Paradox, yes or no?
Published: Wed, 12/12/12
If you are going to train in Stav do you have to engage with a
paradox? Well, yes and no. Sorry, reworking of an old joke. But
it is still worth thinking about because the paradox of learning
anything is finding the balance between learning and practicing a
system of knowledge and exercises and learning through spontaneous
inspiration and experimentation. Of course the answer is that you
need both because there are very real dangers in clinging to either
extreme.
Apparently doctors are insisting on 'standard' forms of
treatment whether or not it actually seems to be doing the patient
any good. This is simply because you as a medical practitioner, or
your hospital as your employers, are much less likely to get sued
for malpractice if you can demonstrate that your stuck to current
medical protocols rather than trying anything experimental. Lord
Satchi tragically lost his wife to cancer recently and he is trying
to get the law amended to allow doctors to be more responsive to
patients actual needs and be able to try a variety of treatments
with less fear of malpractice suits. No one argues that Doctors
shouldn't be well trained and as knowledgeable as possible but
all that is rather pointless if they are unable to consider a
patient's actual condition and respond accordingly.
One of the applications of Martial Arts should be dealing with real
life conflict situations. But as many people who thought that a
black belt in Karate would prepare them for working as a bouncer or
similar job discovered it isn't that simple. (read Geoff
Thompson's Mind My Back as a classic example). You may get
very good at responding to predictable techniques and practiced
routines but not be at all well prepared for the unexpected. And
most violent encounters are likely to be situations where your
weaknesses are exploited and your attacker takes advantage of any
mistake you make. Disappointing I know but that is the kind of
people sociopaths tend to be.
On the other hand if you don't have a solid grounding in the
basics of a particular skill then you will make a lot of
unnecessary mistakes and be constantly reinventing the wheel. So I
am a believer in getting a classical training in anything you are
serious about undertaking but then take every opportunity to
experiment and make mistakes so that you know you can cope with
real situations. I strive to maintain this balance when teaching
Stav and test myself by taking opportunities to train in situations
where I am likely to learn something useful. So second class of
Guided Chaos this evening. More on that later in the meantime go
to http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/forthcoming.html and put the dates
in your diary.