Martial Arts Philosophy Discussion

[Kansas Stormcursed he/him]

Aight so I had this idea. The martial art I do has a lot of philosophies, so I’m gonna occasionally put one in here along with an explanation of it and what I think it means. If anybody wants to debate meaning, put in a different interpretation/application, or add a philosophy of their own, GREAT! If not, also cool.

Right so I’ll start off with the very first philosophy, and the most basic: the Three O’s: Open Mind (Conceive), Open Heart (Believe), and Open Arms (Achieve). Open Mind is the first because this is the first step: you have to be open to new possibilities, even if you later decide you don’t like them. Open Heart involves accepting; not necessarily unconditionally, but at least accepting. The last step, to me, has two meanings. The first, implied by the philosophy language itself, is achieving this is the get-off-the-couch-and-actually-do-stuff part. However, it can also, obviously, involve embracing, and to me this means in the sense of forgiveness, which is super lacking in society. That doesn’t mean forgiveness need be immediate and complete, but it should at least be an option.

That was my late-night analysis of that philosophy, I’ll likely end up coming back and revising it but there it is for now. Also idk if this is really a good idea or if it’ll get ignored but

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

*jams out to open arms*

. . .

sorry

anyway

That's really interesting. Huh.

Cool

[IcedOutPenguin He/Him]

11 hours ago, Kaladin Stormcursed said:

Aight so I had this idea. The martial art I do has a lot of philosophies, so I’m gonna occasionally put one in here along with an explanation of it and what I think it means. If anybody wants to debate meaning, put in a different interpretation/application, or add a philosophy of their own, GREAT! If not, also cool.

Right so I’ll start off with the very first philosophy, and the most basic: the Three O’s: Open Mind (Conceive), Open Heart (Believe), and Open Arms (Achieve). Open Mind is the first because this is the first step: you have to be open to new possibilities, even if you later decide you don’t like them. Open Heart involves accepting; not necessarily unconditionally, but at least accepting. The last step, to me, has two meanings. The first, implied by the philosophy language itself, is achieving this is the get-off-the-couch-and-actually-do-stuff part. However, it can also, obviously, involve embracing, and to me this means in the sense of forgiveness, which is super lacking in society. That doesn’t mean forgiveness need be immediate and complete, but it should at least be an option.

That was my late-night analysis of that philosophy, I’ll likely end up coming back and revising it but there it is for now. Also idk if this is really a good idea or if it’ll get ignored but

This is very important, for someone who has doing martial arts for ten years. I recognize the value of knowing what is achievable.

[Honors Spectral Image She/her]

Yo I’m a pick a random one and do that real fast if you disagree lemme know my interpretation isn’t the right one or the only one

so ima be doing the five p’s of an achiever it goes like this 1.perspective I think this means that all achievements are based on perspective and that sometimes you need to think abt it not like I didn’t do this but instead like I did this instead. 2. Patience pretty straightforward all goals and achievements gonna take some time 3.perseverance also pretty obvious you gotta keep at it like just bc you idk start playing violin doesn’t mean your gonna play Paganini day one 4.pride in accomplishment so like I rly struggle w this one because it’s rly easy to go like and compare yourself to other people bc like compared to @Kaladin Stormcursed I’m absolute butt at martial arts but compared to where I was theee years ago I’m not 5. This the last one bc without this you’ll never even be able to work on the other ones like if you don’t practice even if it’s only like for five min a day your going to get better but if you never practice you’ll never do anything as well as you might like

anyways I got to go practice my violin got a competition coming up

[Kansas Stormcursed he/him]

On 3/19/2025 at 4:24 PM, Heřãłðøfľõvê said:

Yo I’m a pick a random one and do that real fast if you disagree lemme know my interpretation isn’t the right one or the only one

so ima be doing the five p’s of an achiever it goes like this 1.perspective I think this means that all achievements are based on perspective and that sometimes you need to think abt it not like I didn’t do this but instead like I did this instead. 2. Patience pretty straightforward all goals and achievements gonna take some time 3.perseverance also pretty obvious you gotta keep at it like just bc you idk start playing violin doesn’t mean your gonna play Paganini day one 4.pride in accomplishment so like I rly struggle w this one because it’s rly easy to go like and compare yourself to other people bc like compared to @Kaladin Stormcursed I’m absolute butt at martial arts but compared to where I was theee years ago I’m not 5. This the last one bc without this you’ll never even be able to work on the other ones like if you don’t practice even if it’s only like for five min a day your going to get better but if you never practice you’ll never do anything as well as you might like

anyways I got to go practice my violin got a competition coming up

I want to add to the last a little bit. First of all, it’s Practice ‘Til Perfect. And I’ve been thinking about this one a lot in context to my own life, whichI’ll use to illustrate this concept. Obviously, perfect is a pretty intimidating word, and it actually isn’t attainable. Complete perfection is impossible. At least for humans; hypothetically some being could be perfect, but that’s not the point. The point is that you should never stop reaching for what you want and to improve. For example, I’ll never really permanently beat my depression. Especially since I refuse to get meds, ‘cause I won’t take ‘em. And lately I’ve had this song stuck in my head:

Spoiler

 

If you don’t wanna listen to that, the chorus basically sums it up:

Now the dark days are done

The battle’s already won

Now I’m basking in the sun

Because my dark days are done

And this, to me, isn’t 100% achievable, but more of a goal to reach for. And any task need not be this dramatic: even something as simple as like speeding up your typing or doing more pushups can always be improved and moved closer toward perfection.