I have watched
Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith a number of times. I remember this scene
where Anakin Skywalker was in the meditation room with Yoda. Yoda asked him,
“Premonitions? What premonitions do you have?” Anakin responded, “They are
about pain and suffering.” Yoda asked, “Someone close to you?” Anakin replied,
“Yes.” Then Yoda said, “Be careful when
sensing the future Anakin, the shadow of greed is the path of the darkside.”
The Star Wars prequels have a message that simply says about fearing about
losing everything. That fear, greed and attachments can lead to the darkside of
the force. That leads to the development of dysfunctional families, and
disastrous relationships. After reading this and grabbing this, you will say to
yourself, “Hey, I got to improve myself in my everyday life.” The message I
want to share with you is called Understanding the Do in our lives. I dedicate
this message for all my classmates, past and present.
When we grow and
develop, we are always faced with challenges. In the Martial Arts world we
naturally strive to meet our goals and face challenges. Everytime you earn a
new rank, it will get harder. In the real world we are faced with challenges, while
going to school, getting a new job, going to a job, going into a relationship,
starting a family, starting a business, etc. We evolve and change with the
times. I’m not going to pick sides or be shovenistic. I’m here to speak my
point of view. Training in the Martial Arts is not just a hobby or a job for
those who run their own dojos/schools, it is a way of life and many of us in
the Western world are missing it, not understanding that the Martial Arts are a
part of your life. Many people that I have trained with are now gone simply
because their personal problems and their busy lives caught up with them. In my
personal opinion if you have personal problems, don’t quit on what you love to
do because of certain excuses, just keep doing what you are doing, it’s ok to
take time off, but don’t quit. The training is part of your life that’s the
essence of the warrior spirit. Many western Martial Artists are far removed
from grasping the concept of Do or the way. Every Martial Artist should balance
their life between their busy life and their Martial life. You must persevere
through your burdens in life if you love training in the Martial Arts.
One problem I can
think of is the burden of relationships both in courtship and marriage. Now I’m
not some sort of love Doctor or specialist or a marriage counselor, but I see
that the problem lies in the lack of understanding and the perception of
neglect. For me, I don’t have a big load to carry outside of the dojo. I am
single with no kids, enjoying my training and other duties until it lasts. I
must admit that I felt bad for others that had busy lives catching up to them.
One thing that most of us both kids and adults don’t get is that Martial Arts
training takes a lot of commitment and devotion, of course it depends if you
are training in a legitimate dojo and not an over commercialized dojo.
Furthermore, if you want to go to black belt level, you have to make sacrifices
if you wanted it that bad. There are certain requirements that have to be made
before grading for 4 or 5 hours. It is important to have support for your
family and friends, it is important to have support from your spouse or
significant others. If your girlfriend or boyfriend lacks that support and
complains about spending quality time, call it quits in that relationship. I’m
not playing, call it quits. Individuals in Martial Arts got the choice to
decide; it has to be one or the other that is being emotionally attached. If
your significant other is not understanding and unable to control attachments
emotionally, then you must let go. Like Yoda said in that movie Revenge of the
Sith to Anakin, “Train yourself to let go of everything you are about to lose.”
Let me transliterate that, Yoda means that you must be prepared and accept to
let go of the things and the people you love, if you are not prepared for
things to come, you will be emotionally scarred. The choice is left for all of
you, there are so many choices, so many paths in life, but in my humble opinion
I find it silly to give up the things that are part of your life completely for
a demanding boyfriend or girlfriend. We have been called by the spirit of our
warriors ancestors that dwell within the cosmos to do a service in developing
the Montu (Martial) Arts, and to do a service for the community. Don’t forsake
your passion. Everytime I have the chance to talk to the young kids and
teenagers in tournaments and seminars and connected with them. Telling them to
keep doing what you’re doing, and keep up the great work, you can do whatever
that makes you happy.
As a kid I have
two older siblings, a sister and a brother being 13 and 14 years older than me.
By the time they had graduated college and go out into the real world. They
were hardly home, and before all that changed, I have spent lots of fun times
with my siblings, and then I have almost felt I was the only child, and I began
to miss them everytime. I was still in elementary school at the time. But
overtime I was used to them not being home much, and began to understand that
they are working to make a living. We are not prepared to let go of our
attachments and accept the changes of our lives of us and the people we love.
Or maybe we don’t like change, we like to keep things the way they are plain
and simple. Iain Abernethy said, “If you keep doing the same easy things, then
you are not challenging yourself, you are not progressing.” I felt for Iain,
for all the years of work he has done for the Martial Arts community, he had
recently went through a divorce. The man
had obstacles, but it didn’t stop him completely for doing what he loves most.
That is the “Do”, the way of Martial Arts training. I love the man’s works. The
world can be cruel place, but if you work hard and put your mind to it, you can
get rewards, not only financially, but spiritually, for spirituality is your
highest savior. People who are reading this message may not do nothing to
change the way they think and keep doing the same old thing. You folks sitting
there would say, man, Sempai Jonathan is deep, woah buddy, brother Jonathan can
drop a load of knowledge on us, and then don’t follow through to change things,
and move along with times. Number 4 of the 8 Poems of the Fist from the Bubishi
says, “Act in accordance with time and change.” How can we be so ignorant? How
can we miss that train? We fail to understand that Martial Arts such as
Karate-do should help improve our lives not only in the training halls but outside
of it as well. If you graduate from high school or college, your life is going
to change and you cannot fight it.
On the first day
I walked into the dojo, I was an introverted young man, wondering if Martial
Arts was for me, despite enjoying watching Martial Arts action movies and
becoming a fan of Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly, Jason David Frank, Jean Claude Van
Damme, and Wesley Snipes. Progressing in your Martial Arts training is no
different than progressing in your life, going through school, getting a job,
living on your own and raising a family. The journey is difficult, faced with
setbacks, but little by little you make the effort to improve. I prefer to take
baby steps instead of huge steps instead of rushing in head first to expect to
let things happen overnight. As a wise man told me, “Small changes makes big
differences.” After succeeding in earning my black belt, being in that rank is
a hard life. I have to change from being a student only to a leadership role
and a student at the same time. I had to admit that teaching children was not
my biggest thing, but I believed that I have made improvements little by little
everyday. The Do in Karate helped improve my life, my self-confidence and self-esteem,
my social and communication skills had also improved. All this didn’t happen
overnight, it took me time and work to make my life more productive. In the
Martial Arts, patience is important, don’t worry about trying to be like this
guy or that crowd, worry about improving yourself and don’t expect to possess
an improved life overnight or to master some self-defense moves overnight.
Remember, do the training for you and not for the other guy or that crowd.
In the name of
the brotherhood of the Montu Arts, we must open our eyes and realize that
Martial Arts training should be a part of our lives and let nothing stop you.
That is the big problem we are facing in the Western world. We must keep in
mind to balance our Martial Arts training to our lives outside of it and to
have productive relationships and many other things in your life. We must
expect to be faced with obstacles and overcome them to improve ourselves. We
are warriors chosen by our warrior ancestors for we shall feel them working
through us. We must come to the light of right knowledge in understanding the
Do in our lives, know what is right inside you and let nobody dictate your
life.
Hotep,
Jonathan