Quote: “Liberty, Common misconceptions is that the accumulation of knowledge is also a "daily increase." Were that truly the case, why would anyone even begin to train? Adding that very first jab or front kick would be "increase" by definition.”
Mike, reading your post, I’ve just felt like those people in “The Wizard of Ozz,” that moment when they’re reminded the Wizard is human.
Fact is one does not “add” a jab, front kick, or what have you. One learns how to properly execute them. I’ve seen people scared by a rat coming at them who simply and instinctively kicked at it with no training what so ever. They’re often tense, freaked out. Sort of like when one swats at a fly and misses from being tense.
Now, if they were to train in kicking, or in swatting - where one learns to rid oneself of that tension, would they be accumulating or decreasing? Wouldn’t it be both – accumulation of knowledge about how to decrease tension? I believe you’ve answered that…
Quote: “The purpose of blending arts is indeed to decrease. By blending an art, you eliminate the need for entire arts to achieve the same end. A good kick from one art combines with a good punch from another, and the fighter no longer has to waste time learning entire systems and traditions in order to find an effective combination of tools.
Quote: “Consider also that by studying the ins and outs of many arts, one also learns how to decrease the number of exercises and drills needed to build skill. If one art has a drill for working punches and a different drill for working endurance, and another art has a drill that works punches and endurance, then by learning the drill that does both, you've decreased the amount of stuff you have to do.”
At the same time, where do you get this notion “the art formerly known as JKD” is about “combining a good kick from one art” with “a good punch from another?”
Here I thought it was about decoding the laws and principles of efficient combat, in fact, about committing to their observance in motion such that technique ceases to be the issue.
I can see why you didn’t touch on my point about transcending technique.
Quote: We're kinda back to the same "borrowed wisdom" trap. If you're going to stand on the wisdom of others, you have to be willing to accept its flaws as well. The flaw with the snazzy sounding "daily decrease" is that it often becomes a convenient excuse to stop learning. When you decide that studying other arts and learning what they have to offer (and what they overplay), you're making excuses to rest on your laurels and cease growing. When you accuse others of "daily increases" as if it's a negative thing, you're arguing for your own limitations as "the Way." What's more, you're arguing that if you had even more limitations, you'd be more effective. The fact is (and make no mistake, it is FACT), you cannot decrease anything without the material to take away from. To hack apart another commonly stolen...'scuze me, borrowed...phrase, it's much like a sculptor who reveals truth by stripping away the stone until the sculpture is revealed. The difference is, as martial artists, we first need to build the stone. How else do you do that unless by studying?”
Why is it you can “borrow wisdom” when it fits what you are trying to express, yet you consistently continue to rule that, I, who have already informed you several times that I am doing so (“borrowing wisdom”) for the very same reason, have no right to?
I appreciated it, at first. But you continue to harp on this while completely ignoring I take into consideration other possible scenarios where that “borrowed wisdom,” might have a different application.
The flaw in your own, “The flaw with the snazzy sounding "daily decrease" is not, as you have declared, in it’s “becoming a convenient excuse to stop learning,” but in those who turn it into that, if that is even the case with each and every individual.
That has certainly not been the case with me. You have still not addressed the more important issue of transcendence beyond the need for continued accumulation.
Can’t say I blame you. After all, it’s not of Western origin.
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