Dedicated to:  shel2772
The Martial Arts – A short Thesis
By Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet TM

The peace loving and unassuming Travelling Gourmet TM explains the raison d’etre for the…
MARTIAL Arts…which suffer from many misconceptions. The main one concerns morons who seek to prove that their particular art is better than another, and who go about beating people up to satisfy their childish inferiority complexes and violent urges. Many foolish people seek excitement and satisfaction in victory or conquest over others like the vertically challenged malignant malevolent midget Adolf Hitler, the Dictator of Germany who came to a fitting dismal and painful end in the ruins of Berlin.

The Buddha said, “If one man conquers a thousand men a thousand times in battle, and another conquers only himself, the latter is the greatest of the conquerors”. Those with a total lack of understanding of the true spirit and purpose of the martial arts have bourgeois and stereotypical views of martial arts training as simply ways and means to perfect deadly techniques of kicking, hitting, striking, breaking joints and terminating other people with bare hands or weapons. Yes, and showing off by breaking ice blocks and bricks and smashing roofing tiles over their head. Jumping incredibly high and doing weird somersaults before hitting your attacker! Ludicrous. A good friend who is a renowned Orthopaedic Surgeon told me once, “In their old age they will get traumatic Osteo-Arthritis and suffer…a lot of pain and disability.” Not very smart…to go about hardening your hands and feet and knuckles. There was a need in ancient times because in mortal combat and I MUST add that combat is NOT AN Art…the warrior using rudimentary weapons and bare hands had to smash through the wooden armor of the Samurai to break their collar bone or die. Once the clavicle is broken the sword hand wielding the long and razor sharp Katana is useless….this meant certain death for the samurai in this awkward situation. Sports like Judo and MMA have rules. War has no rules. Combat on the street in dark alleys have no rules. Fighting for your life is not an art form.

Learning how to defend yourself vis a vis the Martial Arts which are more of a Sport than a life and death system of combat in the 21st Century; also means learning how to maim, cripple, disable and when necessary, kill people who attack you for whatever reason. Call a spade a spade. It is not politically correct to say what I have said but it is the plain truth.

Thus, there is a need for every student of the martial arts to understand the Ethics of the martial arts. Especially worthy of serious study and contemplation are the profound and wise principles of the Founder of Aikido, the late Morihei Ueshiba (O’Sensei).
Aikido was developed out of the traditional martial arts of “instant destruction” to become a martial art of “divine procreation”. At the core of O’Sensei’s philosophy were the abiding love for the traditional martial arts and a deep wish to revive the spiritual quality of Budo. O’Sensei concluded that the true spirit of Budo is not to be found in a competitive and combative atmosphere where brute strength dominates and victory over others is the paramount objective. For instance, there are no kicks in Aikido unlike Karate and Tae Kwon Do.
The late Grand Master concluded instead that it is the quest for perfection as a human being, both in mind and body. This can be achieved through cumulative training and practice with kinder kindred spirits in order that a true manifestation of Budo can have a rational raison d’etre in the modern world. When that spiritual quality exists, it lays beyond any particular culture or age. It was with this PURE goal in mind that O’Sensei transformed the traditional martial techniques of instant destruction into the modern techniques of Aikido. Aikido is often likened to a amazingly beautiful and very graceful Ballet of lovely moves that flow into one another seamlessly…that are so amazingly beautiful to behold.
The ethical imperatives and objectives of Aikido can be explained by the following scenarios from the outstanding book entitled “Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere”, written by A. Westbrook and O’Ratti. I have adapted and modified these scenarios for the 21st Century.

Scenario A: A person, a warrior of martial profession, for example a professional soldier, out of no rhyme or reason attacks another person without any martial ability, strangles the person with bare hands. This is the lowest form of martial ethics, abusing one’s learning in martial arts and using it to oppress others. Evil. Despicable.

Scenario B: A person, without provocation and on one’s own initiative, attacks and kills another person. Although the person being killed appears to be of the same martial ability, there is no reason to initiate an attack and defeat another person. Ethically, this is also at the lowest of the ethical levels – unprovoked aggression in the form of a direct attack to another individual. Normally a surprise attack from the back. Hence the combat soldier’s maxim, “Always watch your 6”

Scenario C: A person has provoked another person to attack. The attacker is killed as a result of the response to the provocation. While the provoker is not guilty of launching the initial attack, he/she is responsible for inciting another person to attack (agent provocateur). Ethically, there is not much difference between scenarios A, B and C. Agent provocateurs are normally despicable creatures unworthy of respect. Many instances of the use of agent provocateurs are seen in the world of spooks.

Scenario D: A person neither attacks nor provokes another person to attack. But, when under attack, the person defends oneself in a practical and realistic manner, taking care only of oneself but disregarding whether the other person is killed or suffers serious injury from one’s defensive actions. Ethically, this is the generally accepted scenario in today’s typical thinking, as the defender successfully protects himself or herself from possible harm and then inflicts destruction to the attacker in the process. However, the result is identical to the other scenarios – a person is killed or seriously injured. Nevertheless, in true and real life this is, unfortunately the ONLY scenario that works and this is the scenario of 1st choice if one is unable to run away from the threat or enemy. IN civil society in peacetime, and not in a combat war zone, this leads to very serious consequences and there are many miscarraiges of justice when the Judge and the Courst rules that excessive force was used…that is, there was not need to kill the attacker or break his back. Whoever is in such a situation needs a really, really good lawyer…and a sympathetic judge who is not a libtard democrat. Remember Karma. What goes around comes around.

Scenario E: This is the embodiment of the ethics of Aikido self-defence. Neither attacking nor provoking an attack, a person defends oneself in such a way, with such incredible skill and control that the attacker is not killed. In this ultimate ethically PURE scenario, the attacker is not even seriously injured at all, but is left to repent over one’s actions; and hopefully the attacker realizes the futility of hostile action in attacking another person, and that unprovoked aggression is not warranted in modern society. Get real. This will NEVER happen. There are lunatics and psychopaths everywhere, just look at killary and obozo for a start, and the Middle East, not to mention deranged crackpot merkel! They will not repent. They will not stop trying to kill you until they are totally inoperative or at least partially inoperative so that they can no longer pose a credible threat to you and your loved ones. Therefore and unfortunately for us peaceloving people who want to go about our daily lives in harmony with the Universe, this ideal is one that I very strongly believe (from my own personal experiences in combat) is a misguided, albeit admirable ideal that can NEVER be achieved. To be brutally frank, which is not my usual style, it is ludicrous and laughable. It does not work. Moreover, if a defender goes into action with such a slightly negative and defeatist mindset, I believe that defeat and death at the hands of the enemy is very likely. In war, you do not fight with one hand tied behind your back deliberately. This admirable concept is totally idealistic. Admirable but unachievable. It is self evident that in today’s society, and from the viewpoint of history and the numerous and countless, countless wars that have been fought through the ages, whoever espouses this theory is really living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’ and is probably totally delusional! The chances of success in such an approach to an armed and dangerous attacker hell bent on taking away your life and burning your house to the ground can NEVER work. It is as good as committing suicide on the part of the defender. Professionals know when it is life or death, it is kill or be killed. If you defend yourself so skillfully that your attacker is unharmed, he or she will attack you again and again and again until you incapacitate or terminate him or her, or both. That is the plain truth. Unpalatable to libtards but the truth is the truth.

The above scenarios represent the ethical application of martial art techniques. Scenario E is the ethical goal of all Aikido techniques of self-defence. The course of action requires a very, very high level of technical skills, the result of intensive practice promulgated by the Founder of Aikido. Very few can ever hope to achieve this level of skill. It also requires an ethical intention or an ethical education and mindset. The goal of everyday training must be towards the integration of mind and body, of physical training to achieve spiritual and ethical perfection off character. Aikido then becomes a harmonious interaction between two or more people, fulfilling the Founder’s intention that Aikido translates to the highest form of ethics in our society, and the expression of the best conduct in our daily behavior that benefits our society and the world.

Inoffensively and respectfully, my good friend, the late Colonel Rex Applegate, an American hero who served with distinction behind enemy lines in WW2 with the OSS used to say, “Jumping about in white pyjamas will not keep you alive in combat.”

Diplomacy…
The highest level of martial ethics, however, lies beyond techniques to defend and then inflict pain and suffering on the enemy. It lies in the ability to defeat aggression without fighting, to pacify and resolve conflicts without confrontation. It is diplomacy and tact and ways to defuse dangerous situations without conflict. This is almost always impossible due to human nature. It can succeed sometimes and sometimes it can delay the conflict that is coming but…oftentimes it fails. Just look at the United Nations or what I call the Useless Nitwits…think about it…and North Korea with its lunatic deranged  megalomanic midget dictator…
Krav Maga
With no disrespect or offence to the Martial Arts of which there are many…in the real world and from personal experience, I find that Krav Maga is the best option for a real world kill or be killed scenario. Developed for use by the Israel Defence Forces and Israeli Special Forces like Sayaret Matkal, this is an amalgamation of all the very best from the Martial Arts. All techniques that do not work are discarded. Only techniques that work are used. No frills. No fancy moves. No show-off high kicks. Just solid & simple (SAS) techniques to keep you alive. Krav Maga is not a Martial Art. Krav Maga is not a sport. Krav Maga is to help you survive when things get really, really bad. That you may walk in peace…
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When you have to fight, fight SAS (smart and safe). It is always better to be a live coward than a forgotten dead hero. He or she who runs away lives to fight another day.

KsK

Kommando spezial Kräfte
Keiner sieht sie kommen.

Keiner weiß , daß sie da sind.

Und wenn ihre Mission beendet ist,

gibt es keinen Beweis dafür,

daß sie jemals da waren.

Die Gedanken sind frei.

KsK
No one sees you coming
No one knows that you are there
And when your mission is accomplished
There is nothing to show that you were ever there
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Bamboo

An original poem by Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet TM

The might oak stands firm in a hurricane and unyielding…
is broken by the powerful winds…
To fall to the ground.

Be like the humble bamboo,
it bends in a fierce typhoon but
it never, NEVER breaks…
It survives and thrives in adversity

Growing stronger and stronger…

Bamboo is one of the four favorite plants of China together with the Chinese plum, orchid and chrysanthemum. They are the so-called “Four Men of Honor” according to the Chinese. The ‘characters’ of the four plants are highly admired by the Chinese.
Bamboo is one of the strongest building materials. Bamboo’s tensile strength is 28,000 pounds per square inch versus 23,000 pounds per square inch for steel.

The beautiful Bamboo is a mystical plant that symbolises strength WITH flexibility, plus tenacity and endurance. Throughout Asia, bamboo has for centuries been integral to religions ceremonies, art, music and daily life. Bamboo shoots are also very yummie to eat.