Newsletter 766
The Pure Language of Matrixing
I was reading the other day,
and a fellow was remarking
how important it was to understand
the language of the martial arts.
The particular phrase being discussed was ‘Oss.’
Which everybody says and nobody knows.
Heck,
I didn’t know,
and I’m still not sure of the spelling.
Bruce Lee would not have stood for GMOs!
So the Japanese had small frigates and subs,
the aisles were narrow,
so narrow it was hard to salute.
So the crew member would nod to an officer,
and the officer would say,
‘Oss.’
Which means…
‘carry on.’
Now,
does that help you do a side kick better?
Does that improve your form?
It might make you smarter,
especially if you were on a Japanese frigate
from many years ago.
Heck,
I believe you should learn everything you can,
but,
does knowing this make you a better martial artist?
And,
wouldn’t it make you better if the person,
instead of saying ‘Oss,’
said ‘carry on?
Which brings us to ‘appropriateness.’
I see students bowing manically,
slapping their thighs as they do s o,
and shouting ‘Oss,’
to their instructors.
So they are taking the role of the officer,
and telling their instructor he is a crewman
who better get to work.
Hmmm.
And,
that all said,
do you have to understand Japanese to learn Karate?
I heard people say this back in the sixties,
and they backed it up with such observations as,
‘there are concepts in the Japanese,
that Americans can’t understand.’
Hmmm.
So you have to be raised in another culture,
‘Muricans are too dumb.
Sounds like racism to me.
And,
in fifty years of study
I have not found ANY concept in the martial arts
I couldn’t understand.
I did find that the more difficult concepts
were actually a problem
of being misrepresented in the original language.
When I translated to English,
and used physics,
EVERYTHING resolved.
Which brings us to matrixing.
My purpose in the martial arts
is to make them simple and easy to understand.
To get rid of barriers to learning them.
To unclutter the mess,
to unmix the confusion,
to translate the bushwah into physics.
Want to learn another language?
Go for it.
It’s good for you.
And,
overall,
if you know more you will learn faster.
BUT,
don’t think that learning a language is a requirement.
And here’s something to think about…
every system is a dialect
of the pure language
of matrixing.
Okay,
I’ve been working on the Binary Matrixing book.
It’s getting close.
Probably your last chance to get the Blinding Steel course,
before I take it down
and re-market it
and at a higher price.
So,
check out this
column I wrote when I was with the mags.
I wrote it in ’96,
and UFC was barely hanging on…
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-art-column/better-ultimate-fighting-championships/
Now,
have a super fantastic work out!
Al
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-art-column/better-ultimate-fighting-championships/
Matrix Martial Arts 