I don’t believe martial arts is for fighting. Nor is it for keeping physique. Do you want to get fit? Join a gym. Go swimming or another exercise. It will keep you in good shape. Do you wish to protect yourself? Carry a gun – a regular one, a Taser (stun gun) or pepper spray. And learn how to use them. Excelling in martial arts does not mean you will be victorious in physical combat. There are two things: possibilities and the probabilities of those possibilities. All things are possible, yet they may not be probable enough to occur. You have increased the probability that you will be victorious. Yet this is not certain. A grandmaster with decades of experience can fall to an unscrupulous rogue. It is not a guarantee of success. The role of martial arts is self-preservation.
What exactly is self-preservation? It is the protection of one’s self. Not specifically from anything, but from everything. Although it appears to be contradictory, many things that appear to be so. One must be protected from everything external by not being affected by it. And yet, one must still interact with the external world studiously.
If prior to learning martial arts one was misogynist or a misanthrope and after learning one remains the same, then the question may be asked: what change as actually occurred? It cannot be resolved by stating either superiority or proficiency over a particular item or weapon. Nor can it be explained away by flawless demonstration of a form or technique. The change must come from the inside. If change has not occurred, then the path is of no consequence.
My goal in learning, excelling and teaching martial arts is that of Zen. Zen is first, foremost, middle and last. Call is God, the Lord, Nature, Moksha, Nirvana or by any other name. Yet it is the only goal to have. If one is not in control of one’s own faculties, then of what use is controlling others?