As Marilee Swirczek said,

Writing is the act of selecting and organizing words–creating prose with words–with the purpose of providing the reader with an insight, or truth, into the human condition.

Yes, one can write simply to entertain or to produce a laugh or a reaction, but insight is the higher goal of writing, The Art, if you will.

There are many reasons people study martial arts: Some want to get in shape, some want self confidence, and some want to beat people up. Those who make a serious study of martial arts ultimately pursue a higher path: Enlightenment. There are many philosophies and analogies to describe what enlightenment means; because, like writing, it is unique to each individual. A simple way of describing it is thus:  The pursuit of martial arts is the act of selecting thoughts and actions and organizing them–creating prose with movement–with the purpose of discovering an insight into one’s own state or condition.

Both of these arts achieve similar goals. Both of these arts are vast, lifelong pursuits with an ever-expanding horizon. This literally means that the more I learn about each, the larger the field of possibility becomes, the more I understand how little I know. There is an odd comfort in seeking excellence in this way. Sure, it stings at first. This pursuit of an ever expanding target is much like the Christian pursuit of God. One strives to be like perfection, knowing that the effort is vain, that each step forward is still infinitely far away. But it’s still one step closer.

There is a humbling peace in this discovery. I can let go of feelings of inadequacy and the need to achieve and excel and to conceal my ignorance and failures. They are par for the course. The arts I strive to grow in are too vast for any to master in full. Wherever I am on the path relative to another, we are both still at the beginning. Another may be a horizon away from me, but still looks to an even farther horizon of his own.

And, with each new discovery of the craft, I may only grow one step closer to enlightenment; but, I also understand my companions for the journey just a bit more intimately, and find a little more capacity to love the diversity of culture and pragmatism that is a human being. It is all about the journey and nothing about the destination.

In regards to your post…I think churches and museums are places for our minds and spirits to exercise.

I had a lot of thoughts on this; too many to fit in the comments section. So, without further introduction…

Sharon,

In a gym, you perform repetitious exercises, physical actions that passively improve your body. In a museum, you observe, although you are occasionally inspired to think, which is positive.

While I will grant that catholic mass does involve some repetitious exercise of thought and can–if you make it so–involve movement of spirit, most churches are simply observation. The purpose is worship and often education, but not fitness. Some involve a good deal of singing and there are exceptional branches which understand the need for participation, but this is child’s play for your mind and spirit. It’s like doing five pushups a day and calling your body fit. It’s like reciting your phone number and considering your memory healthy.

There are ways to exercise the mind and spirit if you search for them, but it is not a widely recognized need to do so. Even among the non-spiritual and supposedly practical belief patterns, there is no common pursuit of mental fitness. How often have you been reminded the importance of strengthening your memory? How often have you been presented with analytical problems or puzzles for the sake of expanding your reasoning and non-linear thinking? When was the last time someone suggested that understanding communication and practicing things like rapport, listening skills, or word choice could propel your personal relationships to a whole new level? Why is this stuff relegated to the realm of self help and fringe society? Why isn’t the need to upkeep you body, mind, and spirit part of high school curricula?

My suspicion is that our need to tell everyone they are okay just as they are has surpassed our thirst for excellence or even moderate capacity as functional people.  That our society has become so media, consumerist driven that the idea of thinking for oneself, seeking excellence, or–dare I even say it–wishing physical, mental, and spiritual growth and excellence has become foreign, implies some sort of deficiency or problem. (And we know that none of us have deficiencies or problems!)

It baffles me that more people are not engrossed with these aspects of their lives and the vast, vast world that is opened by pursuit of personal development and excellence of being. But then, being from a martial arts upbringing, there are many things about the goals and practices of others that baffle me.

Air is optional.

I hear so much about how people “need” this and “need” that. So what is it that we really need as a person?

You might argue that, to survive, a person needs food, clothing, shelter, water, and air. But who needs to survive?

At first, I’m sure that question sounds absurd. Let’s try it this way: What is more important to you than your own survival? An ideal? A country? Your family? If your answer is nothing, you’ve ranked yourself beside the guppy in nature’s equivalency test, who gives birth to young and never thinks on them again–unless particularly hungry.

So what do you need? And where am I headed? Obviously not advocating that anybody stop breathing–some sort of oxygen strike. Although I have to admit, to my shame, that I have on occasion wished certain people would do just that.

What I want to challenge are our self imposed limitations. Those things we tell ourselves we can’t live without, like our house, job, or love interest. See, while these things may define our situation, they do not define our heart and inner composition.

Those are defined by our conviction and beliefs, the core of which are truth, honor, and faith.

I submit to you that these are the true things we cannot live without. Everything of this world can be taken from us, even air. So be it. Come what may.

Truth, honor, and faith are the three facets we must cling to. These are the things that comprise our inner identity–not our possessions and successes, thank God, though the world crams that lie in our faces day after day. 

Air is nice, and I’d be sad if it were gone. But I cannot be unsettled by a world that threatens my material composition.  I leave you with the immortal words of two great men who explored this truth so much more intimately and eloquently than I…

Letter to Admiral Son Ko-i:

My life is simple, my food is plain, and my quarters are uncluttered. In all things, I have sought clarity. I face the troubles and problems of life and death willingly. Virtue, integrity and courage are my priorities. I can be approached, but never pushed; befriended but never coerced; killed but never shamed.
Admiral Yi Sun-shin

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
      Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
      For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
      I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
       My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
      Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
      Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
      How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
      I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley