Editor’s note: The following is the author’s preface from The Karate Consciousness: From Worldly Warrior to Mystic Master, available from Amazon. I began my martial arts journey in 1967 with the Tracy Brothers Kenpo Karate organization in San Jose, California, eventually reaching a 5th Dan Black Belt rating in their system. I also achieved a 1st Dan Black Belt rating in Ed Parker’s Kenpo Karate system, having studied with their organization for a time.

Captain Lou Gacs, United States Marine Corps, Retired, has been a student and dear friend of Mr. King and the Karate Institute of America for nearly forty years. As is well known, the motto for the U.S. Marine Corps is semper fi (short for semper fidelis) meaning “always faithful,” and if there is one quality describing Lou Gacs more than any other, it is “always faithful.” No doubt about it.

(Available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle) Balance Is Primary The Black Belt Book of Life Secrets of a Martial Arts Master Principle #4 Pages 21-24 Of all life's skills with which to carry, remember this . . . Balance is Primary! Anyone can teeter-totter but not everyone can balance. —Anonymous Man always travels along precipices. His truest obligation is to keep his balance. —Pope John Paul II The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us.

Cover artist: Adam “Frog” Mahan The Karate Consciousness – From Worldly Warrior to Mystic Master is dedicated to the philosophy that karate is both an excellent system for the integration of body, mind and spirit as well as an excellent vehicle for the evolution of one’s consciousness of life from a mundane perspective to a more elevated and edified reality. Just as many martial arts systems are comprised of an ascending ladder of colored belts to designate accomplishment, so life is also comprised of an ascending ladder of levels of consciousness from worldly to divine.

Judy “Striker” Gompf is back on track and on the move toward her Purple Belt and a new career. Having taken some time off, she is diligently practicing her Kiado-Ryu forms, techniques, and fighting skills, as well as cross training. She recently set a new personal best of 800 lunges! That’s right, 800! Quite a feat, especially after only being able to do 20 lunges at a time when she first started.

Nicole “Goldilocks” Hackler—KIA Faithful and Marine Corps wife to retired husband, Warren—has added the title of “Authoress” to her many accomplishments. Congratulations, Goldilocks! Nicole’s poem, A Knock on the Door, is included in the 2017 edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Military Families, 101 Stories about the Force Behind the Forces. Lovely as always, and with her contagious effervescent personality, as always, Goldilocks poses with the book that has put her on the map of published authors.