Perfect Clarity: Into the Heart of Darkness

In my last post, I discussed “Perfect Clarity” and as a refresher, I believe that there is a serious lack of understanding as to what it is. You see this lack of understanding, this lack of “clarity” encompasses a big part of the fear that holds us back.  This fear of the unknown, this fear of what could happen, of what could be. Is a fear that keeps us from taking the leap of faith, and to boldly step into that space and do what must be done, and what we need to do when we need to “kick that ass”. This is what I'm talking about overcoming if you are to develop the level of clarity you seek.

Now... for those of you who are fans of comics like I am then you'll remember the two characters in the picture below. I only present this because 1) this was just too good to pass up and miss an opportunity to take a shot at my Army Buddies and; 2) it highlights something very important about being well trained. 

You see, while Captain America was a badass, he was more a creation of science, granted Steve Rogers had the heart of a lion but at the end of the day without the magic of science he was just a scrawny kid from Brooklyn. 

Now, Frank Castle (aka the Punisher) he was a Marine. Made of muscle and blood and born of fire on the grinder of Paris Island, and probably a little fucking crazy. He ain't throwing no shield like a frisbee, he'll just shoot your ass and be done with it. The point is for all of Captain America's advantages he was no match for a 5.56 copper rolled round with a tungsten carbide steel penetrator with a muzzle velocity (minus suppressor) of over 3000 feet per second.

Because you see you're either trained or you're not and like "Batman". If you happen to run into the Punisher it probably doesn't end well for you. You see like Batman his power didn't lie in some super ability but the most awesome superpower humans have and it's that thing that rests between our ears called our brain. Once you understand that it's an entirely different ball game but you need to develop it the right way.

To reiterate once we understand, once we have trained and gained some proficiency in the art of death much of the fear dissipates because as I’ve said in the past,

“Proficiency fosters competence which allows us to stand in that space between courage and fear know as confidence”.

In the martial arts once again, “in my view” too many people have forgotten this. Have forgotten how to train people to be able to stand in that space, to gain the confidence, “real confidence”, confidence that can be felt in the center of your body, in your heart of hearts, that feeling you have when you are prepared to wage battle and win at all costs or die trying. Where your heart, your mind is aflame, and to stand if necessary and do what must be done and crush your enemies.

They’ve forgotten that “martial” part of the martial arts and so their training lacks the necessary focus to develop the perfect clarity people need for battle. For, the battle starts in your mind and is expressed through your body.

They’ve strayed from the way…

This is the clarity that I speak of, this is what you want this is the level of skill you desire more importantly you will know it when you get there.

You see I have a theory about training but before I get into that I want to tell you a story...

Afghanistan, Spin Gar, June 2010

I could already see the look on his face, that slack-jawed thousand-yard stare, I know because I used to have it. I can remember the conversation,

“Now listen Lieutenant, these Marines are probably going to ask you to go on patrol with them later on today. Trust me when I tell you this is a test. You see we’re looked at as headquarters folks and basically these guys out here in the shit look at us with contempt. So they’re going to test you to see if you have any balls. If you turn down the opportunity to go with them and share in the danger they may respect your rank and call you Sir to your face. But behind your back, they’re giving you the middle finger because in their minds you’re a coward and not worthy to be called a warrior. Don’t doubt me on this.”

I went on to tell him,

“I was once hanging out with another Staff NCO in the dark smoking cigars and we could hear some Marines talking shit. Now they didn’t know we were there and we just listened and I can tell you that the perception is if you’re not willing to share in the danger that they face every day then you’re not a man and they don’t care what your rank is. Now, get it in your head. You’re trained for this sort of thing, even though you’re not Infantry by MOS (he was an Intelligence Officer) you’re still a fucking Marine and you were trained at the Basic School in the same skills as these Marines who are Grunts. You will go with them because you’re a Marine and that’s what you are trained to do. If you don’t and I’m not going to force you to go, you will know for the rest of your life that those men will look at you as a coward which is what they think about most of us at the head shed. It’s just the way it is. Trust me you have more than enough training for these missions but until you’ve shared in the risk… you just don’t get it.”

He would over the next month while there with me go on a number of combat missions and operations with the various units we were working with. Mostly to do intelligence collection and to build his knowledge of the reality on the ground versus the bullshit intelligence reports (his words) he realized he was writing in the past.  But he also came to another conclusion, that I want to share here.

You see when you have skin in the game, when you know it’s your ass on the line when you know at any moment walking the same ground as our young Marines walked every day and dodging the same IEDs and risking getting his legs blown off. Only then do you appreciate the importance of what you do in training, collecting and analyzing intelligence, before-hand. Only then does everything come into focus into perfect clarity. Trust me nothing sobers a man up faster than coming to terms in a flash with his own mortality, and nothing focusses you more than imminent death for either you or your loved ones or even to protect someone else.

For many who have never stood in that space, this is a challenging thing and even hard to comprehend because it doesn’t feel “real” to you. The fear, the apprehension, the unknown, the coming to terms with your own mortality. the knowledge of knowing you can cease to exist in the blink of an eye. And knowing all this at a very young age.

As an aside I have also found that even in the martial arts those who have never experienced this in any form, tend to have an even “greater fear” of death regardless of who they are, how big they are, how strong, or even how skilled etc… Death comes to us all and the last thing people want to feel is the pain and suffering that may accompany it.

Understandable.

But I can tell you from personal experience the fear of it “far outweighs” the actual experience of dodging it.

This in my view is the importance of realistic training or to train as realistic as possible. To train people to the edge and not beyond it but also to train them in the body so that their minds can get there. If you are not training people to fight for their very lives and helping them manage the fear that comes with life and death combat to the best of your ability. You’re wasting their time and are a curse upon them. As a reality-based martial arts instructor as far as I’m concerned. If you are not focusing your time on the development of your students and their ability to win the damn fight of their lives you really like “no shit”, need to find something else to do.

This mindset is not “the way” and definitely NOT the Warrior Flow Way!

Anything else is just wrong and in my view criminally negligent.

As I’ve said to some of my Instructors if you’re not there in the mind? I’ll help get you there; if you can’t stand in that space? I’ll get you there; if you cannot manage your fears? I’ll train you to do so and help you get there. Because at the end of the day we’re all human.

But if you at some point cannot do these things? You won’t be a Warrior Flow Instructor for long!

If you can’t do these things, then you have in my view no business teaching people to defend themselves. How can you teach people these things if you can’t even do it for yourself?

Really?

No way Jose!

Anyhow…

You have to train them in “truth”, training them with the proper mindset. However, one that at the same time does not limit what they may be capable of but one that asks the questions, How? Why not? Who said so? Says who? How does that happen in the first place? And on and on.

So, getting back to my theory, it goes sort of like this, it’s kind of my own sort of “Haiku” so to speak but with more words. You see the way I see it, this understanding is critical towards developing “Perfect Clarity” as a warrior because the most important skill I believe a warrior must have “is” the ability to know and understand the truth and to be able to discern it. Everything else including moral certainty and courage are but byproducts of it. Without the truth you can’t rationally and logically get there.

So… it goes in no particular order as follows:

We are all part of the universe, the world, etc.;

You and I operate within this universe within time and physical space;

Therefore, movement within the martial arts can only operate within time and space within the known universe;

The tangible and intangible are one and the same and cannot be separated;

We can all only move but so fast, for full speed is full speed regardless of the circumstances;

Time is “time” and works the same way for us all but is relative based on our perceptions;

All men are basically the same;

All learning, “all learning” for men, starts with “thought”, conscious thought, subconscious thought, movement, observation, experiential, experimental, awareness, etc.… “thought”;

So, the “difference” between one man or another is “training”;

Now, if “it” can be done, then it “can” be done;

So, if people can do it, if people have done it, then it can be done;

If you want to be able to do something, as long as it conforms to the laws of nature and is presented in the proper context, then it can be trained too;

If it is within the laws of physics and human physiology, then it can be done;

So, if you learn how the universe works and seek out its mastery, then who knows “what” can be done;

That, as Hannibal would say, “perception is a tool that is pointed on both ends”, so even “actual” or “perceived” physical advantages can become “liabilities”, if used the wrong way;

So, if you “know” how a thing works, in the proper context, then even self-imposed limitations fall by the waist-side for you can learn to work around them, get past them, get ahead of them;

These things are “immutable laws” that govern nature, and are, therefore “true”, non-negotiable and you shouldn’t let anyone tell you differently.

To me, the above is “the essence” of the “Warrior Flow” philosophy that guides my thought process as to how to train people, especially on a physical level. Granted there is a mental aspect and way more to all of this of course.  But I’ve found this way of thinking, this philosophy, this etymology cuts through the bias and other bullshit idiosyncrasies that people in the martial arts have about how to train people and what to train them in.

“The most well-made tools are worthless in the hands of those unskilled in their use.”

• Alexander the Great

All this nonsense over who’s Kung Fu is better is just that, nonsense. What does it matter if you have a thousand great techniques if you never develop the underlying mechanisms within the body that actually do the work?

In “Lessons from My Masters 42: The Sum of Battle” I discuss this thing we call “talent” and how I define talent as,

Talent:

“The intersection between capability and intellect, and the ability to continually improve.”

I discussed how through “intellect” you can close the gap on any perceived lack of or loss of physical capability. However, I want to also point out that if your “physical capability” exceeds your intellect at some point when the physical declines or you find yourself physically outmatched, you cannot go the other way and close the gap between the two. The reason should be obvious at a certain point our physical ability has a limitation because it is a limitation within the universe. There is no escaping this truth.

Understanding this with perfect clarity can then lead us to do some extraordinary things. Things that once you have a basic understanding of how the universe works you are able to do things that not only seem to transcend your physical limitations, but things that people do not think are possible in a real confrontation for your life. Here’s the deal on that and I’ll finish up with this point.

Like in the military unfortunately even in the martial arts most people are training to fight “the last war”. They look at something maybe that they saw on YouTube or they look back at their own experiences and while trying to analyze the situation. They “assume” because a thing worked or didn’t work in the past that they must train in a given manner based off of those narrow observations. But they never ask the questions as to,

How did that shit happen in the first place?

What were the circumstances?

What was the context in which those decisions were made?

If they seek perfect clarity they need to be able to answer those questions. However, they don’t ask those questions so they end up pigeonholing their minds into the narrow experiences they had. Even if the circumstances might be totally different in the future where their solutions today may be wrong.

As a result, they train the wrong way because they have the wrong mindset from the start. They start off with wrong understanding so they reach wrong conclusions. I’ve seen this in the military and in some of my experiences working with law enforcement too many times and I’d be a fool to not believe that this same dynamic isn’t every bit as much a problem in the martial arts.

“Superficial goals produce superficial results.”

• Attila the Hun

This is exactly the reason I don’t do a lot of scenario training because if not done correctly “in context”. It actually closes people’s minds off to what else is possible amongst the multitude of things that can happen in a real confrontation. Thus absolving people of using their God-given common sense, something I refuse to do.

To use your intellect to solve problems and overcome limitations to become a warrior I believe is the key because it transcends the physical and allows for a different way to attack the problem. You see whatever you are capable of in your body is all that you have and you have to be able to take stock of yourself if you are to overcome yourself, overcome fear.

That means you have to be willing to see things as they are and develop yourself accordingly in the body. So that you are capable of dealing with the unexpected as best you can without preconceived limitations and notions of what is possible and overcome the fear that comes with dealing with the unknown. Those who cannot, it is due to their rejection of reality and in defiance of the gods so to speak, defiance of the natural order.

More to follow…

Thank you.

     Al Ridenhour

     CEO, Creator Warrior Flow™

Al Ridenhour is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the US Marine Corps with 28-years of service active and reserve with multiple combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also served as a Law Enforcement consultant to the NJ State Police Special Operations Section, NJ Transit Police Operations Section, The NJ Regional Operations and Intelligence Center, the FBI Philadelphia Bomb Section, and subject matter expert to the US Department of Homeland Security's, Explosives Division. With nearly 40-years of Combative Arts experience, he is recognized as a self-defense expert worldwide and is highly sought out for seminars, workshops, lectures, and special individualized training.  He is the author of "Warrior Flow Mind" (2019), Co-Author of "Attack Proof: The Ultimate Guided in Personal Protection (Human Kinetics, 2010) and the Co-Author of "How to Fight for Your Life" (June 2010).

For more go to https://protectyourself.mykajabi.com/

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