Philosophy dilemma

A Moral:

While taking a trip on a boat, a philosopher asked the boatman if he knew philosophy. When the boatmen replied in the negative, the philosopher sighed: "Ah, then you have lost half a life." A storm broke and the boat began to sink. The boatman asked the sage, "Do you know how to swim?" When the philosopher shook his head, the boatman said, "Ah, then you have lost all of a life!"

I think this little tale explains "doing" very clearly. Ten minutes of doing is more beneficial than an hour of dissertations, debating, and excusing.

Next time you are catching your breath, ask yourself if you are the philosopher or the boatman.

Not that philosophy is bad, but I save it for the eight seconds it takes me to fall asleep from a day of doing.

Stir that into your Latte's,

DarkArashi

Teach me

Teach me. Teach me? Teach me!

Teaching is easy, teaching is difficult...

I feel most people believe teaching is easy, like teaching addition. 1+1=2. Yep, pretty damn simple. Try teaching integrity or self control, yep not so easy.

When I first began my training in the martial arts, it was a simple matter of punching and kicking. Years and years of just punching and kicking. It wasn't til i met my Sensei, that I learned more. He had the knack of nurturing people's talents.

What he saw in me, was the ability to "not teach". It took him a long time to explain teaching and not teaching. The gist of it is pretty basic. Any moron can teach a person to punch. Any idiot can link punches and kicks together to make Kata.

Teaching is easy anyone can do it. Not teaching is more about guiding, leading by example. A person has to train hard to be good. A teacher has to master their movements to be able to demonstrate and explain what they are doing. A step up from this is to help guide a student through their obstacles.

Now multiply this by ten students, twenty students. They all have different hurdles to overcome. You can teach them all the same punch, but you have to guide each one individually past their stumbling blocks.

This is the major stumbling block for most teachers, they see the students as a whole and not individuals.

So, now let the debates rage over whether I am a moron, or just an idiot.

~

Failure is an option

Years ago, my father told me "True failure" is when you do not even try. He was a firm believer in Nietzsche. "That which does not kill you, only makes you stronger." He explained to me, any failure which doesn't kill you, is an opportunity to learn a lesson. He may have regretted telling me this with all the trouble that ensued over the years.

I tend to throw out challenges to get people's reaction. My favorite is one hundred Frogjump/pushups. Most people fail at just the mention of Frogjump/pushups. They are not easy. 10 of them will make you question the sanity of the exercise and 20 of them is the limit for most people. 40? Oh god no! Why not?

Someday, I am thinking of Bungee jumping, without the bungee. Where is the chance of failure there? It is easy, just calculate the number of bungees by your weight, distance to travel and the amount of "boing" you want. My thoughts are, How much iron shirt training would be necessary to crawl out of the crater and walk away. Sounds crazy, impossible? Yeah, to most people. I have fallen 35 feet and walked away, why not a hundred? So this is how I approach life, everything should be a challenge to me.

Now, we all pick icons we compare ourselves to. I find most people do it, just to place themselves. He/She/It is stronger, faster, smarter, weaker than myself. We do this as a society, it is our way of finding our place. I tend to look at people who are more than me. Then I ask why. Why are they stronger? faster? This is where my study begins. I watch people closely to learn their "secrets".

This is not easy. Learning all the finer details of becoming better as a person, takes a lot of time and effort. Having a mentor or guide is a big boost to a student's growth. As martial artist, we tend train with attitude we are doing it right unless we are told otherwise. With a guide, we have a mirror to ourselves, constantly reminding us of lapses in form. But we cannot have a personal trainer with us all the time, or can we?

Can we become more responsible for our own training? Watching our forms? Take the time on the next correction and look at your body. And then feel the positioning; the spine, the head, the shoulders, the knees. These areas will all have a certain feel to them. After time, this will develop better body awareness.

Once a student develops body awareness, they can better compare themselves to their icons. You will see the finer details of movement and then can start applying these revelations to oneself.

In a matter of time, you will be doing the extraordinary that others consider impossible. Just never shortcut the details.

Rock on.

Da Universe

As strange as the universe works, I guess it takes faith to believe in the master plan.

Around my birthday on Dec 17th something started nagging at me. It is like leaving the house and trying remember what you left behind. Dec 19th came and I realize what I had forgotten, or rather who.

My martial arts training is about being a better person. This has brought me fitness, knowledge, black belts and a level of compassion, tough compassion. It also earned me the responsibility of Sensei. Sensei in Japanese means teacher, doctor, one of higher knowledge. Translations are always difficult, and often misconstrued. As I learned, Sensei means guide, or one who guides.

Now Sensei, Master, Sifu are all terms that can be lumped into the same generic category as aspirin. They mean teacher. I thought Sensei meant teacher. It was their duty to teach people. Yes, but their higher duty is to find another person to groom as Sensei. Not teach, groom.

I inherited the title Sensei from my own Sensei, and the responsibility of finding the next one. I commented that if I can become Sensei, anyone can. Sensei laughed himself to tears and then wished me good luck.

As I trained students, I understood Sensei's laughter. There are people who train in the martial arts and their are people who stand out, specialists. And then...there are the Sensei. These are people who stand out, but for no particular reason. A specialist may have the greatest strength, or lightning fast reflexes or memorize details quickly, but a Sensei stands out from a whole herd of specialists.

One of my students, Tracy, stood out like this. He wasn't the strongest or fastest, even had difficulty learning some concepts. I decided to push him beyond the normal training, as I was pushed. He was unstoppable like a Juggernaut. His skill improved and he always returned with a smile. He lived for my challenges.

Tracy never showed off his skill or greatest, except in his humility and compassion. He understood how hard it is for people to train, live with pain. He showed his greatness by not showing it. I had found my Sensei.

So the date mentioned earlier, Dec 19th, was in 1988. It was not the date I met Tracy, not even the date I bestowed the title of Sensei on him. It was the date he died, in my arms. It was the date I began dying.

I can believe how fast time flies. I spent the last twenty years looking for someone to believe in. All the while, he was there waiting. I always had excuses for not really teaching or starting a school. Not enough money, no time, students don't want to believe.

I am determined to not let his memory turn into a shade again. I made it my goal for 2009 to make time for students and further my own training. This is where the universe steps in. I was laid off my job, which I cared less and less about, and now have the time to train. And better yet, to start a school.

As Sensei, I will guide people to better lives. And someone will find me that will have the faith to become the next Sensei.

Let the Way of Ascension begin,

C

How the mighty fall

Oh dudes...

It is the really small things in the life that seem to kick my butt. About a month ago, I caught a little bug. Congested, coughy, sneezy, itchy eye type thing. Lasted a few days, but the worse was losing my stamina. Nearly a month later, i still have a slight cough...(Free to a good home, any takers) and still no stamina.

This is why I despise illness of any kind. My family and relatives believe in the equation of the older you get, the weaker you become. Being the Black Sheep, i believe different. The older, the stronger...no excuses. I see illness as a warning sign that there is a weakness in my being. Not so much body weakness, but weakness in my vigilance of mind or spirit. Still working these bugs out. PUN intended.

My bet, Won!

Six weeks ago I was involved in an argument over the concept of men being genetically stronger than women. It was an interesting argument and a bet came into existence. The bet was whether or not two women could go from doing no pushups to 10 in 9 weeks.

This is a pretty tough task, almost insurmountable for someone who cannot even do one pushup. Time and support was provided to make sure there were no excuses at the end of the time limit.

These two women, we'll call them Robin and Cyndee to protect the innocent, dealt with frustration in this task. Such excitement when they did their first pushup, true pushup. But ten of them were a long way off.

After five weeks, Robin nailed ten pushups. Cyndee did it in six weeks. I won the bet.

My contention is that the environment is what makes people weak, not genetics. Do not get me wrong, men are genetically stronger, but the difference is minor. It is the way we are raised. Females are told not to be unladylike, not to be a tomboy, you'll get hurt.

It is the environment in which we are raised that determines are strengths and weaknesses. People see me now and think I have always had great strength and phenomanal speed. No. I had thin blood as a child and was told i would never be strong. I know how people feel when they face the impossible. It is only impossible if no one has been stubborn enough, spiteful enough or just faithful enough to try.

Best advice I can give is for anyone, is to sharpen your axes and charge forth. No retreat, no surrender...

First, only and last official political viewpoint

Here come de Rant:

I am bombarded daily with radio, TV, emails, friends, enemies and even facebook about the political climate. &%$k that!!!!!

REPUBLICANS: John McCain. Senator...blah...blah...blah. Meh. Just what we need, another old geezer to run our country into the ground. Could really care less, until he ditched Letterman to hang with Katy Couric. Being a guy, i can appreciate chasing Katy. She is holding fine. But the problem i have is this: if you are going to work for me, work! Don't be handing me a lame excuse and go off chasing tail. We'll have issues. Issues that will prompt responses like "You're &%$king fired. Yeah, that's right. See how much tail attract when you can't afford the bling!" Nope, don't like him. I disapprove.

DEMOCRATS: Barack Obama. Senator...blah...blah...blah. Meh. I the only thing I remember from the Democratic charley foxtrot was a black man running against a woman for the endorsement. Whatevs....Don't remember what they stood for, just that we have a "minority" candidate that could be the next president. Um...not that i am against "minorities", but we have 43 presidents that have proved it is not about a specific gender or color that brought this country to where it is today. Yep, insert BS comment right here. Nope, not excited.

I am not a republican, nor democrat. Not really christian or muslim, nor even "taste great" or "less filling" I am an Anarchist. I embrace Chaos. Here is how i see it. Republicans and Democrats are simply different sides of the same bad penny. Time to dump all the pennies. Speaking of pennies, how much money has been raised, begged, borrow and stolen to elect one of these fine gentlemen to president? Anyone keeping track? And is this taxable? We may need it to bail the country out.

Offended yet? Time to stop reading cuz I am going brown-water rafting on poop creek now.

Prop 8, Prop 8, Prop 8...&%$k Prop 8. Lemme ask you a question: Didn't we whip ass on the Nazi back in the 40's? How the hell does this crap get to the point we vote on it? I just watched a youtube video about some parent's that are upset because their kindergarten child is being taught about gay marriage.

I do not have any objections to them voicing their opinion. It is our privilege. I say voice it, then get over it...then shut it. Also, get your video off the internet. All your kid's friends are going to see it and your child will be in child hell. Did I mention, "SHUT IT"? good.

My job is dealing with Architects, and Engineers. People licensed by the state to build your homes, buildings, bridges, etc. I know engineers that cannot spell. I know architects that cannot do math. I have proof. My question is: Why the F&%$ are we teaching kids about marriage? What happened to reading, writing and arithmetic?! For F&%$ SAKE!!!!

Just for the record, I do consider marriage important. As matter of fact, I prefer to teach it myself to my children, rather than have some state poorly run program doing it. Back in my day, sex-ed was self taught. I turned out fine, and have a fine pair of biceps from the experience.

Kooky idea. Let us be proactive in the education system. How about we teach the kids how to shoot guns, stab critical areas of the body. And let's teach them the difference between a proper Allah-fearing Muslim and these bullshit scum that get their rocks off on killing and torturing people. Yeah, we can have a monthly "Kill a terrorist day" and hang their burned, decapitated corpses from the nearest bridge. I am liking this. I approve.

If you are now offended, feel free to return to your home country. That is if they will take your spoiled rotten ass back.

Prop 8 sucks...Faceless Nazi suck...

If you have read this far and are offended, you suck too. Tell you what, here is how you can help solve the problems in this country. Go look in the mirror and ask why you are offended. Once you solve that problem, you can help others to look into the mirror.

I would be more willing to vote if say we had, Prop 9. No more war. I have never seen this on the ballots. I think we should forget about hiring a new president and all the BS props out there. Let's vote on getting out of Iraq or making it a 53ish state and tax the hell out of it. And all the money that is save from Political ads can help with the 700 Bajillion dollar bailout.

There we go, problem solved. Oh, and no more hating.