Quantity Vs. Quality

I draw a lot of instantaneous inspiration from quotes in The Karate Kid.  I know in a lot of ways it's cheesy 80s fluff, but I also think that the script served as a vehicle for a lot of Robert Mark Kamen's philosophy on the martial arts.  One such scene has Daniel sitting with Mr. Miyagi eating his birthday cake, and Daniel remarks that he's worried he doesn't know enough karate for the tournament.  Mr. Miyagi agrees with him, but follows with "trust the quality of what you know, not the quantity."

That struck me as an excellent reminder for all of us.  The martial artists that have affected me the most in my time training have waxed philosophical again and again on the idea of developing excellent basics.  They have said, "Good basic technique makes good karate."  And I agree wholeheartedly.  It also occurred to me that I've seen white belts practicing good karate, and I've seen black belts practice karate that is not so good.  I've also seen that practicing good karate is a daily decision--on any given day, we can let the world bog us down.  If we do, chances are we will be training without balance, and our karate probably won't be so good.

Five years ago, I finished my master's degree in music.  It was a weird time in my life because the conferring of that degree, Master of Music, felt like an odd oxymoron.  At that point in my life, I had only realized how much I truly didn't know about music.  And it continues today--the more I learn, the more I learn what I still have left to learn, which is a lot.

As I'm sure is patently obvious by now, I'm an over-the-top, never-coming-back martial arts geek.  I just can't get enough of the stories, techniques, clinics, forms, and the list goes on and on.  Also, one of the things that I have enjoyed about advancing in rank is the new stuff I get to learn.  It's never-ending that way.  I've found the more I focus on learning in martial arts, the more the arts will teach me.

But, then we come back to the quality of what I'm learning.

I have realized that I will never achieve the perfect front kick.  Never--perfection is impossible (see my post on "Yoshu" to read more about this).  But, instead of seeing that pursuit as fruitless, I've learned that even from a white belt kick, I am learning more about how my body works, how to build my strength, and how the basic elements of that kick can be applied to more complex techniques.  The same holds true for basic punches, blocks, beginning forms, stances, and all of the stuff we learn right away.

It seems to me that mastery comes from accepting that there is always something to learn.

We all have different interests and desires when it comes to our training in the martial arts.  We also have different ideas on how our standards should be built and evaluated.  But, I think we can all agree on the necessity on strong fundamentals.  If we follow the pursuit of fundamental technique, I believe those "mystic secrets" that still live in the world's view of the arts will become simple expressions of practical basics.

I love learning about the martial arts.  There is absolutely nothing I've learned that has diminished my enjoyment of training.  I've also found that I can spend my whole life learning about the arts, and I may one day get my hands on 1% of what there is to know.  I think that would be time well spent.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a hankering to give my center punch a tune-up.

OSU!

(Note:  I'm applying the quality vs. quantity expression to my posts as of late.  I know they're few and too far between, but I have some good ideas brewing right now.  Be on the lookout for much more training thoughts and musings on philosophy once the academic year ends!)