Caveat: This post is mine and mine alone. I the author of this post assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and/or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this post. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding.)
It occurs to me that self-defense, from start to finish, is pretty much about balance. If you review Marc MacYoung’s metaphor on the self-defense square you have to create the square then as you apply all the different aspects of self-defense you end up creating a tower of things that without good balance causes that tower to topple throwing you out of the SD Square.
If you have studied the books on this subject, especially “In the Name of Self-Defense by Mr. MacYoung, you can see why I say this. Just review Rory Miller’s book on Force Decisions, it requires a person balance a lot of chaotic moving things to apply self-defense without running amok to the laws that govern it.
This balance must be maintained in every single circumstance and then make appropriate decisions on the fly without kicking over the tower that holds you up and in that square.
Taking another path this also speaks to the principle/sub-principle of yin-n-yang. Complementary opposites that make the whole where to achieve a balance of the whole is to have positive and negative equality of those perceived opposites. It appears to my perception that balance is what humans seek in life and considering how the Universe works balance may be the key to why we are here but on a more pragmatic and practical level in self-defense we start by striving for an internal balance of the mind, body and spirit.
As many of my sources seem to be saying, conflict and violence all begin and end with the individual and how that individual deals with conflict and violence determines its outcome. There are things that seem beyond our control and there are things that influence how conflict and violence go that will influence you but still, it is how you deal with it and that is where balance is most important.
My sources use the three brains to help us understand the complexities of the human survival instinct toward conflict and violence, i.e., the human brain, the monkey brain and the lizard brain. Here also a certain balance of their influences on us makes the difference. If the monkey brain has its way we all would be going about our business like the scene from “Jumangi” where the monkey’s are spreading havoc in the kitchen (you can see this on YouTube if you do a search).
Then there is the lizard, the one that provides us the survival stuff along with running the unconscious stuff that makes the human body run. It is that part that we hope is well trained to act, bypassing the monkey and human to get-r-done, properly and within all the restrictions surrounding self-defense so we can escape and evade such conflicts and violence.
Balance is weighing the practices of the physical with the practices of the mental, i.e., the moral and philosophical standards and practices necessary to hold our animal survival instincts in check according to societies requirements, i.e., laws, etc. Look at it as encoding and programming our mind-set/mind-state to avoid the trappings and pitfalls of the emotionally driven monkey brain by mixing it a good doze of the human, logical and reasonable, brain so that we train the lizard properly in using appropriate force levels according to any given moment of a conflict and/or violent encounter and maintain that state of being throughout each and every moment of each and every situation till you avoid, de-escalate, escape, evade or find safety and security all balanced precariously on the floating water of the self-defense square while balanced atop each level that governs and drives self-defense.
Imbalance is unacceptable, to provide too much balance on one side leaves the individual open and susceptible to attacks, i.e., their attitudes and state of being is one of denial to the point they are scoped out as easy targets, while too much balance on the other side leaves the individual open and susceptible to legal and civil repercussions simply because they failed to recognize the many factors that would stop them before tipping over the self-defense pile precariously balanced but toppled because of this imbalance to the other side (could I or should I condense this sentence, yes, but am I going too, nah).
This also speaks to the need for self-defense martial arts to ensure and embrace the fundamental principles of martial systems as I present them in my soon to be released book, “The Modern Martial Arts Instruction Manual: A Modern Bubishi,” where I describe such aspects toward balancing our martial arts training and practices. The sole purpose of both are to achieve a balance in our applications regarding conflict and violence. It is not a comprehensive and complete manual but a more terse form that should promote further study to achieve a more individualized goal in what we do and why we do it.
Strive for balance in all that you do, make the scales float in that state to create a more stabilized study of self-defense in martial arts.
Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.
Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
Ayoob, Massad. “Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self-Defense”Gun Digest Books. Krouse Publications. Wisconsin. 2014.
Goleman, Daniel. "Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition [Kindle Edition]." Bantam. January 11, 2012.
Miller, Rory. "ConCom: Conflict Communications A New Paradigm in Conscious Communication." Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 2014.
Miller, Rory and Kane, Lawrence A. "Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-making under Threat of Violence." YMAA Publisher. New Hampshire. 2012
Miller, Rory. "Force Decisions: A Citizen's Guide." YMAA Publications. NH. 2012.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.
Elgin, Suzette Haden, Ph.D. "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense." Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 1983.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1995
Morris, Desmond. “Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior.” Harry N. Abrams. April 1979.
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #1: Getting Shot.” NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2014.
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #2: Getting Stabbed.” NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2015.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1993.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Written Self-Defense" MJF Books. 1997.
Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000
Strong, Sanford. “Strong on Defense_ Survival Rules to Protect you and your Family from Crime.” Pocket Books. New York. 1996.
and more … see blog bibliography.
Jahn, C. R. “FTW Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2012
Jahn, C. R. “Hardcore Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2002.
My Blog Bibliography
Cornered Cat (Scratching Post): http://www.corneredcat.com/scratching-post/
Kodokan Boston: http://kodokanboston.org
Mario McKenna (Kowakan): http://www.kowakan.com
Mokuren Dojo: http://www.mokurendojo.com
McYoung’s Musings: http://macyoungsmusings.blogspot.com
Martial Views: http://www.martialviews.com
Shinseidokan Dojo: http://shinseidokandojo.blogspot.com
The Classi Budoka: https://classicbudoka.wordpress.com
Wim Demeere’s Blog: http://www.wimsblog.com
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