What the heck is “spiritual balance”? I’m not discussing religion here. I’m a Christian and proud of it, but spiritual balance in the context of martial arts is being “centered” and staying centered under stress.
I firmly believe that religious faith gives you a leg up in becoming and staying centered, but it’s not a prerequisite.
People of all religious faiths achieve centeredness at higher rates than non-religious people. However, very few people are centered regardless of their religion, or lack thereof.
In my experience, as a group the people most centered are long term practicing martial artists. I speculate that developing true centeredness is highly correlated with dedication to a life-long process of self-perfection, knowing it can never be achieved, and knowing there is always more that can be done to improve.
Christians call it sanctification – the life-long effort to become like Christ.
Martial artists call it mastering the art but it doesn’t end when they reach the rank of “Master”. In most ranked martial arts one is call a master upon achieving the rank of 5th dan and most ranking systems extend to 10th dan.
Professor Ernie Cates, the founder of Neko Ryu Goshin Jitsu, is 70 years old and is still learning and experimenting and expanding the Neko Ryu. There is no end except death.
Okay, so you’re not a long-term martial artist. You’re probably not really centered. Does spiritual balance apply to you? Yes, it does. Centeredness isn’t really completely achievable. It’s a relative thing and like the struggle for self-perfection one gets more centered but never completely centered.
If you are more centered than your opponent, you have an advantage. And, if you can “un-center” your opponent your advantage will increase.
Centeredness roughly equates to a calm self-control that preserves the ability to make reasoned decisions and take appropriate action. The opposite, un-centeredness, is emotionally clouded judgment that interferes with reasoned decision-making leading to inappropriate action.
To stay centered, or as centered as you can be, you control your anger, you overcome your fear, you stay loose, aware, and “in the moment”. To un-center your opponent you create fear, uncertainty, or anger. This is why verbal intimidation works, when it works, on the football field.
An old cliché says that when your opponent fears you will defeat him, he is already defeated. This, not some Asian death-wish is the reason Japanese samurai were taught to choose death when confronted with the choice between living and dying. This was supposed to remove the fear of defeat. This philosophy led Japan to defeat in World War II and I don’t recommend it.
Western culture substituted the virtues of courage and defense of others for the samurai choice and certainly, if you are a Westerner, the traditional Western cultural virtues will generally serve you better than adopted ones.
Spiritual balance, centeredness, is relative. You see a martial arts master and you think, “he seems so centered.” And you’re right. Compared to you and to most other people, he is much more centered. However, just like there is always someone stronger, smarter, or more skilled there is always someone more centered.
Becoming centered is a process, a path, not a destination.
Link to other topics in the Special Report: Balance and Kuzushi
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