#10 – Softness in Martial Arts and Every Day Life – Path of the Water Part 2
Last time we started talking about the Path of the Water, about how soft but strong the water is. Today I’d like to talk about connection between softness in Martial Arts and every day life.
First of all, lets define Martial Arts. I am not talking about any specific style now. What is Martial Art in general? It is often seen by many as set of hand-to-hand combat techniques designed to allow one person to defeat another person in a competition. It can be done in a form of wrestling, boxing, various styles of strikes, joint locks, weapons etc., or combination of all of the above.
Well, while there’s nothing wrong with some competition, this is not what I am talking about. I am not talking about competeing and winning. Nobody wins a real fight, there are only survivors. People who studied Martial Arts centuries ago, were not ring fighters trying to impress the public with nice moves. And certainly they were not movie stars choreographing fighting scenes in front of the camera. There were some exceptions, though. Gladiators, for example. But that’s a different story. They were fighting to survive. Of course, there were plenty of folk games and competitions, as well as horse racings, knife and tomahawk throwing, wrestling, dancing and other various forms of entertainment.
But when it comes to real combat, then avoiding fight at all cost would be perhaps the wisest strategy. Can you imagine a warrior who has a task to complete. He may be wounded, and he may have no idea what life throws at him next, how long he has to go until his assignment is completed, and whether or not he will have enough strength to come back? Preserving the energy would be important, not jumping and screaming at every opponent, like we see in the movies.
So today I’d like to look at Martial Arts not just as hand-to-hand combat, but rather as the whole system or life and survival.
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