Fake Martial Artists Turn Back

Fake Martial Artists Turn Back – 2/19/15

“When you have traveled a number of miles in mountainous terrain and someone says your light points in the wrong direction, you feel a terrible blow.  It means you have to retrace your steps and go back all the way you came.  Your ego protests and says, “Go a little further, don’t give up.  Who knows, this woman may be wrong!  She may be stupid, or mad, or lying, or trying to mislead you!”

“To turn back is a blow to the ego.  You wonder, “Could I have been wrong all this time?”  Therefore it is easier to teach children than to teach older people.  If they have already walked sixty or seventy miles can they admit to being wrong all that time?  The child never resists, because the child has yet not walked.  He will go wherever you take him.  An old man never will.  He will insist that the path he has followed is correct – because his ego depends on it.” – Osho “The True Name” pg. 111

I see that the above quote applies to all those who are still living in a fantasy in the Martial Arts.  A lot of people who practice Martial Arts and Combat Sport tend to forget all about the real world.  They forget all about the guns, about the police, about the law, about death, about medical bills, about weapons, about police corruption, about gangs, about mafias, about multiple assailants, about retaliation, etc. 

They spend so much time on wrestling mats, that they forget that out there in the real world, people are not walking or driving on wrestling mats!  They are so focused and concerned about following the rules of their sport that they forget about the spontaneity of life and how there are no rules.  They completely forget about how fragile our lives are and how easily we can be murdered or killed.  They somehow believe they are superhuman because they have figured out how to deliver powerful kicks and punches.  

They somehow believe that they are invincible because they have learned a few self-defense techniques.  They win a few matches and now they think they are on top of the world, the best in the world, unbeatable.  They are all living in a fantasy but they don’t’ want to admit it because it will hurt their ego, their ego depends on this false sense of reality.  They might have spent their whole lives training to be the best, and they don’t want to admit to themselves that they are no different than everybody else around them, they are equal to the next person, they are nobody special. 

They do not want to face up to reality and admit that Martial Arts training is primarily for bettering your health, not for fighting.  They want to somehow believe that they are indestructible when they are not.  They will go around breaking boards, breaking bricks, breaking trees, breaking bats, beating up people for medals, all to try to convince themselves that they possess a special skill and talent, all to try to convince themselves and the people around them that they are special.  But the reality is that they are nobody special. 

They may be proficient in “fighting” but it is nothing special, no different than being proficient in playing basketball.  All their fighting games, are just that, games, nothing more.  Boxing, wrestling, cage fighting, basketball, football, tennis, baseball, track and field, nothing is better than the other, they are all games.  Some games are more dangerous than others, but either way, they are all just games, none of it deals with reality.  They are afraid to admit this because it will bring too much pain.  Pain in knowing that all these years they have been training has all been for nothing, even after all this training, they are still nobody special, they are still unimportant, they are still human, they can still die just as easily as the next person who has not trained for a single day in his life.  Seeing this reality brings sadness and depression to the fake Martial Artist.