One of the benefits that comes with becoming my patron at the $10/month level over at Patreon is a candle burning in your name. Yesterday I burned a candle for my patron James Williams. If you’re interested in what a candle burning entails, read about it here.
This year I’ve been directing my focus toward responsibility and hard work. When things aren’t the way I want them to be, I’m starting with the premise that it’s probably my fault and I’m probably not working hard enough.
So I recently asked myself if I’ve done everything humanly possible to show — not so say, or claim, but to really demonstrate — that Cabal Fang is a powerfully transformative and beautiful martial art capable of doing great things. The answer was “no.”
It struck me that the best way to convince people that Cabal Fang is beautiful on the inside is make everything about it beautiful on the outside. Beauty is an amazing saleswoman.
So I decided that I was going to make better, more interesting and more visually beautiful videos. And the existing Cabal Fang Temple, which is need of some tender loving care inside and out, is getting a major face lift — before and after pictures below.
I asked myself if I’ve been doing everything humanly possible to raise money to for a new and expanded Cabal Fang Temple, one with space for classes, community events, and interfaith services. The answer was “no.”
So I launched an account at Patreon. If you want to get exclusive patron-only content, get early access to videos and articles and generally support my mission, become a patron today.
I shouted out,
“Who killed the Kennedys?”
When after all
It was you and me
(Who who, who who)~The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”
In January of this year I had an awakening of sorts during which I realized that there might be a reason why I didn’t have a book on the New York Times Bestseller List, why my martial art wasn’t more popular, and generally why I wasn’t smashing goals left and right.
Why? Because I need to write better books, I need to perfect my martial art and I generally need to work harder. 99 times out of 100, lack of success has to do with you — not someone else. And guess what happened when I realized this?
Blog traffic increased. My creativity and courageousness soared and things that had previously seemed like work felt like recreation. I finally founded my non-profit. I started hitting goals I hadn’t previously dreamed I could hit. I know it makes no sense at all, but taking full personal responsibility for success or failure is actually liberating, and restriction — not freedom! — encourages creativity.
And so, in the wake of the Las Vegas mass shooting, here is a video that I could not have made last year because (a) I wasn’t self-critical enough to have the insight, and (b) even if I had the insight I wouldn’t have had the courage to speak my mind on such a controversial subject.
Let me know what you think.
And now for the workout of the week.
Did you enjoy reading this? Then the Cabal Fang book will blow your mind. Buy a paper copy on Amazon or from Createspace or download the ebook here.
We don’t really know what the upper limits of human potential are. Has there ever been a person who applied themselves fully? We know what it looks like when a person makes a concerted effort. These are the people in the history books and the heroes we hold dear. Now try to imagine what 100% of personal potential might look like.
What could humanity do and achieve if everyone on the planet applied realized his/her full potential? What would that look like? Maybe that’s what the metaphor of heaven is meant to convey, yes?
What are you aspiring to? Have you given up on something? Something big, something small? Why?
There’s more to you than you ever imagined.
Look, it’s a small thing, but maybe you’ll find it inspirational. This morning I bridged a 60 lb. heavy bag for the first time — and I did it for 3 sets of 5 reps each (video below).
Yes, I know there are tens of thousands of folks in gyms worldwide who can bridge a heavy bag. But when I started pursuing this goal five months ago, a 15 lb sandbag felt heavy. Goes to show that if you apply yourself with intensity, you can make amazing progress at anything — inside the gym and out — even if you’re middle-aged.
Now it’s time to hit the next goal: the 75 lb. bag. And also I have to raise the money to build a temple, and I have to save the world too. So, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get crackin’.
Foreground: Craft sticks (1 qt. paint stirrers) with workouts on written them to be pulled at random from a cup. Background: Linear progression training program.
The Cabal Fang Workout of the Week is a three-parter that starts with an analysis of your workout plan.
If you’re training in Cabal Fang you are already keeping a training log or journal. But if that’s all your doing, and you have no firm workout schedule, you’re missing out on big gains in skills and fitness.
Here are some questions to ask yourself today:
My martial arts oriented workout plan looks like this:
Almost every aspect of the above training as a linear progression element to insure consistent improvement over time. If you’d like to check it out in detail, click here to view the Google Sheet. You’ll find every workout I’ve done since 2012 (I’ve been logging all my workouts for over 10 years, I just don’t have them all online).
Interested in those little paddles with the random martial arts workouts on them? Next week I’ll explain why I’m using them instead of dice these and I’ll give you some helpful hings for designing your own.
And now for the actual workout part of the workout of the week.
When I was a kid we used this word “quietus.” Hardly anybody uses it anymore. Too bad, it’s a great word. For the unfamiliar I’ve aggregated several different definitions into this one.
QUIETUS: kwī.ēʹtəs
From the Latin quiētus (“at rest”).
- A stillness or pause; something that quiets or represses; removal from activity; especially: death.
- Final settlement (as of a debt).
- A wrestling hold or grip from which there’s no escape, a.k.a. the “sleeper hold.”
I’ve begun putting the quietus on myself with regard to things I’m not qualified to talk about. I’ve started going through the blog and deleting old posts that are ranty, preachy or whiny.
I don’t want to be the kind of person who does nothing to solve problems but still claims the moral high ground and claims to know exactly what people should or should not be doing.
Many of the things my father used to say, I’ve realized, are a lot wiser than I previously realized. Things like,
What I realized earlier this year is that I don’t want to be the kind of person who fools himself into thinking that typing a few words, or hitting a “share” or a “like” button, actually constitutes action.
And now for the workout of the week.
“Looking forward to the fight this weekend?”
The next time somebody asks me if I’m going to watch Mayweather vs. McGregor the top of my head’s popping off.
To start with, McGregor’s famous ring apology was the final straw — the reason why I stopped watching MMA altogether. But the main reason I’m not watching the fight is that the behavior of both men has been despicable. As sports commentator Mike Wise said in reference to the July promotional tour,
“Mayweather and McGregor didn’t just cross boundaries of race, bigotry, misogyny and profanity this past week — they obliterated them, bleeping their way through a two-continent, four-city tour of filth.”
So no. I’m not watching the fight. I’m not giving either combatant — or any of their managers, promoters, networks or affiliates — my hard earned money.
Martial arts, when practiced properly, are about mastery. They are about confronting the dragon of chaos and constructing order from its bones. They are about becoming the best possible people we can be. And watching that fight wouldn’t move me forward one iota.
And now for the workout of the week.
Did you like this article? Then my book will blow your mind. Buy a paper copy on Amazon or from Createspace or download the ebook here.
Last week I went to Libby Hill Park for the first time. I’ve been trying to get in good enough shape to do some real hiking, and I figured the famous Libby Hill stairs would be a great training opportunity.
I put on my 40 lb. pack and explored the park. Then I went down and up those 153 insufferable stairs four times. They feel like standard 7.5″ steps, so each time up equates roughly to a 10 storey building — 4o storeys in all on the day. I’m guesstimating of course, but that’s roughly equivalent to climbing the stairs of the James Monroe Building.
When I was done I met my friend Chris for coffee, after which I went with him to Shamballa meditation group at Ekoji Buddhist Sangha. Yep, I’m in Christian seminary. But I really enjoy sharing spirit with others, and there was a period in my life many years ago when I might’ve called myself a Buddhist. During discussion at the end of the meeting, some in the group expressed complex feelings about having not gone to Charlottesville to stand against the white supremacists gathering around monuments there. Some agreed with me that the most powerful message possible was to ignore them.
Later that day the tragedy in Charlottesville unfolded. And no there’s even more talk about monuments. I wrote another post about that, if you’re interested in such things.
And now for the workout of the week.
***
I’ve had many conversations with my son, my friends and my workout partners trying to get to the bottom of this question:
Why do martial arts have a profound spiritual effect on people?
In 9 out of 10 folks there seems to be a correlation between practicing martial arts and feelings of spiritual improvement — even when the specific martial art an individual is studying has no obvious spiritual components. In addition to the aforementioned conversations I’ve done some research and some reading on the subject. But what I’ve done mostly is a ton of soul searching and meditation.
My conclusion is that there are three primary reasons for this.
Exercise is spiritual medicine. Exercise creates the ideal brain chemistry for spiritual experience by stimulating the production and release of endocannabinoids (the primary chemical responsible for runner’s high) and endorphins (natural pain killers). This sets the stage for the next two reasons why martial arts correlate with spiritual experience. The second one is…
Fraternity is a shared spiritual experience. Working out with other people, in fact just being with other people, stimulates the production and release of vasopressin and oxytocin, the so-called “bonding molecules” which are linked with feelings of attachment, friendship and love. Physical touching seems to be extra good and stimulating this release, and there’s a lot of touching other people in the martial arts.
That’s two reasons. Now for the final one, the big one, the monster reason why martial arts and spiritual development go hand-in-hand.
Martial arts are about being a hero — doing battle with the Chaos Dragon — and that’s about as spiritual as it gets. Sure, there’s some more brain chemistry involved here, but it’s more than that. Setting goals and achieving them releases dopamine into your brain and overcoming challenges releases serotonin. Dopamine is creates the sensation of pleasure and positive rewards, while serotonin, body’s natural anti-depressant, is tied to feelings of self worth, belonging and most of all confidence. Fighting releases adrenaline, and that’s kind of fun and energizing too. But the thing to focus on is that martial arts are another version of the hero myth. As Joseph Campbell described it, the myth goes like this:
“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”
When you’re doing martial arts you’re venturing into the unknown, facing down God-knows-what potential challenges, and practicing how to protect yourself and the people you care about from harm. That’s the essential, central story of human civilization, starting with Marduk fighting Tiamat — the world’s oldest known story! — up through Hercules vs. the Hydra, Beowulf vs Grendel, St. George, and so on.
When you’re doing martial arts you’re acting out a story so ancient, powerful and important — how could it not be spiritual? That’s why in Cabal Fang we fly a flag with a black dragon on it.
Here’s a great article that sums up, and backs up, the assertions about brain chemistry I just made.
And now for the workout of the week.
I just finished re-reading Robert Pirsig’s book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for the third time. It gets better every time I read it. Haven’t read it? You should fix that.
Anyway, one of the ideas central to the book is the Ancient Greek concept of arete or excellence. Pirsig’s point (as I see it anyway) is that you as soon as you pluck a flower it starts to die, as soon as you mount a butterfly under glass you’ve destroyed it’s ethereal beauty, and as soon as you define excellence you’ve killed it’s dynamic, transformational potential. Excellence (Pirsig uses the word quality) has to be ever-receding. With excellence you never arrive. Arete is a carrot hanging on a pole in front of a mule. It should never get caught and eaten.
As Lao Tzu said in Tao Te Ching,
“The tao which can be described is not the tao.”
The other day I stumbled on to an unusual coincidence concerning arete.
Flashback…
My mother had some challenges in her life that made it hard for her to be positive. She always struggled focus on the future and on moving forward. But she had a Bible passage that she clung to as an inspiration to be positive, and she passed on the wisdom of that passage to me when she gave me my bible about 40 years ago.
A couple of weeks ago something pretty awful happened, something really shocking and scary that put me on my heels. So I reached out to that passage for some much-needed comfort. The passage is Philippians 4:4-9, and it goes like this:
“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And finally my brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence (arete), if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you.”
There are two things I want to point out in that passage. The first is that Paul says “the peace of God, which passes all understanding,” which sounds a lot like the tao, or like ever-receding goodness. The second is that, in the original Greek, the word Paul used for “excellence” is arete.
Yep, arete.
There was a Greek goddess named Arete who personified the idea. According to Wikipedia,
“The only story involving Arete was originally told in the 5th century BC by the sophist Prodicus, and concerns the early life of the hero Heracles. At a crossroads, Arete appeared to Heracles as a young maiden, and offered him glory and a life of struggle against evil; her counterpart Kakia (κακία, “badness”), offered him wealth and pleasure. Heracles chose to follow the path of Arete.”
The concept of arete is an example of universal wisdom, and it’s embedded in all the world’s great philosophies and religions. The quest for arete is personified in the tale of every hero, and I think also in the idea of Logos.
Which is why arete inheres in the Cabal Fang concept of mettlecraft. Want to know more? Get a copy of the book and read about it. Ebook here, hardcopy here.
And now for the workout of the week.
Part One — High Intensity Circuit Training. Set up four stations — a hitting station, a lifting station, a swinging station and a squatting station. Set a timer for rounds of 2:00 minutes, no breaks, and complete 8 rounds — that’s 16:00 minutes. For the hitting station, hit a stump with an ax, punch a heavy bag with your fists, or beat on a tire with a sledge. For the lifting station, flip a tire, squat press a barbell, lift a sandbag, etc. You get the idea. Improvise! You must go as hard as you can — hit, lift, swing and squat with the maximum intensity you can muster. Take as few 12-count breaks as you must in order to finish standing up. Video below.
Part Two — Meditation on arete. What the hell is excellence anyway? Well, if you don’t have any idea what it is, you probably aren’t going to have any luck in your pursuit of it! So set a timer for 8 minutes. Assume your usual meditative posture and meditate on arete. When you’re done, get out your training log or journal and write at least 100 words on what arete means to you.
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I teach free of charge through Heritage Arts , a 501(c)(3) educational charity offering free or donation-only classes related to martial arts, fitness, outdoor skills, and spiritual development. Distance learning programs available. Visit the Heritage Arts website to find out more, or click here to join the Heritage Self-Defense group on Facebook.
What is Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble? It’s mind-body-spirit form of American Rough ‘n’ Tumble, which began as a manner of no-holds-barred fighting in the Southern Virginia backcountry during the Colonial Era and has since grown, evolved, and adapted to the realities of modern self-defense. An amalgam of the varying techniques brought to America by colonists from all over the world, blended with the fighting methods of the over 900 distinct indigenous tribes, American Rough ‘n’ Tumble is perhaps the world’s most fearsome martial art.
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Robert Mitchell Jr. 