AsAManThinketh

On the original topic...

I walked the spiritual path for a while, or rather, I was trying to look for some sort of spiritual guidance for a while. And I come away with this... There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so (William Shakespear). That's to say that our judgements are based on our biases and our own experiences. For example, my mom would hate to watch UFC videos and probably call them evil, but I on the other hand see (for the most part) men who have put a great deal of work into controlling and disciplining theirselves - such is the way of righteousness.

I also notice a direct relationship between one's physical state and their spiritual state. Those who are physically disciplined and focused are usually more at peace with their world, while those who have no self-control seem to always be at odds with their world (suffering at the cruel hands of fate, if you will).

That's not to say that there can't be physically weak people who are spiritually strong and vice versa, I'm just saying that the amount of discipline a person has over their physical life has a direct result in the condition of their spiritual life, and hence the (disciplined) martial artists tending to be more philosophical. Where on the other hand you have bullies or just lazy people who live in torment their whole lives.

Of course this is all just my thoughts and I don't have a college degree to back it up so what do I know...

Bottom line (in my humble opinion) is that inner peace comes from outer discpline. First control your body, learn from that to control your thoughts and emotions, then will come the spiritual freedom of self control (heaven if you will).

As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.

__________________
The usefulness of the cup is in its emptiness - Bruce Lee
He who would become what he wants to be, must cease to be what he is. - Meister Eckhart
The better we know ourselves, the less we critisize others. - unknown
People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of thier character - Ralf Waldo Emmerson
DAAaamn... you got knocked da #$%& out, MAN!!! - Smokey

danfaggella

A lot of good stuff there:

-Everthing is an obstracting, and nothing truely has intrinsic "good" or "bad", "right" or "wrong" values.

-Physical control often mirrors mental control. Hence, someone who is toned and conditioned on the outside is more likly to be balanced within thier minds than some random fat guy. People who have a foot of garbage in thier car care less about themselves in general than people who clean themselves and thier living space. When you are hiring someone, you look for a well dressed person with good posture/eye contact ect.... There are plenty of outside signs that can tell a lot about them as indeviduals.

-External locus of control: "The cruel world has made my life suck, I have no power to change things myself."

Its hard to say that philosophical developement has a direct corelation to physical developement....other kinds of people besides martial artists are in great shape, such as swimmers or acrobats... and its easy to say that an olympic swimmer is in better shape than your average mcdojo moron.

Though there may be some link between the unique self-control and physical developement one learns from martial art, and philosophical understanding.