Overcoming Fear Part III

Okay so now that this turned out to be “way longer” than I anticipated it to be I’ll cover some other aspects of this in more detail in the next installment. But I had to do this because I realized after going over the previous Blog posts there were a few plot holes in my previous posts so please stay with me. 

Confessions of the Grandmaster

“Since I was young I always, when dealing with people whether fighting growing up or as a Police Officer, I always tried to make people ‘feel awkward’ in their movement when dealing with me… I created Guided Chaos to throw the ‘monkey wrench’ into what everyone else was doing with their movement.”

                            --Grandmaster John C. Perkins

Heed this quote above, write it down, meditate on it whatever you have to do but remember it! It is I feel “the essence” of what separates Guided Chaos from all other arts. How we transcend technique. How we are “Unavailable yet Unavoidable”. It is why we do, what we do, the way we do it, when we do it.  It is why we can dive in with reckless abandon, control our fear, focus it and give it right back to you! I recall while holding court in class one evening and stating the following to the class:

“All that is possible within our bodies that, which is known or unknown to us, we are already capable of it is just a matter of developing our bodies to do it, take advantage of it, and harness it.”

We are “Brand X” martial arts so to speak, we are what we need, where we need it, when we need it. We are the wind and its shadow, smoke and fire, like water or an anvil. We can become these things, a combination of them or all of them at the same time and then dissipate in a micro-second into vapor. It is because we focus on Principles we are pure function, devoid of useless superfluous form. Others talk about striking from The Void, we are “The Void” because we create The Void, the Vacuum or as Musashi would say “Nothingness”.

Everyone else is spending all of their time and energy learning how to deal with “this technique” or “that situation”. There are many assumptions out there and many dangerous assumptions at that! Whereas in Guided Chaos while we do train to deal with a number of situations or possible attacks, we focus the majority of our energy on not letting it happen in the first place or as people who train with me hear me say all of the time, “I don’t think so!”

It is training with this in mind where at a certain point everything you do is not so much a technique or specific skill but a focus of your will. The part of movement that cannot be seen with the eye but only with your mind and felt with your body.

Grandmaster Perkins likes to refer to this ability as “throwing a Monkey wrench into their movement”. Meaning no matter what they try to do he’s always doing things to disrupt their movement whether it’s stepping off line, stepping in and cutting off their movement, breaking their balance, striking them or just changing the attitude of his body. Whatever they do he’s always throwing it off. In my observation this is less a technique per se than a way of thinking when dealing with another person’s motion since it’s always changing. The key is developing this to the point where there is no thought at doing this.

In the first part of this series on “Overcoming Fear” I discussed what I believe to be what are “Rational Fear” and “Irrational Fear”. In the second installment I discussed this from my own observations as well as some of my earlier understandings in the art of Guided Chaos so now I’m going to get into it a little more and go from there

If you missed the two installments you can access them here: https://protectyourself.mykajabi.com/blog/overcoming-fear-part-1

And here: https://protectyourself.mykajabi.com/blog/overcoming-fear-part-ii

More on Courage

 “You know there really is no such thing as a coward.”

                                                    --Grandmaster Tim Carron

I remember Tim telling me once, “You know there really is no such thing as a coward”. Now the back story to this is Tim as a young man in the Air Force was stationed at Da Nang Airbase I believe he told me he was there in 1967. This was not only our major air base but also a place that got hit “every day” by rockets and mortars.

Having experienced my share of rocket and mortar attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, I can tell you that the BS you see in the movies with the rounds “whistling” through the air when they’re coming in is pure fiction. Here’s how it really goes down, you’re sitting around with your buddies smoking cigars, eating chow and talking shit and then all of a sudden, things just start exploding. No whistling, no lead up music, so unless you have the counter battery with you there’s no warning.

Fragments from a mortar, artillery shell or rocket will cut you in half like you weren’t even there. I remember Gunner Steel telling me about the time he was hit with shrapnel from a mortar round when he was in Vietnam. He said, “I don’t care what you do, you can jump in water, roll around in dirt or whatever. That thing’s going to go out when it wants to.”

Anyway, Tim would then go on to explain,

“When I was in Vietnam you would see guys who were scared to death literally petrified one moment and the next moment if there was an attack they’re the same guys who would be the first ones running to help people, diving into the fire to pull their buddies out”.

Like I’ve said before when the time comes often “courage finds you”.

“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”

                                                                --Heraclitus

The reason for the quote from Heraclitus is to once again reinforce the fact that nothing we feel or deal with today is new. He makes a fundamental observation about the human condition as it relates to conscripting men for war that hasn’t changed in thousands of years. He divides it between those who have “no business” on the field of battle, those who are just “targets” soaking up arrows, “the fighters” and “the Warrior” and most likely their leader.

What he doesn’t say is that what probably differentiates one from another is probably their level of training and mental outlook. The point is everyone in combat has the same level of risk of being killed but not everyone for various reasons handles their fear in the same way and I believe much if this has to do with what they feel they are capable of. Again capability and competence breeds and fosters confidence, and “confidence” is that space between fear and courage. Even more so you see this difference in how people handle their fear outside the military. You know what I mean.

You hear it in their voices. In the phrases they say, the words they use. Statements like, “well my fear is…”, “what I’m afraid of…”, “my big fear is…”, “my concern is…”, and on it goes. You get the idea. We all from time-to-time make statements like this but when we say them “all of the time” it’s a problem.

This is nothing more than the “spirit of fear” speaking. This is deep stuff, deep within the recesses of their minds and in their bodies. You start off with that way of thinking and you’ve pretty much already have been defeated. By your worst enemy--yourself! If you want to get over this, you have to come to terms with it. You can't fix problems if you don’t acknowledge they’re there. You can lie to others but not yourself.

Now, don’t get me wrong I’m not one of these “Pollyanna”, happy-happy-joy-joy people who thinks the world is all unicorns, bubble gum and love. You know the type, they’re the ones who have that slack jawed look on their faces like they’re sitting in the audience of the “Oprah Winfrey Show” buying into nonsense like “The Secret”.

I mean listen, I’d like to be able to hop, skip, hold hands and be naked too, but I’m sorry that isn’t the real world. You know it and I know it. You can think all the happy thoughts you want but reality is a cruel teacher.

The mindset I’m talking about is the one that views the world through the “prism of fear”. That cultivates the “spirit of fear” and infects others with it so not only do they curse themselves but become a curse among us. They’re afraid and they want everyone else to be afraid like them.

For them the glass is always half-empty and never full measure. Every decision, every action is one predicated by deep seated fear often for no “good reason” just fear for the sake of fear. Not good…

I’ll never forget a recent interview given by the current Secretary of Defense retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, and his response to the interviewer’s question. It was just classic General Mattis! It went as follows:

“Interviewer: So General Mattis, as Secretary of Defense what keeps you up at night?

Gen Mattis: Nothing keeps me up at night I keep other people up at night...”

Here, here!

This reporter was expecting the usual PC mealy mouthed "Beltway" answer and instead it became an opportunity to hear how “real warriors” think and speak. Direct, straight forward without apology. The truth is the very question itself was rooted in the irrational spirit of fear, but it doesn’t have to be that way, nor do they have to be that way. Neither you nor I have to accept being unreasonably fearful. You can’t get rid of all fear, and for reasons I’ve already stated you don’t want to. You instead want to learn to control it, manage it and ultimately use it.

“Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie.”

                                                            --Miyamoto Musashi

As I said in the beginning of this series, I already gave you the first part of how to deal with Irrational Fear if you recall I basically said, “Get over yourself” so that’s the first part learning to come to terms with your own humanity and mortality.

Next is the realization that there are things you can do and things you can’t. In other words, there are a million things you can do and a million you can’t, there are a million things you can have in the universe and a million you can’t and that’s just the way it is so screw your feelings, get over yourself, accept it, own it, control it. Or be owned and controlled by it. Either way you have a choice, you always have a choice it’s just that some are better than others. So choose to control your fear.

Once you’ve had your “Road to Damascus” moment and you let the scales fall from your eyes you are now ready to rationally deal with your fear and develop ways to harness it.

Moral Certainty

 “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”

                                                                          --Gen George S. Patton

One thing that people always ask me and I guess it’s normal and that is even with all of the training they receive and that is will they be able to “bring it” if their moment of truth arrives. I get it. Part of it I believe is because one of the main issues people must overcome when dealing with another human being is the idea if they have to go into battle is being injured or killed. The thing I tell people is, “Look anything you do when you have to go into action can get you injured or killed especially if you do nothing so do something”!

The truth is there’s no “perfect way” to deal with any situation once you’re in it. So here’s the deal, when thinking about the potential for violence in your life you need to set it straight in your mind before-hand you must develop what I call “moral certainty”. It must be clear in your mind that once you make the decision to fight it is an all or nothing proposition. 

It is not about being brave or being a hero but merely accepting “what is” for “what it is” and doing what must be done. Unfortunately, as I’ve said in other blog posts we live in a culture where many, many people are conditioned to become victims including a lot of men. Not good!

It still after all these years teaching self-protection amazes me how many people are more afraid of getting in trouble with the law if they defend themselves than they are about becoming a homicide victim. Even worse, it is “shameful” that many in our culture reinforce this mindset of learned helplessness.

Now, at least in my mind there are two things "what is legal" and "what is right". Now if what is legal coincides with what is right then everything is fine and all is good, but if what is legal conflicts with what is right then I’m always going to strive to do "what is right" and consequences be damned…

No One has the Right

No one has the right to put their hands on you without your permission.

No one has the right to attack you.

No one has the right to threaten or accost you.

No one has the right to threaten your family, enter your home without your permission.

For when they do so, when they cross that line, they give up their own rights and forfeit their lives…

There needs to be no ambiguity in your mind about this.

Remember anything you do “especially doing nothing” can get you killed. The key is it is less about avoiding a fight or confrontation at all cost but instead focusing on “fighting when you have to”.   By focusing on “fighting only when you have to” you begin to develop a more proactive, morally certain and outward focus or awareness as well as the fighting skills to go with it.

Like the old samurai maxim, “In times of peace a gentleman keeps his sword by his side…” in the same way this is where your mind set needs to be. This is important because there are times when it is stupid to fight such as getting into fights in a bar that you probably had no business being in, in the first place or antagonizing someone for no reason over some petty squabble.

However, if someone breaks into your home or if you are out with your loved ones, and let’s say you are accosted by a criminal. Even if you comply with their demands for cash as many teach, and do everything to not antagonize the perp, even if there is a weapon produced. I have to be honest with you, if you think they’re going to harm you or your loved ones, you have to fight even at the expense of your life if your loved ones are to have any chance of survival.

In other words, you may find yourself in a situation where the only possible chance for your loved ones to escape may be by you fighting off the attacker(s) in order to allow them to.  Now, some will disagree with this due to the risk to your own life some may even say it is an unnecessary risk to take.

Well maybe… and true you “may” be killed but then again the question you have to ask yourself is even if you survive such an encounter if your loved ones are harmed, killed, assaulted or “worse”, could you live with the knowledge that “you did nothing” while they were being harmed? I know I couldn’t but only you can answer that question for yourself.

The point is you can do everything “right” and still end up in a situation where for whatever reason you may have to fight. So be it. All I’m saying is this is something that you must consider it’s not a perfect world and sometimes there just are no easy choices.

Better to be mentally and physically prepared to fight and not have to than not have a clue and end up a homicide victim anyway. Sometimes you just have to fight and that’s all there is to it. The sooner you accept that fact the better off you’re going to be and the more prepared you’re going to be should such an event befall you.

As a matter of fact, if you’re dealing with a person who is nothing more than a social predator, in many cases doing nothing almost guarantees it. Miyamoto Musashi sort of put this into perspective, Musashi writes,

“This is truth: When you sacrifice your life, you must make fullest use of your weaponry. It is false not to do so, and to die with a weapon as yet undrawn…”

Damn straight!

Sometimes you just have to fight and that’s the way it is but to die with your sword undrawn so to speak is “unforgivable”! You should be more worried about whether or not you pass into the afterlife with your sword "undrawn" than whether you can bring it. There’s an old Welsh saying on battle that goes something like, “Let all the blood be on the front of you.”

Many Viking Warriors before battle would often from what we’re told from history recite a prayer, it goes like this:

“Lo! there do I see my father.
Lo! there do I see my mother, sisters, my brothers.
Lo! there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning.
Lo! they do call to me.
They bid me take my place among them.
In the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live forever...”

(You can listen to it here at this link from the movie “The Thirteenth Warrior": https://youtu.be/RN-no1Ka7yU )

I’m not even of Norse decent and I’m all about this plan. Being a “Crusader” I can get behind this way of thinking. I can remember once when I was in Iraq and we were getting ready to go out on an Operation and my boss as always before we went out would gather us together in prayer, well one of his prayers went something like this,

“Lord, please watch over us and watch over my men, strengthen and guide us in all that we do.  And Lord… if you wouldn’t mind could you throw a little action our way… Amen!”

We weren’t being “cocky” or thought we were “bad asses”, we were just confident because we knew we were well trained. 

"We must sharpen our minds as well as our skills if our swords are to prevail in battle..."

                        - Attila King of the Huns, "The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun"

Like I’ve said in other Blog Posts, the US military takes young men from all walks of life, from every corner of our great nation, many who have never even held a gun before let alone fired one and within a relatively short period of time turn them into lethal Warriors.

One moment they are the kid on the high school football team, wrestling team, basketball team. They’re in the French club at school and before you know it they’re buying a corsage for their prom. Contrary to popular belief they are both rich and poor but the vast majority are middle class and most are not even old enough to purchase the “Demon Rum” at the time of their enlistment.

Yet they are formed from the same clay as you are and are no different than anyone else. The difference is we temper their minds by fire to push past fear, to own fear, master it and control it; we hammer their bodies to endure pain and hardship and learn how to work through it; striking the iron over and over shaping and molding until we forge them into a weapon. Their parents weep at their Boot Camp or Basic Training graduations with pride, because they also know. They are no longer their mother's son or daddy's little girl anymore, they are Marines they are Soldiers, etc. warriors all... we sharpen their minds, skills and "spirits" so that in the day of great evil, their swords may prevail in battle. 

Granted the people that join the military for the most part already have that mindset but the point is if they can develop that Mindset and be trained in less time than it takes the average martial artist to earn a Black Belt. Then so can you.

Okay I’m going to cut it off here and as I said at the start, this turned out to be way longer than I wanted it to be but I’ll cover some other aspects of this in more detail in the next installment I promise.

Thank you.

LtCol Al Ridenhour

Senior Master Instructor

GUIDED CHAOS

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

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