Designed to Fail

"We have designed our civilization based on science and technology, and at the same time, arranged things so that almost no one understands anything at all about science and technology.  This is a clear prescription for disaster." ~Carl Sagan

The martial arts community is, in many ways, a microcosm of the larger world community, and if Carl Sagan's words hold any validity about the foundations of modern civilization, then when applied on a smaller scale to our domain, it is quite possible that a large (and growing) part of the martial arts world is also on the road towards disaster.

Why?  Well, we have constructed our systems, styles, schools, programs, and livelihoods based on indoctrinated concepts of self-defense, warriorship, martial virtues, and a long list of other ideals....and yet even among the population of master-ranked practitioners in our own spheres, very few understand, profess, or practice much (if anything) that is either practical or useful about self-defense and the aforementioned long list of ideals!  (When I say that, I include myself in this category, although I've probably always been here, and have been striving to transcend my ignorance for the duration of my career.)

The road to disaster is paved with the denial of our own ignorance.  Just like an apathetic teenager who doesn't see the need to understand physics even after their first auto accident, way too many of us in the martial arts world suffer from a mental disease that produces delusions of our own effectiveness.  Those delusions may lead us to design paths which ultimately lead to failure....sometimes for us, more often for our students, always with saddening results.

Sometimes I fall prey to this.  There are times when I intentionally try to sound like a know-it-all, especially with my students, because sometimes when a leader exudes the illusion of confidence, it provides reassurance to those under their care.  It is also true that leaders often must be willing to take the initiative and serve as a guide, even when the path ahead is unclear or uncertain.  In such cases, confidence is necessary.

Yet underneath it all, we cannot let go of the quest for knowledge, which begins in the ever-present awareness of our own ignorance.  Once we feel like we "know", a sense of complacency sets in.  We think and act differently because we believe we've found something, so we no longer have to be the seeker.  Be a Socrates.  Keep searching!

And yet, I do know something.  While that may be true, that never relieves me of my obligation to improve.

Less QQ, More Pew Pew

On any given day, were I to unfilter my Facebook newsfeed (gah), I'd see an ever-renewing cycle of despair scroll down the front of my screen, or 'qq', as my gamer friends might call it - a reference to the resemblance between a pair of lowercase Q's and a pair of crying eyes.  (I guess qq was easier than qp...but I digress.)

There's a lot of qq out there.

If you're in a semi-populated area, chances are that you are bound to encounter people who bemoan the circumstances of their lives.  They are in your workplaces, at your schools, at the supermarket, in line at the coffee shop, on the road, sometimes at home (hopefully not), throughout your neighborhood, and many more online.  Our social media tools, in addition to all of their perks, also seem to have brought us ever-so-closer to the collective despair of our friends all over the planet.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't ever complain, and yet I am.  Just catch yourself in your mind before you vocalize it.  When you feel like complaining, it's usually a sign that action needs to be taken.  Whether that action involves starting a task, finishing a project, adjusting a perspective, or whatever...if you're uncomfortable enough in your life to want to say something about it, then you're also near to the point where you're ready to do something about it.

We all have our ups and downs, but if you're down, then get back into the fight, guns blazing with the 'pew pew' sound that your children's video games make, because maybe our kids' games have something to teach us after all: that getting to the next level isn't possible without playing the game.

Less qq, more pew pew, my friends.  Stay in the game.

You Can Always Do Better

You can always do better than you think you can.

This is the essence of kaizen, the spirit of constant and never-ending improvement. 

Random bursts of benevolence from the Universe and other lucky surprises aside, in order for improvement to be possible, you must adopt an attitude that opens the doorway for the changes to take place. Without it, improvement is not possible through a failure of your own design.

Luke: "I....I don't believe it."

Yoda: "That is why you fail."

~The Empire Strikes Back

If you are convinced of your failure and mediocrity, there is very little that I (or anyone) can do or say to help.  Only when you break free from your own chains will you find a way out, but if that's you, then you are your own jailer, and you're holding the keys.  Don't learn to love your prison.  Free yourself, and in doing so, unlock your potential to become more.

To improve and accomplish great things, surround yourself with success.  Fill your life with people who have already done it and those who are passionately engaged in the process of doing it.  Create a goal-working atmosphere in which the things that you have not yet accomplished are not only possible, but imminent because you've planned a pathway that leads to success.

Believe that you can do better.

Believe that you can lose another pound.

Believe you can do one more push-up.

Believe you have fifteen minutes to read.

Believe in giving one more chance.

Believe in starting again.

Some Ramblings On Loyalty

Daniel: My karate comes from you.
Miyagi: Only root karate come from Miyagi.  Just like bonsai choose own way to grow because root strong, you choose own way do karate same reason.
Daniel: But I do it your way.
Miyagi: Hai.  One day, you do own way.
~The Karate Kid, Part III

Six months before I earned my 1st Dan under Master Ed Fong, I had the privilege of watching several friends test for theirs.  Towards the end of their test, the candidates were asked to form a circle and kneel, and the judges and visiting instructors had an opportunity to address the class.  One of the judges, a visiting instructor from New Zealand, began his remarks thusly: "Two years from now, only one of you will still be standing here.  Two at most."

His remarks were intended to talk about life's journey and how it sometimes carries us away from the dojang, and about the arduous, but worthwhile path that lay ahead for the black belts who stayed true to their training and continued to climb up the mountain towards their 2nd Dan, regardless of where life may lead or how long it may take.  Yet, as I listened, I couldn't help but feel slightly offended.  It felt like he was already speaking to them as if most of them had already quit.  Was this a challenge of our loyalty to our teacher?  The nerve!

Half a year later, I stood next to four of my best friends and training partners through our test.  While the test most certainly is and always will be one of the peak experiences of my life, I couldn't help but notice that one member of the previous class of four was already gone.  In fact, eighteen months later - two years after I had heard that unnerving proclamation, only one of them remained.

When I tested for my 2nd Dan, my own class of five had become a class of two.  I remember that it struck me as eerie to think that the visitor's prediction had come true.  I spent a lot of time trying to rationalize why.  At 16, I thought I had a lot of things figured out (ha!), but that one had eluded me since, of course, there are many reasons why a person might choose to take their life's direction along another path.

The martial artist's path is not an easy one to follow, yet when our lessons take root, the product is not intended to be students who are subservient human beings.  Our lessons build self-actualized people, capable of facing the challenges of their own lives and assisting others with theirs.  Some will follow in our footsteps, but the vast majority of them will (hopefully) become better citizens of the world in their own way.

Jump ahead some years, and now I'm raising my own humble (but growing) martial arts family.  I've 'moved out of the house', in a manner of speaking, but I know where my home is and where my roots are.  My teacher's lessons are still with me and I gratefully pass them on, knowing that someday, if I have performed my task well, my own students will grow to the point where they need to find their own way.

Finding your own way isn't necessarily a sign of disloyalty.  Sometimes it means that you were well-trained.

Your Brain is (Almost) Perfect, a book worth reading

Read Montague's Your Brain is (Almost) Perfect: How We Make Decisions is a fascinating exploration of the way in which our minds make decisions.  Using numerous analogies to computational models constructed by visionaries like Alan Turing, as well as comparisons to utilitarian decision-making theories, Montague explores various issues of interest, including how humans can override their own survival instincts in the right scenarios.

The book is somewhat technical; I found myself on several tangents in order to get some background information on some of Montague's examples, but it was an interesting and worthwhile journey.

An interesting piece is Montague's take on efficiency.  Similar in some ways to the utilitarian calculus of "maximize benefit, minimize harm".  Montague describes efficiency as "the best long-term returns from the least immediate investment"....a fascinating way to discuss the behavior of procrastinators. (ha!)

Revisiting the Cycle

Last year around this time, I made a similar post about cycles, but my thoughts are there right now, so I'm going to follow up a bit more.

I like back-to-school season.  It's extremely busy for me, but with good reason: I'm engaged in a process of renewal and improvement.  With the new school year at hand, I want to improve upon the curriculum that I taught last year.  I'd like to do a much better job of communicating it in a way that is both effective and entertaining!

As I've put more thought into this idea, I've also begun to consider how much of our lives become linked to the cycles of behavior that we construct and implement into our daily lives.  The routine that you do before work each morning, the habits that you have during your day, the behaviors that you act out afterwards....so many of these are linked to cycles, yes - but even more important is that since we construct and implement them, we control them.

Seems like common sense, but there are so many times when we find ourselves locked into bad habits and feeling unable to change them.

The answer is within us.