Spiritual power in Martial Arts
March 19, 2022
Spiritual Power in Martial Arts
Martial arts took America and Europe by storm in the 1970s through Bruce Lee movies and the blockbuster TV series "Kung Fu."
The question is, what caused this phenomenon?
The first reason was that Westerners desperately felt the limits of the Western value-system, which consisted of material civilization through human reasoning ability and scientific knowledge. This limitation was deeply felt by the skepticism of humanity caused by the First and Second World Wars.
In addition, changes in the social structure through the Industrial Revolution were taking place rapidly, and the existing values were collapsing through this change.
In the unstable state of the transition period when a new worldview hadn't yet formed, young Westerners created a cultural phenomenon called “hippies.”
They felt that the mystical power of martial arts was amazing because it was not based on physical, scientific, or human reasoning ability but instead on mental and spiritual power. This strength became the perfect alternative solution.
The question is, what is spiritual power? Can anyone explain clearly how to utilize it in daily life?
The problem is that no one explained it because of its complexity and because it required a deep understanding of the universe. Teaching this concept is the responsibility of the leaders of the martial arts industry. Without understanding the concept of spirit, it can not be called martial arts, because it has no depth. It is only superficial martial sports.
How to train the human mind and spirit?
The richness of martial arts is found in the depth of the human mind and spirit teaching. That is why we must ask “How does one train the human mind and spirit?” What a gigantic question! To find the answer, we need to ask back, “What do we do with our mind?” The simple answer is EVERYTHING! The mind controls the entire human life, and the question can only be answered if we view the entire human life and ask, “How does the mind function within this category?”
Can you imagine that without knowing the function of the mind, how can anyone talk about how to train the human mind? That is nonsense!
The functions of the mind are three:
1 - Intellectual ability is known as IQ.
2 - Emotional ability is known as EQ.
3 - Free will; this is where each person’s sovereign power resides.
Therefore, the following questions should be asked:
1 - Do we know what thinking is? Do we know how to think well?
2 - Do we know what emotions are? How do we control our feelings? We form attitudes, character traits, and personalities through emotions. Do we know how to build character traits and attitudes? How many attitudes exist in this world? If we can't have all the attitudes, the only choice is to pick and choose attitudes. What is the essential attitude you want to have?
3 - What is free will? How does one exercise it correctly? How does one increase willpower?
The functions of the spirit are too numerous to list, so I offer only those that I feel are the most important:
1 - Worship.
2 - Grace.
3 - Communion.
4 - Faith, intuition, revelation, etc.
Therefore, the following questions should be asked:
1 - What does worship mean to us?
2 - What does grace mean to us?
3 - How are all the spiritual functions related to our daily life?
The journey of answering the above questions will ultimately answer the original question of “How to train the human mind and spirit?”
The most important function to human beings is “Worship.”
The value system each one of us forms becomes the rudder of our lives. Our value system is not created by our human intellectual ability but rather by our spiritual function of worship. The proof of this is found in the etymology of worship, comprised of “worth” + “-ship.” In his book “Religion in the making,” Alfred North Whitehead said, “Your character is developed according to your faith. This is the primary religious truth from which no one can escape. Religion is the force of belief cleansing the inward parts. For this reason the primary religious virtue is sincerity, a penetrating sincerity.”
From the stories of worship so far, we can understand why the modern education system has neglected to teach in the character-building domain. The reason is that we do not understand that the ability to teach character-building comes from the spiritual function of worship (faith). We also lack the spirituality required to teach character-building. Human reasoning ability can’t offer a universal value standard to individuals and society.
“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." - Luke 16:13 [NIV]
This subtitle concludes that one can worship tangible items as money or worship intangible (source of all the power) God (Spirit.)
Universal Principles of Life
First, lives have TOTAL independency. Can anyone eat, sleep, get sick, and breathe for me? No one can, only me. This principle leads us to total loneliness, one of the biggest fears each of us faces. However, life is not that simple but is complex and multifaceted. So, there is another principle that is a totally opposite concept, yet it comes together to form a pair.
We have a TOTAL dependency upon our needs for survival. No one in this world can make their own food, clothes, or shelter. Our daily survival depends on thousands of other lives. Does anyone make their own air, water, or natural resources? We do not have the ability to provide for ourselves, and thus we depend on nature. Farmers cannot grow grain without external sources. Has any farmer made a single seed and then provided the sunshine, wind, and timely rain to make it grow? It is not possible!
Dependency has 2 different realms: 1-Spiritual energy which is provided by the Principle of Grace (free water, air, life, natural resource, etc.). 2-Social System. I have to depend on others to provide for me, i.e. grains from farmers, clothing from tailors, shelters from contractors, and our Nation for FREEDOM and EQUALITY. (a few modern countries can offer - these two values are like two wings for a bird and society to fly)
These are two related yet totally opposite concepts. Ironically, TOTAL INDEPENDENCY and TOTAL DEPENDENCY come as a set that must be balanced with the RELATIVITY of LIFE.
The 4th principle is the Constitution of Humans which is the body, mind (soul), and spirit. Everyone knows we have a tangible part of life--the physical world. We also know that there is an intangible part of life--the mental world. This intangible part of the world, however, is divided by the soul and the spirit.
“The ordinary concept of the constitution of human beings is dualistic—soul and body. According to this concept soul is the invisible inner spiritual part, while body is the visible outer corporal part. Though there is some truth to this, it is nevertheless inaccurate. Such an opinion comes from fallen man, not from God; apart from God’s revelation, no concept is dependable. That the body is man’s outward sheath is undoubtedly correct, but the Bible never confuses spirit and as though they are the same. Not only are they different in terms; their very natures differ from each other. The Word of God does not divide man into the two parts of soul and body. It treats man, rather, as tripartite—spirit, soul and body.” From Chapter 1 of “The Spiritual Man” by Watchman Nee.
“The ignorance of Christians concerning the distinction between “soul” and “spirit” is very general and is a primary cause of the lack of full growth in the spiritual life in many devoted and earnest believers. G. H. Pember points out as one cause of this ignorance the popular phraseology “soul and body,” which has caused a deficiency in the English language. He also says that although we have the nouns “spirit” and “soul”--which are too often treated as synonyms--we have no adjective from the latter. The consequence is that the omission of such an adjective has nearly concealed man’s tripartite nature in most aversions of the English Bible, where the Greek word which signifies “pertaining to the soul” is sometimes rendered “natural” and sometimes “sensual” (1 Corinthians 2:14, James 3:15, Jude 19).” From Chapter 1 of “Soul & Spirit” by Jessie Penn-Lewis.
Evolution from the air (Ki) to spirit
Because our value system is based in our spiritual realm, we must put our utmost effort into studying the spiritual realm. That is what intrigued the West in the 1970s by the Bruce Lee movies and the TV series “Kung Fu.” Traditional martial arts is the best way to teach a strong value system to the next generation because it is based on spiritual value and training methods.
What is spirit, and how is it taught? I would like to offer you a few Bible verses to support my perspective.
“the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
Gen. 2:7 [NIV] - breath is spirit.
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
John 3:8 [NIV] - wind, and spirit are πνεύμα in Greek, which means spirit.
“Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
John 20:21-23 [NIV] - Jesus’s breath is the Holy Spirit.
If I claim air equals spirit, it will be too big a jump to make the connection. However, it is easier to accept if I relate air to wind or air to breath. The next step to convey is that “breath is life.” Once that connection is made, it will be easier to understand and accept that life is energy. To breathe, one must inhale and exhale. That equates to plus and minus, or Ein and Yang as Oriental symbols of relativity and its continuously changing form in this world. Therefore, the spirit is the primary source of energy in the world because the spirit is the source of life. The air is spirit. It is just being shown as a different form of energy. Ki is known as air in the Orient, as well as spirit. Therefore, breathing exercises are a way to increase one’s spiritual energy. Everyone also knows that changing one’s breathing patterns will change a person's emotional status because it changes the internal energies of a person. The problem is that the general public is not aware of this simple principle well enough to capture the difference and utilize spiritual power in their daily life. This principle will be the primary key to controlling our emotions and teaching the affective domain.
Another critical challenge of modern education is focusing on producing money-making machines instead of producing character in our children. We can handle the cognitive domain (IQ) but not the affective domain (EQ) well. This challenge can be met by understanding that KI is the KEY!
CONCLUSION:
The solution for many problems we face in the modern world will come from the spiritual realm. The spiritual knowledge will generate a deeper person, which the superficial modern world desperately needs. The best vehicle for spiritual training is Martial Arts because at its base is training the human body, mind, and spirit to become a whole person. Can the Martial Arts industry leaders offer this teaching method to the general public? They could and they should, but they haven’t yet! I offer this through the “Human EngineerⓇ” system.
Thank you for reading.
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