[malorum]

I think musashi is reported as saying

"the art of kendo is about beating the other person in a fight"

Too many people get hung up in the philosophy (this is backwards). Do what you do well, be it Poker, fighting or whatever else, and you will understand the art/philosophy stuff. Try not to do it the other way round.

Also note that I have not met many westerners able to dedicate the same sort of time to the combat skills, that people like lee did. The whole practical approach is so different that I would suggest the philosophy is not entirely applicable.

For the western person wanting to learn combat skills, I would hope he or she wants to be as effective as possible, in a short space of time, without training 10 hours a day for years just to make a little progress. Eastern arts may form a basis for this, but are not in themselves efficient in the typical western scenario.
People are beautiful yet fragile things, it is far too easy to break them. After teaching pratical self-defence, kickboxing, and mixed fighting for many years, I have increasingly disregarded the eastern philosphy slant on the martial arts (as applied by westerners). IMHO It really amounts to turning violence into pseudo-religion. It's also innefficient in the western social context, with its time constraints on such training.

In my view if you want to learn martial arts, then find someone who will teach you to beat the other guy on the street or in the competition (better still both - as they are distinct). You don't need any philosphy stuff to do that. If you want some pretty stuff you can always get him to teach you some nunchaku or other weapons (no you don't need to be an advanced grade to do this).
Hopefully he will also spend enough time teaching you restraint, and how to avoid killing or maiming someone.

Learn to fight well and you'll get some pretty cool insights of your own. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]