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...