I'm fascinated by the concept and thought process behind Eastern and African martial arts. Why is this important to us, especially young Blacks?
The Jujitsu fighting form originated in ancient Japan, as a form of defense when using weapons against an armed oppressor was impractical or forbidden. The Samurai developed a powerful ideology - using the opponent's momentum as your weapon... turning his own strength against him.
The word jujitsu means "the art of softness". It emphasized strategy and agility to overcome an attacker who was protected by armor, or had superior weaponry.
Young People... We must harness the force of those things working against us, and use them to our advantage.
The Basic Premise of Eastern Martial Arts
"Train both internally and externally. External training involves the hands, the eyes, body, and senses. Internal training involves the heart, the spirit, the mind, breathing, and strength." The first step to building strength is by building internal discipline. This will be my personal focus for the next several weeks, because I recognize a need for it. If you recognize that need in yourself, I invite you to join me in this journey. We cannot defeat any external threat until we completely understand and control self.
The ultimate goal of the original Eastern martial arts family, Kung Fu, is to achieve perfect balance between wisdom and emotions. Our failures, both physical (real-world) and spiritual are a result of lack of development in these areas:
Morality of Deed - Humility
- Loyalty
- Respect
- Righteousness
- Trust
Morality of Mind - Courage
- Patience
- Endurance
- Perseverance
- Will
We must make a disciplined effort to improve each of these areas in our life. The next post in this series will address what our enemy is (it's not who or what you think) and how we must confront it.
Posted By: Jon C.
Wednesday, July 30th 2008 at 5:43PM
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