From The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master.
Humility is the highest form of strength;
Arrogance the highest form of weakness.
As a silo sits vacant of fodder,
A Black Belt Without Humility
Is Like A Well Without Water.
We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.
To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.
Without a doubt, the current global pandemic and its manifestations—physical, mental, financial, familial, educational, social and tyrannical have, sadly, spawned depression in a large swath of the world’s population. Understandable. The question arises, “How can people manage this pandemic without depression?” Martial Arts training, especially that of the Karate Institute of America™ (KIA) and the Kiado-Ryu™ system of martial arts, offers the following thoughts.
The first chapter of The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master is entitled, “Martial Arts Is Life.” In other words, there is nothing in life that cannot be addressed that is not an aspect of martial arts, even pandemics.
It was another great day for Tristan “Raptor” Ligtvoet, the 64th Black Belt of the Karate Institute of America, as he ascended to the rank of 4th Dan, an accomplishment few have achieved in the forty-two year history of the Kiado-Ryu.
Raptor joins Dan “Basai” Asay (KIA Black Belt #8) and Chris “Growler” Grau (KIA Black Belt #36) as the only other two KIA 4th Dan Black Belts—a remarkable feat considering that over thirty-three hundred individuals have studied at the KIA since its inception in 1979. Raptor, at age 23, is the youngest person ever in Kiado-Ryu history to rise to such an esteemed rank. Totally awesome!
Most of us, perhaps all of us, have been in a situation involving a potential combatant. Perhaps it is an angry driver, pissed off neighbor, unruly guest at a function—whatever, whenever, wherever, whomever. The thing is, we want to avoid a physical confrontation if at all possible. We don’t want to hurt anybody, get hurt ourselves, or be part of a self-defense conflict in which things can get out of hand, destructive, or worse.
There is only one way to deal with bullies. You back them down or put them down or you will go down. This is a lamentable truth but truth it is, nonetheless. Those who stand up for themselves will be free. Those who don’t will become slaves. It is the story of life.
Bullies are heartless souls with an unquenchable thirst for dominance and power. They don’t care about anyone’s well-being, rights, goodness or life except their own. They are cruel, insensitive, unsympathetic creatures consumed and ruled by their own insatiable lusts and desires. If their negative behaviors are not nullified, they see a green light and step on the gas and remain on the gas until a red light stops them.
From The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master.
In cleansing the soul
and losing its dross,
it’s axiomatic —
You Must Win The Cross.
Without recognizing the ordinances of Heaven, it is impossible to be a superior man.
Another way of expressing the phrase, To become everything we must first become nothing (TBBBL), is this corroborating maxim—You Must Win the Cross.
The symbol of the cross is ancient, far antedating its use by Christianity. It also has application to martial arts.