We all need to fight for what we believe in, but what some of us believe in is not fighting.
People are complex creatures full of inconsistencies and contradictions. Quite often, our actions do not align with what we claim to believe or value. Sometimes, our behaviors even directly contradict the very principles we espouse.
One such contradiction is the idea of fighting for peace. This may be the ultimate human paradox. In fact, literally millions of people have died over the years in an effort to live more peacefully, whether through acts of self-initiated violence, self-defense in the face of violence, violence as a means of protesting real or perceived injustices, or as innocent bystanders caught up in violence.
The fact is that we live in a violent world. Nature itself is violent. That we do not have to constantly fight for our lives against the elements, against predatory creatures, and against enemies or warring tribes is truly a modern, perhaps even regional, luxury.
While unrealistic to believe that we can live without struggle, challenges, conflict, or difficulty, we can choose to live without fighting and without violence unless and until someone forces our hand to the point where we must defend ourselves.
Even then, however, we must have prepared for violence in some way if we are to survive it, overcome it, and even transcend it. The secret is to find a means by which to deal with violence in a way that does not also violate our integrity, turning us into that which we are philosophically or spiritually opposed to.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Bodyand Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.
It takes longer to complain about something that it does to take action toward a solution.
Street Art Photo by Robert Van Valkenburgh (artist unknown)
The thing about complaining is that it does not really begin or end at the complaint. It is a much longer process than that. Often, whatever feelings led up to the actual complaint have been festering for a while before coming out and, once expressed, instead of finding resolution, our negative feelings begin to reverberate throughout our life.
Sometimes, the resentment that leads to us expressing a complaint is something we live with for days, weeks, or even years before and after we have verbalized it. In addition to that, the more that we complain, the more these negative feelings begin to seep into the way that we view the world, even affecting our relationships, especially the relationships with those who we are complaining about and to whom we are complaining.
Usually, the solution to whatever problem we find the need to complain about is simple and would take little to no time to address directly and expediently. A lot of times, the solution is as easy as a conversation with the offending party, but, for whatever reason, most likely fear, we find it easier to create general conflict resonating throughout our whole life than to face the risk of specific conflict with what and who is really bothering us. The action required to solve a problem, however, is usually much easier and more expedient than a lifetime of resentment, regret, and complaining.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Meditations on God 