| Answer
from Jesus:
There is much truth and much of value to be found in several forms of
martial arts. Many people have indeed been able to find the universal
spiritual path by using martial arts as an on ramp to the path that
transcends all outer labels and divisions, including the need for self-defense,
the mastery of the physical body or even the mastery of Chi itself.
As in any field on Earth, it is possible to pervert the martial arts.
You do indeed see this both in the East and in the West. This occurs
especially for two reasons. One is that martial arts becomes overly
focused on the need for self-defense. If your approach to martial arts
springs from fear, then practicing martial arts can actually reinforce
the fear, and this can eventually lead to paranoia.
Some people have indeed channeled their Chi in the wrong direction and
have thereby become paranoid, thinking that someone is out to get them.
This can indeed lead them to take self-defense to the extreme, making
them think that it is necessary and justified for them to learn how
to kill someone by using martial arts techniques. In truth, martial
arts was never meant to be lethal. It is precisely given in order to
help people defend themselves in a non-lethal way, and it was extremely
effective before the advent of firearms, which allows the killing from
a distance.
I strongly recommend that people avoid any martial arts which teaches
you how to kill another human being. Some teachers have taken the original
teachings of martial arts and perverted them by going into the extreme.
Such a teacher is often driven by fear, and the student will find it
difficult to rise above the consciousness of the teacher.
The other reason that martial arts can be perverted is pride. This is
something that occurs more frequently in the West than in the East,
although it certainly does occur in the East. In the West, people are
often caught up in the spirit of vain competition, and suddenly martial
arts becomes a way to compete with others and to seek to establish your
superiority over them. This can channel the Chi in the wrong direction,
so that it magnifies the negative aspects of a person’s consciousness,
in this case pride and arrogance. Many martial arts practitioners have
fallen prey to this subtle temptation and end up using the pure energies
of God to magnify the vainglory of the human ego. This simply is not
the real purpose behind the true forms of martial arts.
If you trace any martial arts movement back to its origin, you will
see that self-defense was never the real purpose of martial arts. It
was simply a practical aspect of martial arts, born of more primitive
and violent times. Yet the real goal was spiritual growth by mastering
the energies of the material world and channeling spiritual energy through
the mind and body. The true goal of martial arts was never the perfection
of the body but to make the body the humble and obedient servant of
the mind. This then should be the true goal of any approach to martial
arts.
In today's world, there are many people who are not yet ready to embrace
the spiritual path through a teaching that is openly spiritual. For
many such people, especially for many young people, martial arts can
be a viable on ramp which can lead them to discover the true spiritual
path later in life. Of course, this can only happen when people do not
get caught up in the two extremes of fear and pride.
I did study many eastern teachings during my travels in the East, yet
I focused on the openly spiritual teachings and did not study martial
arts.
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Copyright
© 2003 by Kim Michaels |
