Paradoxal

6 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

Do martial artists train athleticism?

Any martial artist worth a damn does. Technically speaking, technique can allow you to outfight someone physically superior, but you're gonna want any edge you can get in a fight and technique alone will only take ya so far.

6 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

What are good strength and cardio conditioning methods for martial arts?

Depends on the primary strategy you use, your bodytype, your age, your gender, and a number of other factors. 

1 hour ago, Master Logray said:

In real life situation, there could be no lights, loud noise, glass on the floor, a few against one, bystander who may or may not be enemy, everything that can be thrown at you .... in addition to knives

The way I was taught is to assume whoever you're fighting is more skilled than you, armed to the teeth, and willing to die to take you down.

Naturally, that usually isn't the case, but if you assume they have knives and/or guns then that changes how you train and how you fight.

1 hour ago, Master Logray said:

As far as money is concerned, crimes have changed away from violence.

...Systematic violence is still violence.  Scamming an old lady out of her savings could literally put her on the streets, something that can easily be fatal in America.

How is that any different from physically sticking her up with a gun?

10 hours ago, Nungali said:

Even worse ...   ( but hit got better    )    Avi ... a training partner  ; after a while I was frustrated with his 'delicacy'  . 

I'm guilty of this actually...

A lot of the guys I practice with here in Japan don't do body or fist conditioning (and I give them shit for it), but that means that me giving as little power as possible still causes them a decent amount of pain; I had a guy who runs his own dojo tell me he thought I was going to break his fingers when I literally just grabbed them, no locks or anything. 

So I've gotten in the habit of just not putting any power in my shots lately to prevent injury, but one guy I spar with does the opposite. Out of habit, I only lightly tag him, but he goes 70% with me (and I should be doing that to him as well), which never ends well for me. At least it shows me where I can improve, though! 

On 7/4/2025 at 8:40 PM, Sanity Check said:

Prior to COVID we had the highest number of newly made millionaires / billionaires in history.

Wouldn't this instead be indicative of a decaying society? Like, people are literally dying to enable CEOs and their ilk to line their pockets.

It's bad enough that I consider anyone above a certain cut of wealth to be a mass murderer (due to their predatory tactics which result in millions of people dying due to a lack of food, shelter, or healthcare).

18 hours ago, Nungali said:

IMO  a 'good martial artist '   is one who can deliver a  good  counter and technique  and with skill and focus .... especially amidst the chaos of a bout or 'melee'  can 'pull' it just in time  so no serious injury or hurt has resulted , and the other or any judge or onlooker  is able to be aware of that

Agreed, but on the flip side, I'd say that it's very important for a martial artist to know when they've had this mercy given.

One of the places I practice usually ends the night with a "playful" randoori, where we are explicitly told not to injure and to "gracefully lose". Basically, know when it's time to back off and don't injure or get injured. 

A running issue there is that people don't realize that something could have knocked out or killed them *because* of holding back... lots of shots to the neck, throat, back of the head, ears, etc. that people just disregard because they've never felt what it actually does when force it put into it.

12 minutes ago, Lairg said:

Since that intent is largely unknown conceptually, perhaps it is a matter of humans having right instincts

What, exactly, would define "right" instincts, then? 

As this came up in a thread recently, I thought perhaps it best to make a dedicated thread asking for opinions and arguments on morality.

I'm of the opinion that there cannot be a 'universal' good or evil; rather, individuals have their own views based around their particular values. 

For example, one of the things I value most is saving lives (not only human) and preventing suffering. Thus, to me, killing will always be 'evil', but if done in the name of saving lives, it becomes 'good'. If you kill a warlord, that's one life traded for thousands (if not millions) saved. 

If you cause suffering for the sake of preventing harmful ideologies or practices that would cause many times more suffering, what is it but a moral obligation? 

I suppose it all comes back to the infamous trolley problem; I am of the opinion that not pulling the lever to save the many at the expense of the few is the worse option. 

I'm distinctly aware that my views on this are not universal however, so I'd love to open a thread where we (politely) discuss our views on morality; I'm looking for proper arguments here, so let's make sure we check up on fallacies!

What would you say "good" entails? What is "evil"? How do they blend? 

18 hours ago, stirling said:

Any teacher that acts in a questionable manner would call it out immediately and correct themselves, or submit to correction at whatever level necessary. Again - it doesn't mean that they aren't enlightened necessarily. It takes many years after "awakening" to drop the most pernicious aspects of "self". Some things never go away. Some will never be teachers, and it isn't important that they ever are.

I would disagree with you here; if texts are to be believed (which is in itself debatable), an 'enlightened master' should be one above the limitations of the flesh, no? 

Now, it is truly the road to mastery to have the strength to call yourself out, to submit yourself to correction, and to be willing to change, but I would argue that they must still be at the journeyman phase if they fall prey to such things. It doesn't mean they can't teach people, but 'mastery' should be taken quite seriously in my opinion...

Again, perhaps I am still just too young, dumb, and inexperienced! 😉

11 hours ago, Nungali said:

I'm sorry ... my eyes could be faulty ..... did you just say you are willing to torture certain people  ?  

I said I wouldn't be morally troubled by it, but yes, I do think that there are points in which the morally 'right' thing to do is to cause suffering. After all, if someone has killed or tortured thousands, how can *only* killing them resolve that karma? Should the war hawks in their 70s and 80s die a peaceful death? 

This probably isn't the right thread for a thorough conversation on moral qualms and philosophy though, so... 😅

12 hours ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

a related question for me is does the teacher walk the talk

100%!

For the record, I'd argue any spiritual teacher who got deeply tangled in politics is by definition not a spiritual master... 

Of course, that includes Jesus, Mohammad, the many popes, Confucius, Ghandi, and every other name dropped in this thread. 

Advocating is good, but creating an entire political system, leading revolution, or steering the world from a seat of political power, even for the sake of the unfortunate, is inherently an egotistical act. It generates many karmic links, does harm, and will inevitably be corrupted by time. This is wonderful for the physical world, but again, not the act of a spiritual master.

...then again, this is coming from someone who has no moral qualms in killing/torturing the rich (or any other person who chooses to kill thousands for their pleasure), so perhaps I myself am misled!

From my experience, clearing anger is best done with a combination of exercises.

First, the feeling of anger itself needs to be sunk into the ground (it should go there naturally if you direct it, from my experience). Call it what you will, but this alone has helped me with some pretty intense rage. Anxiety is the opposite; it needs to be directed up and out. 

Second, practice simple gratitude meditation: recall the feeling of gratitude and try to bask in the glow of it. This will gradually tonify the leftover anger. 

If you've got longterm anger festering, I've found it best to intentionally transfer it into something else (salt, for example) and then dispose of whatever it was transferred into. 

Hi there! Fellow Wing Chun guy here (William Cheung's lineage). 

Haven't worked with Damo Mitchell in person, nor interacted with him via email, but I have done his MCO video course and developed a very obvious flow of energy through it in a matter of less than a month. 

I also use his books as reference for my growth, though they are also *not* for the system I practice, so I need to be very careful with them. Nonetheless, I come back to them from time to time to refresh, and always get something immediately useful. 

11 hours ago, Ascetic said:

Founder sounds too grandiose. But maybe I should see myself that way.

Be very careful going down that path mate.

Always question every experience you have, especially when dealing in the esoteric. 

10 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

This should be basic science. But somehow. Its not.

 

This is why I say people have no use for facts or science

Nice strawman.

11 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

But according to you only america is guilty.

 

France and britain are "innocent".

Where have I said that? LOL

7 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

Every nation on earth practiced slavery during some eras of history?

 

How can you single out a nation for practicing slavery when all of them did.

And yet, American slavery was worse than most others, due to it treating slaves as livestock. 

I'm glad that you recognize my other points as true, though! 🤣🤣

On 5/22/2025 at 9:19 AM, Sanity Check said:

Most of its history being that of a moral nation, it has achieved longevity and long life.

...wait, enslavement, rape, and genocide are moral to you? 

Literally even now, the prison system is using folks for forced labor, y'know.

And let's not forget eugenics originated in America, that we continue to suppress the native Americans whose land we stole, and that our "peacekeeping" is effectively imperialism.

I suppose we each have our "free will" as to what is morally right and wrong...

I look at prayer as nothing more than an incantation in most peoples' hands. This is because most folk do not have the qualities required to establish a dialog, and thus are effectively screaming into the void.

That said, I acknowledge that it is possible to hold dialogs with multiple gods (yes, I am saying that y'all's Yvwh ain't "the only true god"), and do so regularly myself. I've never tried to use it to get things I wanted, but I do ask for advice or about their individual intentions. 

3 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

There are people who always seem to make the most low IQ choices they can get their hands on.

3 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

Wheras low IQ choices are better classified as self destructive if not indirectly suicidal tendencies.

A wonderful example of someone choosing not to exercise their free will! Thank you for your noble sacrifice! 

8 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

A person lacking free will could not be punished with hell.

...but you're here right now! 😆

Anyway, my two cents is that we can CHOOSE to have free will, but many of us choose not to. It is easier to just let ourselves be swept away by the times, after all! 

I'd argue that well over half of Americans do not have free will for the reason that they allow others to think for them and do not pursue knowledge. For evidence of this claim, look to how Civil War politics have led to the current administration hundreds of years later.

Nonetheless, even if we exercise our "free will", there are paths of least resistance and paths barred by thorns; I would posit this as the doing of karma. 

If one assumes Abrahamic religion is "good" or "positive", then what it condemns is naturally "negative".

From all I've seen of Abrahamic religion, it is an exceptionally negative influence on the world, thus it becomes tempting to view its enemies as positive.

Nonetheless, in reality, it contains both negative and positive aspects. If you truly profess to "study" demonology, then you should do so after letting your biases go. 

14 hours ago, Nungali said:

It already happened ; if we look at  ( certain definitions of ) intelligence ... intelligence itself developed so rapidly (or I should say, increased at an exponential rate so rapidly )  that it went beyond the capacity of the function of the human mind and

100%!

While I may grumble about how stupid so many people seem, the fact of the matter is that the average person now has access to way more information (and thus education) than even the most powerful people did a hundred years ago. The unfortunate side is that the time to use and absorb that information is not given to them yet, but I imagine AI might resolve that issue soon enough, much to certain peoples' chagrin...🙃

5 hours ago, Nungali said:

So the control and secrecy  needs to be in place to preserve the 'potency' of the system , otherwise if  people that have not achieved a certain level of practice and understanding will change or modify the teaching to suit their current level or complete lack of understanding  - then the value of the system, the secret teachings and potency of the system is lessened or lost .   It becomes an empty ceremony of  'curly cues  ' *  that , rightly' seems a load of ceremonial rubbish . 

Very much reminds me of what has happened with martial arts.

I see people certified to teach when they can't even use what they're trying to teach all the time!

I know I can control which bits of the lungs I use, as well as the function of my stomach, gut, liver, and kidneys. I have not tried much related to the heart, but I can control blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature. I've also been able to directly influence things like motion sickness and allergies. 

My mother also can do this, so I'm pretty sure it might be unrelated to qigong in our case, but rather a hereditary trait (though, it might actually be an energetic hereditary trait causing it, as my mother's side of the family has insane life force and often manifests abilities such as seeing the future).

On 1/19/2025 at 9:18 AM, Nungali said:

When exposed to strong magnetic fields, the camera lens can be affected in several ways. The most common issue is distortion of the lens elements, which can result in blurry or distorted images.

So THAT'S why all the photos I take are blurry! I'm just too magnetic of a person!😎

Definitely not a skill issue! Nope!

Divinity is just moderator perms for the world 🤣

8 hours ago, Ascetic said:

Thanks for the reply, I feel that insufficient power is the case I’m struggling with. It’s really odd being at the whims of a ghost

I would like to point out that I'm of the opinion that you're opening yourself up to the influence (which may actually be rooted in the physical brain rather than the spiritual side of things) via your practices and mindstate.

If you need a simple ritual that *might* help regardless, I would recommend setting a barrier up around you (which I will not give instructions on because this is not what I was asked), get a large amount of salt, and touch the salt with the palms of your hands. While touching it, focus your intent on driving the possessed energy from your body into the salt through your hands. In my experience, the energy tends to be pitch black in the mind's eye and will often turn the salt black (again, in the mind's eye).

You then need to safely dispose of the salt. I did this by burying it in a spot where nothing that would be eaten by humans was growing and continually blessing the spot, but methods vary here. Be aware that if you do this right, the salt will be as good as poisonous to pretty much all life, so exercise care. Also, you may need to do this process multiple times to fully get rid of whatever influence you're having. 

Again, despite this, I would still recommend getting some therapy and stopping with any ritualistic practice; to me, it feels less like spiritual influence and more like a physical ailment.