Knowledge and Experience and Training

“ … Knowledge tends to not come out in a fight.” Rory Miller, “Advanced Class” post at Chiron Blog http://chirontraining.blogspot.com/2014/10/advanced-class.html

This post is not about anything written in the above article by Rory Miller but is my thoughts on this particular quote above. I accept his premise and my post is an attempt to get others thinking of what they are practicing vs. what they feel they practice toward self-defense. 

Just think about this a minute, maybe a few minutes. Knowing your kata, knowing your basics, knowing what technique is used for what attack is not enough. Knowledge is about academics but to translate that into something functional in the real world is different. Modern martial arts has fallen into this false sense of functionality in self-defense when in reality they simply brought forward what would make promotions, along with fees, to higher levels, about income vs. what is perceived, by me, as relevant toward actually making it work for self-defense. 

I remember all the courses, seminars and training I received over the years with emphasis on those for work through the military and you know what, often we all joked that what we learned doesn’t work in the real world and we were right BUT what we learned told us two things. First, fundamentals about what we were going to be doing out there in the real world and two, a foundation of knowledge to work from in not just doing the job but gaining the experience as we travel along doing the job. 

Almost all the knowledge was made available for use in the real world but needed tweaking to make it work. In the SD world we hope that continued hands-on training after gaining the knowledge will be sufficient to make it work when under the gun of real life. MA tends to assume that what their Sensei taught them about SD was real when many Sensei never questioned or actually encountered SD and the use of those same defense techniques. They didn’t know what they didn’t know, as one professional writes in his books. This is where knowledge becomes important.

Knowledge is necessary to achieve a level of knowing especially discovering what it is that you thought you knew and what you didn’t know because it makes a difference. Yet, knowledge alone does not get you there in a fight and is even more so in SD. SD has many rules beyond what is most often presented as SD in the MA community. 

Knowledge is necessary but to actually make it work in the fight takes a whole lot more and you gotta get out there and do it along with, if it is your job, getting out there and applying it at work to gain experience. If you have no knowledge of what it takes then you will flounder when trying to find a course of instruction that is real. Seeking knowledge alone just won’t do it and that is the point of this post and I believe the quote Mr. Miller presented. 

In MA, knowing your kata, knowing the basics, knowing SD techniques is all fine and dandy (that works for testing for rank and works just fine as a basis for charging fees, etc.) but that won’t work in a fight and if this is about SD, it won’t work let alone be acceptable in a SD defense. You just don’t go to the car lot, purchase a car, and then drive off down the road. You have to gather and learn a level of stuff that is vetted in drivers education training so when you do drive off down the road you and others won’t be involved in accidents. 

I think there has developed a disconnect from reality in today’s martial arts - in general. That disconnect comes from, as I see it, ignorance or not knowing what you don’t know. 

I guess it comes down to what you do with the knowledge you gain. Do you just remain in the academic world or do you take it out on the road and test it out to see where you go and what you learn along the way. It is called reality for a reason and in the SD and MA worlds especially when combined means learning how to apply things so you don’t end up in an accident.