Image by Harut Movsisyan from Pixabay
The ancient Stoics, since they were in Greece at a time where pankration (a kind of ancient Greek mixed martial arts) was THE sport of the day, refer to fighting and conflict A LOT (much to my happiness).
Judging by all those CAPS, and italics, and (parentheses), and clauses in the above sentence, I’ve got a lot of thoughts and opinions and feelings about this particular daily topic. I use martial metaphor enough that I’d wager my congregants would list it in the top three metaphors I use in my ministry. It’s something that everyone believes they understand, and few truly do. Usually the few who do understand are trained in some form(s) of combat, served in the military, or are experienced with either having hands put on them, or putting hands on someone else. It’s a holistic process that includes mental, emotional, and spiritual discipline, to be certain… but without a physical discipline, you’re going to quit the first time you get smacked in the face.
In other words, one cannot THINK about martial arts and actually KNOW martial arts, and I’d also argue that applies to most endeavors. If you’ve never been hit, I can assure you it’s shockingly debilitating the first time it happens. If you don’t get knocked out, you’ll be mostly useless from feeling hardcore physical violence perpetrated against you for the first time.
However, if we train in martial arts, we accept that getting hit, and hitting (or throwing, joint-locking, grappling, etc…), is the very nature of what we’re doing.
One cannot learn to be a “fighter” without sparing… and when sparring, or any other kind of training, doesn’t go your way, it’s in this space we learn what kind of fighter we are.
Do we surrender? Ask the victims of abuse what happens when one surrenders to a situation. Do we beg it to stop? Not everyone is as honorable as we think we are.
Do we fight all the way to the ground, and when there, we keep going? Yep. That’s exactly what we do. Do we just say “fuck it” and quit? Nope.
It was in this spirit I chose to reinvest in ADF. I’m not giving up and allowing the small minded keep the shackles on the expansive, inclusive, fearless nature of Our Druidry… or at least what could be Our Druidry. I’m staying, and they’ll have to wrestle ADF out of my cold, dead hands. Gods be good, it’ll be better than when I found it…
… because “Why not Excellence?”
Understand the nature of the thing, then engage fully… especially when it’s hard.
That’s where the seeds of Virtue are generated.
(See y’all tomorrow)
Judging by all those CAPS, and italics, and (parentheses), and clauses in the above sentence, I’ve got a lot of thoughts and opinions and feelings about this particular daily topic. I use martial metaphor enough that I’d wager my congregants would list it in the top three metaphors I use in my ministry. It’s something that everyone believes they understand, and few truly do. Usually the few who do understand are trained in some form(s) of combat, served in the military, or are experienced with either having hands put on them, or putting hands on someone else. It’s a holistic process that includes mental, emotional, and spiritual discipline, to be certain… but without a physical discipline, you’re going to quit the first time you get smacked in the face.
In other words, one cannot THINK about martial arts and actually KNOW martial arts, and I’d also argue that applies to most endeavors. If you’ve never been hit, I can assure you it’s shockingly debilitating the first time it happens. If you don’t get knocked out, you’ll be mostly useless from feeling hardcore physical violence perpetrated against you for the first time.
However, if we train in martial arts, we accept that getting hit, and hitting (or throwing, joint-locking, grappling, etc…), is the very nature of what we’re doing.
One cannot learn to be a “fighter” without sparing… and when sparring, or any other kind of training, doesn’t go your way, it’s in this space we learn what kind of fighter we are.
Do we surrender? Ask the victims of abuse what happens when one surrenders to a situation. Do we beg it to stop? Not everyone is as honorable as we think we are.
Do we fight all the way to the ground, and when there, we keep going? Yep. That’s exactly what we do. Do we just say “fuck it” and quit? Nope.
It was in this spirit I chose to reinvest in ADF. I’m not giving up and allowing the small minded keep the shackles on the expansive, inclusive, fearless nature of Our Druidry… or at least what could be Our Druidry. I’m staying, and they’ll have to wrestle ADF out of my cold, dead hands. Gods be good, it’ll be better than when I found it…
… because “Why not Excellence?”
Understand the nature of the thing, then engage fully… especially when it’s hard.
That’s where the seeds of Virtue are generated.
(See y’all tomorrow)
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