The Beauty of Vulnerability

[SageGhost83]

There is a saying that no matter how much we train, what art we train in, or who we learn from, there will always be someone who is stronger, faster, smarter, luckier, and just plain better than us. Heck, there will always be many someones who fit that bill. We learn all of these complicated methods, but when it all comes down to it, we will always be vulnerable. I know that this is common knowledge, but is there a certain beauty that comes with this vulnerability, and is there a certain humility that comes with accepting and acknowledging this vulnerability? I guess by beauty, I am asking if there is a certain endearing quality to being vulnerable despite the fact that we are very proficient in what we do and society tends to look up to us due to the hype from martial arts movies. The idea for this thread came from me watching a female martial artist who had insane skills get her foot broken by a lower ranked student while free sparring and look so helpless while lying on the ground and holding her hand out to beckon for help. Seeing this amazing martial artist with such great skill look so "human" in her time of injury and need made me think even more highly of her as a martial artist. Maybe I am just weird or something . Anyways, what say you on this subject?

 

[Yari]

The more you know the less you know...... Accepting that fact makes you "strong".

/yari

 

[Doc_Jude]

Anyways, what say you on this subject?

I say, train your **** off, getting as close to the top of the food chain as you can, & then rearrange you lifestyle to reduce your chances of meeting your competition.

Of course, you can meditate on death & the inevitability of it all, which I believe is very valuable for those that may be called to face death while defending themselves or others. This is along the lines of what you're talking about, I believe.

I think that anyone dwelling on the fact that there's always someone out there that could "beat" them is doing themselves a disservice, since they'll always be in competition with someone/something external. I've met lots of people that reach the point where they perceive themselves as being "the best" & they lose a lot of motivation. Don't train with that in mind, but train to always improve yourself.

 

[SageGhost83]

This is along the lines of what you're talking about, I believe.

I was thinking more along the lines of we are not invincible, no matter what we do, so acknowledging this and accepting it will make us more cautious and make us take our training that much more seriously. Kind of an "any given sunday" type thing in NFL terms. I wouldn't say to dwell on it, because like you said, it could be detrimental. I believe that it could be detrimental in that if you think that you will be beaten, then you will turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy. I was hinting more at "you know that you can be beaten, so you don't get complacent and you are more likely to dot the i's and cross the t's because you acknowledge and accept this reality". I was thinking more about this post last night, and I guess that the beauty that I see is the beauty of being human and accepting the inherent frailty that comes with it. Pardon me for sounding so Wabi-Sabi. Also, there are a lot of martial artists who get full of themselves from time to time and it is good to be brought back down to earth every now and then to remind us that we are still human despite our amazing feats and accomplishments in the arts. As always, excellent post Doc Jude, and thanks for responding!

 

[still learning]

Hello, The primary purpose of martial arts is NOT to be better than anyone else!

The purpose is to make YOU BETTER THAN BEFORE! The idea is to teach you skills you never had before and learn to use them in a technical way!

The only beauty that counts (beside the wife) is your own techniques look "pretty good" and is able to make an "IMPACT"...when use!

Best way to check this? ...is look at where you first begun? ...and look back from today. Compare that where you are now? ...to yesterday's beginnings.

For some of us...it is only three days.....others (too old...can't remember that far back....


Aloha

 

[chinto]

The more you know the less you know...... Accepting that fact makes you "strong".

/yari

yes and makes you want to learn more...

 

[SageGhost83]

By beauty, I mean beauty as in an endearing quality that something has on a deeper level. I guess that I was looking at it in a Wabi-Sabi way - the beauty (endearing quality) comes from the imperfection that is displayed within something that is great. A piece of fine ceramic with a crack in it, that crack - that imperfection - gives it a unique character, a certain beauty on a deeper level. That great martial artist, no matter how hard they train, can still be defeated, and that vulnerability - that imperfection - gives that martial artist a unique "character", a certain beauty on a deeper level. It is very "japanese". Have I lost everybody yet? By the way, moderator - I think that the nature of this question is more of a philosophical one, so it might be better served to move it to the Philosophy and Spirituality forum. Sorry about creating it in the wrong area .

 

[MJS]

There is a saying that no matter how much we train, what art we train in, or who we learn from, there will always be someone who is stronger, faster, smarter, luckier, and just plain better than us. Heck, there will always be many someones who fit that bill. We learn all of these complicated methods, but when it all comes down to it, we will always be vulnerable. I know that this is common knowledge, but is there a certain beauty that comes with this vulnerability, and is there a certain humility that comes with accepting and acknowledging this vulnerability? I guess by beauty, I am asking if there is a certain endearing quality to being vulnerable despite the fact that we are very proficient in what we do and society tends to look up to us due to the hype from martial arts movies. The idea for this thread came from me watching a female martial artist who had insane skills get her foot broken by a lower ranked student while free sparring and look so helpless while lying on the ground and holding her hand out to beckon for help. Seeing this amazing martial artist with such great skill look so "human" in her time of injury and need made me think even more highly of her as a martial artist. Maybe I am just weird or something . Anyways, what say you on this subject?

I think that in many cases, people do feel that training in the arts is going to turn them into some superhuman person. However, that is not the case. I do feel though, that it does give us an edge over the non trained person.

Sometimes, when working with a lower ranked person, we tend to let our guard down a bit. IMO, I feel that its the lower ranked people that keep us on our toes, as they're usually the ones with no control and art more likely to do something that we really don't expect. When fighting with an upper rank, the other person is more on the same level as we are, so when doing techniques they're going to know how to throw that punch, they're going to know how to move...all things to make us look good. Yet have the lower belt do this, and they're really going to make us work, because they don't know all these things.

Now, this is not to say that this is bad, but again, people tend to let their guard down.

 

[hkfuie]

I think that in many cases, people do feel that training in the arts is going to turn them into some superhuman person. However, that is not the case.

This is one of the journeys I made in training in martial arts: accepting my humanity, vulnerability. I began training b/c I was afraid of being attacked. Now I know that even though I train and train and learn and learn, I can always be hurt.

This goes for emotional as well as physical defense, eh? If you never take a risk in relationships with others, you will never have close relationships. I can never be invulnerable.

Your story about the crack in the porcelain makiing it uniquely beutiful reminds me: I remember reading (I don't know how true it is) that some Native American artists always create a flaw in their work.

Now me, I don't have to TRY to make a flaw.