The Things we have in Common enable us to Communicate

I was browsing through my latest copy of BBC Music magazine (dedicated to classical music) and an editorial caught my attention. It was titled "The Things we have in Common enable us to Comunicate".

If I talk about striking, whether you're doing Matsumura Seito, Shotokan, Ueichi Ryu, Isshinryu or any other art we have enough common ground to begin to understand the topic. Yes our arts are different one uses finger tip strikes, one rotates the fist over, one rotates the fist partially over, one doesn't rotate the fist at all. Dedicated to our own studies it's easy to start arguing about which strike is stronger, faster, better and forget how much we have in common that even allows that discussion take place.

Taking any one point to extremes inhibits discussion by defining the terms through our own standards.

But in the case of a strike all of us are beyond just one correct answer, each of our differing strikes are launched to perform the strike function, its just that answer is different for each fist and shape of space.

An interesting example is which strike is stronger, has more power and then sticking to a point of view all other strikes are lesser than our version.

Reality however isn't that a strike must be the most powerful, there is solid argument that the strike must be the appropriate level of power for the desired result. I can make a case that the best strike might be the one with the least amount of power. Consider a situation where you need to drop someone, but it would be inadvisable to make it known that your best brick smashing strike did it. Instead a more subtle use of striking with the least power to the right point so the target collapses but you're delivered strike remains unobserved.

In such a case powerful training is required to develop a power strike, but more complicated training is also required to know when and how to choose how to strike.

As we discuss marvel at how much we have in common that permits communication. Enjoy our own specific practice, but enjoy the other's practices too.

Through communication we can share in our experiences and find growth in our arts.