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Originally Posted by li_siao_lung most of the time you would not consider yourself being with the "weaker group". Yet, eventually as you reach that state of "enlightenment" in MA, humility enters and you realize that you are just like everybody else. You are not sure 100% of what you know,,,you have found the core of your ignorance. This is what my Shihan used to tell us. |
I find quite the opposite true, but maybe that is the difference in our cultures. Many Americans (I might extend this to all Westerners) identify greatly with the victim. People place more stress on the hardships they live through than the accomplishments they have acheived, and everyone searches for their own flaws. Beautiful women think of themselves as ugly, athletic men think that they're too weak or too slow, scholars believe they know nothing at all. The martial arts has the tendency to bolster one's confidence and restore a sense of accomplishment. I don't think many black belts over here would be generally characterized with the term 'humility' but again, that may be our culture. Lastly, the philosophical self examination you hint at when you say that advanced students are no longer sure of what they know is simply not present in many modernized, westernized systems. In fact, I would be surprised to hear sentiments like that from anyone who didn't train in a very traditional art.