I Discuss Violence and Martial Arts with a Highly-Trained Policeman

Policeman (a long-time friend and "kung fu brother"):

Do you not agree that the martial paths to cultivation were born from violence?

Arthur:

I do. And I also think that definition of a "path" is that it leads somewhere. The farther along the true martial path one gets, the more uninteresting violence becomes. Capability may increase, but romance with violence goes down. I find that a natural outgrowth of my training is that my sensitivity and compassion grow daily, and my conviction that violence is the lowest of our behaviors grows with them.

Policeman:

I have found this to be true based on my experience at work. During my time in the Marines, we sought violence readily. In my early years as a police officer the same was true...could not wait for the next fight. After more than 18 years now....and with the benefit of our teacher’s training, I find myself more capable and looking forward to the next encounter less and less. At this point, I feel nothing during a physical encounter, even at its conclusion. I feel that it is violence without emotion that stems from a clear and empty mind. The shen level of training solidifies this. What one does with this ability is another issue entirely, but it is still a product of violence hence the term martial.

Arthur:

I am glad to hear you have less interest in fighting. I remember a particular student who kept pushing me to fight with him and show him something and I kept steering him in another direction and finally our teacher saw what was going on and told me "just throw him in the river" and I tried so hard to avoid it and then one day I had to so I did something like that. It had the desired effect on him, which was to get him to accept constructive direction without challenging it, but for me it felt as if I had been coerced into doing something I didn't want to do. Just like Lao Tze says "Whether you win or lose, mourn the fact you had to fight". Having to fight means that one's pursuit of the Dao is flawed, that one's skills for dealing with the world and going with the flow were not good enough to perceive trends and tendencies early, and you ended up resorting to fists and feet.

Policeman:

I never felt that resorting to violence meant that I lost the path, or anything. I feel that it is just temporarily shifting gears to follow a different natural path that is appropriate for the moment.

Arthur:

I feel it is inevitable that when you keep going with the mind-opening you come to have a different view of violence. The word "natural" is interesting, because in a sense everything that is is natural. Even the products of human industry are natural, because they arise from a natural source, us, in expression of natural urges. Yin/yang theory tells us that at any point there are two opposing forces at work, with one in abeyance and the other rising. We could say that at the moment of violent impulse or action one is at work and the other is waiting in the wings, but I also feel that if you draw back from that time and place, dial out your lens to a wide view, if you will, you will see that the cycle is OUT of balance when violence is required, not IN balance. Facing the violent side of human behavior and trying to reconcile it with the shift in consciousness necessary for us to survive as a species is one of the central themes of my thinking and my work. It is a fascinating subject, at least to me, and I've spent quite a lot of time discussing it with our teacher. He and I have some contrasting opinions. He feels we are past the turning point and bound for extinction and his only desire is, as an arhat, to reach enlightenment and leave. Personally, while I love practice and meditation, but I feel that if I ever "awaken" I will want to stick around and help. I believe that only a shift in consciousness that leads to a totally new way of looking at who and what we are will lead us out of the mess we're in. I see it as a biological possibility based on my nearly forty years studying evolution.

Policeman:

On this point our teacher and I are in agreement. My money is on the insects for the future dominant species of the planet.

Arthur:

I bet the bugs will still be around, although the reptiles will be eating them. I'm forced to say that whatever possibility there is for survival depends upon a specific kind of mental evolution, one that entails a total transformation of our behavior based on a transformation of our perceptions of who we are, what we are, what our place in the world actually is. We have to treat each other completely differently, and treat other living creatures and the biosphere as a whole as if it is sacred, or at least essential to our own perpetuation. Any other option and we go down in flames.

Policeman:

We have outsmarted ourselves and will pay the price; what we do to the environment is what will destroy us. The earth will evolve based on the conditions that we create, but we will not be able to evolve with it. Then, the next species will have its turn. I do not believe that we, as humans, are capable of seeing the long range effects of what we are doing, at least on a large enough scale to have any real effect in time. Oh well–it was a fun ride.