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Monthly Message: November 2003
Fellow Karate-ka:
There is no such thing as perfection.
There is no such thing as mastery. This is the fact that is truth. In
all that we do we will make mistakes. I always hope that I will never be
judged on my mistakes. That's because I've made so many in my life and
continue to make them today. The thing to realize here is that through
my mistakes I learn. I can constantly grow in my education in life. So
it is with karate.
You cannot perfect yourself, you can only
better yourself. This is a phrase that I've coined to use for all of you
my students. There can be an understanding lets say of any technique I
give you by processing the information of my words in your brain and
using your sense of sight to observe my performance of the technique.
You can continually practice this technique forever and it still will
not be perfect. It will get better though. It will reach a level higher
than others because of your diligent practice. It will still not be
better than others. There will always be someone better then you and
worse then you. It is simply a fact of life.
Becoming better is what separates the
Masters from the lower ranking students. Look in your own karate style
and see how many high ranking black belts with titles there are. There
is only one Grand Master and he is not a young man. As you progress in
your training you will notice that the higher rank that you achieve has
less and less fellow students progressing with you. This is especially
true after the rank of Shodan (First Degree Black Belt). Check out how
many people test for their 3rd degree and 4th and so on from there.
One only gets better over time and
continual practice. A master never stops getting better at karate. He
keeps learning. This is what designates a true karate master. When you
think of it in these terms you can understand what being a perpetual
student is all about and what a true master is. Sure there are lots of
other characteristics of Masters of Karate. This is the largest common
denominator amongst all of them. They continue to practice well into old
age.
There is no such thing as a 28 year old
Master. Be wary of such claims from those type of people. Remember that
"you cannot perfect yourself, you can only better yourself"
This is the way.
Sensei Dave
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