If he only had a heart
Reading Tim boucher’s blog article Christian (Anti) Occultists & the Urge for Power, I found the telling quote:
in martial arts though: how people get interested in it at an elementary level because they want to be good at fighting - they want power. As they progress though, the true martial artist learns not to fight. At at least, that’s what I hear.
That reminded me something I had been meaning to go into here at greater length (for reasons which shall become apparent, I hope) so without further ado:
I was reading an article the other day about the most recent Tyson fight, in which Mike disgraced himself by abandoning the mat half-way through the match. No KO, no TO, no explanation, no nuthin’ …. he just walked away.
The sports writer covering the match said that Tyson’s opponent had successfully attaked what has always been Tyson’s weakness - his “empty core.” I thought for a moment about what this means.
The day after Valentine’s day my wife was out of town on a business trip, so I went to the liquor store after work to get a sandwich. It was (literally) a dark and story night, even though it was only 7:30 PM.
As I was leaving the liquor store I saw a bunch of thug-looking teenagers across the street. I ignored my gut instincts and crossed the street towards them since the liquor store is only a block from my house.
“Hey mister, what time is it?” one of the kids asked me as I walked past the buststop. “It’s about quarter past seven” I responded.
“What?”
At that point alarm bells should have been going off, but they didn’t. I had my gym bag in one hand and my groceries in the other - I hadn’t even been back to may apartment yet. “It’s 7:15″ I said this time.
“Seven what?” Uh oh!
I turned around and there was this hulking kid with a skiu mask inches from my face, parka, gold teeth, the whole nine yards. Now it was raining now snowing and pitch black on that part of the block so I knew this was a mugging. In those situations the sooner you can face reality the better your chances of survival are - denial is not your ally.
I quickly ran through all of my options. I could try to get around him, but if I succeeded he would just clobber me from behind asd I fumbled with the keys to my building. If I failed, things would escalate instantly. I was too close to take his knee out, and since my arms were full I could use my hands without telegraphing my plans. I could ask him what he wanted but if he wasn’t going to take control over the situation and tell me, why roll out the red carpet for him? I could head butt him and smash his nose but if he was at all experienced this would slow him down for about 5 seconds and would likely earn me the beating of a lifetime.
So I did the only thing I could do. I looke dhim right in the eyes and announced “You’ve got the wrong guy.” I turned on my heel and marched back to where his friends were at the busstop. They looked at me all confused, and so I nodded to them and just kept walking across the street back to the liquor store. As I walked through the door of the liquor store someone charged me from behind and slammed into me, sending me flying inside and wrenching my shoulder. That was the only moment I was truly frightened - I had kept cool up til that point, maybe just because I had too.
I was worried then. I thought “If those kids chase me inside the store in front of all these people, the lights, the cameras and everything then that means that they just don’t give a fuck. They’ll shoot me just to save face.” But they never did.
I realized later that they must have been teens on a dare. If they had been experienced, the “point man” would have immediately told me what he wanted and maybe flashed a weapon. The rest of his crew would have closed in on me from behind after the initial “interview” (asking me what time it was) was over. But they never did. SO when I confused him by announceing I was the wrong guy they had no backup plan - the whole mugging fell apart.
I went to my martial arts class the next day and told everyone what happened. Naturally all the students said “Oh you should have broken his neck, you should have dislocated his shoulder, ” etc. But the teachers said “You outsmarted him - the best possible outcome.”
These kids were agressive but they had no real courage . They had to operate in a pack and could only tackle one person in a situation where the odds were in their favor. In short, they were opeating from an “empty core” - there was nothing there to back them up.
I was in my Krav Maga class again yesterday and one of my instructors is 5′ 5″ and 120 lbs. soaking wet. He also a former hand to hand combat instructor for the Israeli Special Forces and just about the last person you would ever want to fuck with - his entire mind, body and spirit are 100% oriented around, trained for and directed towards the taking of life.
WHich is not to say that the guy’s an asshole - far from it, he’s extremely gentle, warm, kind and open. But if you cornered him in a dark alley he would and kill you with no remorse and no second thoughts. He doesn’t have any inner conflicts on the issue of killing - if it has to be done, just do it in the fastest & safest way possible.
He’s a tiny guy, but he has a lot of HEART - something Tyson never did. “Heart,” for those unfamiliar w. the concept, is street slang for someone who can take a beating and keep going. Someone getting “jumped” into a gang will be punched and beaten by every member of the gang until he drops. Someone with “heart” will stay standing and fight back much longer than the average person - they don’t give up. They have the will to win and the will to survive. Hopefully if my aborted mugging had come to blows I would have heart like my instructor too - I would have been more ruthless, more vicious, less willing to give up.
The fox runs for his dinner, but the rabbit runs for his life, as the saying goes.
Tyson, when he boxed successfully, never had any heart. He was always a bully who won by overwhelming his opponent right off of the bat, biting people, etc. A thug. He didn’t respect his opponents, let alone love them. He wasn’t trying to perfect himself but acheive ego-driven things (if his status as a rapist and drug addict leaves any doubt about that!).
In a very similar way, it takes a lot of heart to practice black magic successfully too. You need to be able to take a beating and keep going. You need to respect, even love your opponent, to get inside their head with love and punish them with love when you have to. Iron sharpens Iron. One combatant perfects the other.
You also have to know that you are absolutely justified in what you are doing, to have no conflicts about it, or karma (i.e., guilt) will catch up with you. Ruthless in the pursuit of victory, ruthless in the pursuit of knowledge, ruthless in the pursuit of God. There is no time or room or anything else.
Don’t be like Mike, kids. Have a heart!
On a side note, I would also like to thank my good buddy John for assistance with the muggers, this is not the first time he has helped me out and probably not the last either!
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