Self Protection and Reality Training Academy

24/10/2018

WHAT IS THE ROOT OF COMBAT?

Firstly let’s take a look at a famous quote by Bruce Lee that brings this question to all our attentions.

"Jeet Kune Do, It's just a name, don't fuss over it. There's no such thing as a style if you understand the roots of combat."

Ok then, we can clearly see from this quote that Lee couldn't give a toss for the name JKD, as it's just a boat to get one across. Labelling something for the convenience of others to be able to understand it can all too often become self-defeating, and Lee knew that. The name is to be departed from when you realise properly the roots of combat, the name of JKD will become just a distant echo. Now we who have grown in truth know that the branches are the plethora of styles existing out there, and there are countless branches, but when we start stripping the BS away from all these made up styles what are we always left with!? That's right, the root! Ironic isn’t it?

And so we come to the root. Let's now consider one of if not the oldest recorded murders ever! (Genesis 4:8). That of Abel's murder by his jealous brother Cain. Are we told in the scriptures that Cain suddenly killed Able with a Taekwondo jumping spinning hook kick to the head, or a BJJ triangle choke, lol? No we're not, nor are we for that matter told he used a weapon, perhaps he hit his brother on the head with a rock, and maybe he used some Kali, lol. What we do know is that Cain was mighty angry and he rose up and slew Abel. Did Cain know martial arts!? Did Cain have the Gracie family DVD series on his shelf? Did he have the Tao of Jeet Kune Do at hand or a Dojo to train in? Did Cain have a 10th Dan Sifu to learn the secret ways from? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

The root of combat is purely primal simplicity, it is, OUR BODIES & OUR MINDS UNINDOCTRINATED. Your body is a kinetically engineered miracle designed to work in a way that is in accord with one's will. When the body becomes the metre for what to do in combat then one can quickly realise the LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATORS, and that metre if honestly studied will show the welder the truth in combat. This is why Lee said "No Way as Way, No Limitation as Limitation". Lee knew what the 'No Way' was; he'd discovered that honestly by training honestly. The 'No Way' was the way before styles, before preconceived ideas, before INDOCTRINATION. It just is you ‘being’, you're aggressive, you’re direct, it's that simple. Lee was trying to reach that original state that Cain knew. Lee called it 'Returning to the Original freedom' or Liberty. The 'No Way' is the way before 'Ways' (styles) came into being. The root is the essence of that simplicity that existed before all the branches flowered into a plethora of styles and hypothesis, fuelled by mans love of rituals, dogmas, and traditions.

So when you workout let your body speak to you study the kinetics of the design, and you too will soon see what the 'Longest Range Weapon to the Nearest Target' is, you will quickly know where to hit and what with, you will know what the longest range hand strike is and where it should hit, you will realise the universality of the body. Stay away from the branches, they are merely off-shoots, they will be like weeds ensnaring you, do not get caught up in the branches, the root is the essence of combat, your body is the key, God is the locksmith. Use the key wisely.

“The Root is YOU before indoctrination; it’s the No Way as Way! Conversely the branches are YOU after indoctrination by the 'Classical Mess’, it’s the Some Ways as Ways!”
Jimi Heys.

Liberated Martial Arts, © copyright 2018 Sifu Jim Heys.