Hidden Master: Albert Einstein
Martial Artists truly can learn lots from nearly all walks of life, especially from the amazing “walkers” (not The Walking Dead ones) who really stood out. And that’s straight real talk. Fo shizzle.
If you look at the etymology of the characters for Kung Fu, you’ll find that the words don’t actually translate into “Traditional Chinese Martial Art”.
Here’s what you’ll see instead:
•Kung (功/gōng) = merit, achievement, result, service, accomplishment
•Fu (夫/fū) = man, husband
Together, these merge into meaning“skill earned through hard work and time”. And that doesn’t necessarily mean fighting skill either.
What does a grandmother with marvelous homestyle cooking skills, a video gamer who can speed play Super Mario Bros. 3 perfectly, and a beautiful sounding pianist who regularly plays in a concert hall have in common?
They all worked hard for their skill. They all have good kung fu.
Let’s look at a different culture for another example. Let’s go Japanese for a moment.
Sensei.
You know what that means, right? “Martial arts master”. “The tenth degree black belt who makes lightning look slow”
The Young Master perhaps?
The master who fought off the Italian mafia and Japanese yakuza when he was four years old. With just his pinky. Oh, and he was probably blind too. Y’know, because he fought a bear when he was two years old and it clawed both of his eyes out. He still won that battle too, of course.
Yeah…no.
This is “sensei” broken down:
•Sen (先) = previous, ahead, former, preceding, prior, priority, etc.
•Sei (生) = inexperienced, innocent, life, birth, natural, etc.
Together, they add up to “one who has come before” and can be applied to doctors, teachers, lawyers, or anybody with expansive experience in a subject.
In other words, a master of any profession who others can learn from.
Not always a “Martial Arts Master”.
With that being said, what better master to learn from than the legendary mind and character himself, Albert Einstein. The man was as passionate and creative as they came. He has many, MANY, quotes for people, not just scientists or Martial Artists, to live by.
A true master for sure.
Here are just a few of the words often attributed to him that we, as Martial Artists, can definitely learn from!
(Mind you, these words could also possibly/probably be traced back to somebody else. Quotes authorship can be finicky sometimes!)
“Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them”
All too often, Martial Artists just want to learn how to beat Billy the Bad Guy into smithereens. We want to learn the ultimate technique that is twenty moves long and preferably involves a takedown, an arm break, a choke, a wrist press, or something else fun.
Don’t get me wrong. Winning the fight is great. But preventing it is even better.
The best technique is the one you don’t have to use.
It doesn’t matter if you’re badder than Micheal Jackson, if you engage in a fight, there is a chance that you won’t survive the encounter. He might have a weapon, he might have better skills, he might have buddies lurking about who’ll drag the odds in their favor.
And just knowing this isn’t enough. Just like any other kind of skill, you need to practice “not fighting”.
Exercise self control in tame matters of normal life, like restraining yourself from responding with a biting comment on an unsavory classmate or co-worker or mustering the will to avoid engaging in a verbal sparring match with your annoying sibling.
Using self control in mild daily situations can be used as training to have the self control to back away from a fight even though you really want to.
Definitely an important skill.
But sometimes, you can’t just walk away from a fight. Sometimes, you can tell that even if you say “no” to the fight, the other person is going to insist “yes”. One way or another, he wants the fight to happen.
Enter the art of de-escalating.
Practice reading a person’s mood and talking them down in accordance with that. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to de-escalating. What works well for calming one person might simply incite another.
Aikido, Daitou-Ryu Aiki-Jujutsu, Hapkido, and many other arts utilize the principle known as aiki. In a general summary, aiki means to blend, rather than break or clash, with an aggressor’s energy and then flowing him in a manner beneficial to you.
Think about the suave politician who attempts to manipulate his audience into liking him.
Find what is motivating the fight (anger at something you said, trying to impress a girl, trying to look tough, etc.) and flow from there.
Rory Miller has lots to say on this largely neglected topic. In his book, Facing Violence, he speaks like Master Kan from Kung Fu, the 1972 tv show, and says it best: Better to avoid than run, to run than to de-escalate, to de-escalate than to fight, to fight than to die.
“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my knowledge”
Everything revolves around the earth! Not really. But for many, many years, that was what everybody thought. It wasn’t until the 16th century that that thought was really challenged. Until then, everybody “knew” the earth was at the heart of it all and so they closed their ears to anything or anyone that said otherwise. In Martial Art talk, their cups were already full.
Closed minds is disease that still spreads throughout the martial arts world to this day. It shows itself in many forms:
“My school is better!”
“That’s not how WE do it!”
“That’s cool, but I don’t do that. I’m a *insert style* guy.”
You get the idea.
It is imperative to keep an open mind and to always strive to broaden your horizon. Don’t immediately reject that which is different. A so-so book
might have a sentence that sparks a large forest fire of thoughts and theories. The snobby novice who started Karate class a week ago and thinks he’s know everything there is about “real” fighting might say something that makes you start to think. The pretty dance-like Martial Art might hide some really solid self defense tactics.
The Judo man can learn from the Aikido man, the Aikido man from the Karate man, the Karate man from the Kung Fu man, the Kung Fu man from the Capoeira man. The Martial Artist can learn from the physicist.
Keep an open mind. It is only when we are willing to let go of our preconceived thoughts and notions, that we can further ourselves, martially, mentally, scientifically, musically, and everything in between.
These were just two quotes from the genius himself, but really, there are tons of things to learn from his words. There are many more that I would definitely encourage you to find and study.
Here are just a few more with some quick notes:
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Martial Artist have a tendency to make things either overly complicated (trying to sound more like Mr. Miyagi or Master Po) or stupid simple (glazing past some very important details that can make a world of difference).
Strive to find a good balance.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
Sometimes we fall into a rigid “Hai, Sensei!” mode where we agree without giving the teacher’s words any real thoughts.
That can be dangerous. Extremely so.
Questions are how we gain true knowledge of what we do and how we advance.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
“That point sparring guy has some fast blitzing but he would never last a second in a street fight”. Or “that Krav Maga looks flat out mean but I bet he would just get tagged repeatedly in a tournament”. Or maybe “that contemporary wushu guy has some really flashy moves but he lacks inner peace and tranquility”.
Well, no duh!
That’s not their goal. Different people, different goals. Different kung fu.
“I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.”
Did you know that the Chinese characters used when writing “Martial Art” have roots that translate more closely to “stop war techniques”?
“Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.”
‘Nuff said.
Go train!
-Me
