“We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” - Archilochus
A good martial artist is resilient. A normal person typically chooses the easiest path. A martial artist is not normal and therefore always intentionally chooses the harder path which makes things hard on themselves. The reason why is because a good martial artist knows that hardships create resiliency and resiliency is the path to true inner strength. Furuya Sensei once wrote, “A samurai sword is made by folding the layers of iron over themselves over and over to create a thousand layers of iron which actually crisscross in a mesh giving the sword its great strength and resiliency. In the same way, correct repetition of the technique over and over again in one's practice creates many layers of understanding within one’s body and mind in the same way a samurai sword is forged. In Japanese, the words for ‘forging’ and ‘learning’ are often interchanged.” A couple of examples of this interchange are renshuu (練習) which means “practice” or “polishing” and tanren (鍛錬) or “to forge” or “to discipline.” Today, more so than ever before, it is easy to take the comfortable well-lit path. However, the easy path is not the path to true mastery because it doesn’t create resiliency. Resiliency is the strength to bounce back from adversity. In Japanese, tsuyoi (強い) means “strength” but it also means “resiliency.” Thus, one can posit that true strength only comes about when one is resilient. We won’t know how resilient we are until we are tested and that is why a martial artist is always intentionally putting themselves in difficult situations. With each adversity overcome, our true strength or resiliency is revealed. Furuya Sensei also wrote, “When we suffer bad times, we always think that the world is against us. Actually, we can look at it in another way. The bad times we suffer are actually blessings in disguise. Only the purest gold is tested in the hottest fire, lesser metals cannot take the heat. Dogen Zenji said, ‘The greater the aspiration, the greater the enlightenment.’ Aspiration is always tested and polished by hardship.” In life and in the martial arts, we get to choose whether we want to be gold or some fake gold like copper and, truly, the only person who will know is ourselves. Archilochus said, “We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” Push yourself to reveal your best self.
Today’s goal: Become more resilient by purposefully choosing the harder path.
Watch this video to better understand resiliency