing.
I was twisting and turning, letting him pass and landing elbows simultaneously, as he tried to back up I would follow with a barrage of backfists, hands sweeping in circular form on their own.
Afterwards I was complimented by a guy in the audience who said I moved really well and he liked what I was doing... I had been working nothing but Saifa Kata (some say a variation on Naifuanchin) all that week and it all flowed from there... No analysis necessary, just endless flow from the void. Nothing exists, until it does.

That is something Jan Sensei said at one point, regarding the void, that will stick with me forever.

Genten No Ti.

Most things, over the years, have seemed redundant. There are easier, more direct ways to study this stuff and it need not take years to become competent at utilizing any of it... Mind you that does not imply proficiency.
Having studied, and cross studied to depth and death over and over again from varying angles many things became apparent, but something was always missing, yet blatantly hinted at within every single aspect.

I found some of it, to varying degrees, in various sources. Then I reconnected with an old friend and Dojo Brother, Sandifer Deer, who felt that I should become acquainted with Okinawan Ti to further my study, to breathe new life into it.
This led me to Genten Kai and a man named Jan Dam, a Policeman in Denmark, a wealth of deep old school knowledge in Okinawan Ti, having learned it directly from a family lineage into which he had been taken by his Teacher.

Now my Karate is forever flavored by this study. The Ti he presents draws off of Naifuanchin Kata, but goes back before Kata were even an aspect of the Okinawan Military Training.
Genten, itself, refers to a ‘source’ in more ways than one and I do not fully, or even partially grasp everything or anything about it to any degree of proficiency, but, it is straight forward and easily applicable once one begins to study and practice the principles imparted.
From active footwork to shapes, lines, power generation, body mechanics, it barely even begins to scratch the surface, but the basic stuff is enough to blow anyone’s mind.

Karate is the surface level art. It was never an art practiced in secret, it is highly influenced by the Chinese and, to some degree, it was influenced by Ti, but Ti is Ti, incomparable with Karate. There is no concept of Bunkai because there is no need for it.
As Jan constantly states, nothing exists in Ti... Drawing from this, everything exists because it is not bogged down by points of focus, rather, lines of execution, circles, locking, throwing, taking down, striking, deflecting.
Ever flowing and moving, brutal in its’ execution and beautiful to behold. One can apply it to Karate and deepen their understanding, and one can also study Ti in its’ own right and be able to understand, to great degree, aspects of Karate just by witnessing.

Carrying to daily life one can apply the mechanics of Ti to everything and utilize their motions to greater effect whilst safeguarding their overall health.
If you want to go to any great depths then go straight to the source... It still exists and it is definitely NOT what we have been told.

Modern Karate - A Tool Towards Social Conformity.

The Mob Mentality is an interesting thing to behold; taking otherwise reasonable, intelligent people and turning them into their polar opposite.
Human nature is social at it's core, emotional, and conformist when it comes to the way of what is perceived as the majority in whatever tribe the individual identifies with.
Defend it tooth and nail they will, regardless of right or wrong, even when faced with truth... The crowd is an organism that has no use for truth, fact, or even solid morality, although morality will be twisted and utilized to justify conformity to the butter end.

Many Organizations seem to bolster this conformist tendency in nearly every way.
The individual must submit to the group as a whole, must never question, must always do things as they are taught/told without fail.
Perform everything in exact detail the very same as everyone else, although some variance will creep in, ultimately what is correct is correct without question and very little, no, or inaccurate explanation.
When reality rears its' ugly head this is written off as either lack of experience or glossed over and forgotten entirely with many different excuses.

The individual's shouts get drown out by the crowd and the individual themselves get ostricized, or worse... Banishment is still a very real threat, at least at the core of our base human nature, a Psychologically ingrained need to belong based on millennia worth of necessary traits for survival.
Banishment, failure, denial of moving to a better position within the group heirarchy... Conform or else.
This may not be something of which the leadership of any Organization are even aware, but it is there none the less, and common practice seems to reinforce it.
Some are aware and outright seek to manipulate it. Cults do this all the time, as do Politics... The entirety of our society as a whole functions through its' lense and our schools seek to reinforce it as well.

On the flip side we are capable of being truly individual as people, thinking for ourselves when outside the 'hivemind' standing on our own two feet.
We are capable of discernment, of learning and growing, of facing reality and correcting course when necessary.
Able to take what is useful and discard what is not in light of new information as we face the truth in reality rather than shunning it to remain in compliance with the group.
We are capable of being Self reliant, even capable of passing this on to others in a coherent fashion with good understanding whilst allowing those we teach the individual freedom to explore for themselves.
On an individual level we do not tell others what to think, but teach them HOW to think, learn, and grow for themselves without enforcing rigid conformity to some system, form, or Organization... People like this are often called heretics, eccentrics, odd, insane, crackpots, cooks.
They do not tow the line, they have no real line, the line goes them and they move in unison with it (or sometimes against it as the situation dictates).

This should be the true aim of our journey, or not, depending on what you might seek, maybe you don't know? Best not to let someone else tell you what you are looking for and actually look for yourself, even if it puts you at odds with everything and everyone.
The individual values truth above all else, the group values itself above all else and despises truth.

Why are you practicing specific Kata? Do you even understand what you are doing? Do you fiercely defend what you are doing despite your lack of understanding?
Waking up is sometimes hard to do if you have fallen into specific habits and unconsciously conform. It is one of the most painful processes in the world, and costly in the extreme.
Expect fierce resistance, from the group AND your own heart and mind, they will fight back as you seek to rebel.

In the end we all walk alone, matching to the beat of time's finite drum until death takes us... Did you seize the day for yourself?