Hey, you are really paying attention and I appreciate that because as an author, martial artist and karate-ka who studies defense-protection and has some experience applying those skills it behooves folks like you to continue doing what you do best, take your studies out of the dojo and seek out knowledge and understanding through your own efforts in study and learning. I have a pretty good library but it is not complete as is the bibliography you will find at the back of this book. I mention this now because we all moved to this part and will continue to read the book in its entirety so I wanted to let you know, like this book, bibliography is also not complete. Here is why.
I have been studying, learning, practicing and applying my skills from study of martial arts, karate and other means for over forty years but, alas, didn’t learn about documentation of things until about ten years ago. So, my resources listed in the bibliography will not include many things but what is important to tell everyone is that the most important of references did come from the last ten years of work and are listed in the back of the book.
If you could have the best library ever for research and study then begin now by collecting and accumulating everything you study, read, hear and watch into a library, like my “Martial Art Library” which can also be found on my blog by the same name. You will never regret it and as you already envision it will be a huge source of curiosity and questions you can pose to those who would teach you how to defend and protect. I have a vision and hope that your vision is about collecting and absorbing as much as possible about defense and protection through martial disciplines and karate practices so when the time comes you will remain safely and steadfast behind the “before” of self-defense. If, a big if as you know, is if you have to enter the during leading to the after then having that source of information will lead to proper actions and articulation of to limit the damage of the during and after.
Absorb all you can outside the dojo then test it, see if it works over time and make it a part of every day life like, as example, the art of listening and communications. These two alone along with a type of awareness can put you into a state of avoidance, escape and evasion along with de-escalation to stop before violence becomes necessary.
Oh, and people who read everything especially when it seems derogatory, inflammatory or blasphemous but continue to dig, data-mining, for wheat by ignoring the chaff will find more often than not, pure gold. I have one source I look to all the time who intersperses their materials and teachings with accusations and the pointing of fingers and saying how wrong they are but still find a lot of solid and good data to work with and from. You gotta data-mine even when you face a lock of rock, dirt and false positives when digging for gold. Dig for gold!
People often offer the excuse that one does not learn from books, especially in the martial arts and karate but our perceptions, beliefs and knowledge does come from books, mostly. Before books there were the stories one passed down from generation to generation. It is the stories of old that made the future and today it is not just the stories but our documentation of stories, history and other factual data that changes the now and makes the future. Stories are everything, like the stories told to people as they grow up. It is the stories of history, of our culture, of our belief systems and our family’s history that make us better and what we are today. Passing down such stories may not be actual hands-on experiences but they create our perceptions and biases so that we may create how we deal with current situations and events to learn, grow and change as well as survive and that is a complementary compilation of said history through stories along with actions and experiences today that make for a greater valid and proficient future - especially in a system of violence for defense-protection.
No comments:
Post a Comment