The Warrior's Paradox

”Only the obtuse are unappreciative of paradox.”
--Tom Robbins


More than once I have tried to explain what I had dubbed “the Warrior’s Paradox” to people who, not surprisingly, didn’t get it.

“How can you claim to pursue balance, harmony, compassion, neighborly love, and all that good stuff, yet simultaneously be ready/willing/able to cause harm to that very same person? How can you say you are trying to follow the Way, when violence is in direct opposition to the Way? Being a Christian/Buddhist is to turn the other cheek.”

Not everything is up to you, that’s how. George Carlin put it best when he said, “Pacifism is a good idea, but it can get you killed.”

You can turn the other cheek. Or you can turn both cheeks, then clobber the jerk who is slapping your cheeks. Or, perhaps best yet, you can be a good neighbor and a respectful human being, and if the son of a bitch still wants to slap you without good reason, you can disarm and subdue him in the middle of his attack, thus keeping your cheeks unharmed. It’s up to the other guy, isn’t it? I classify it under Accountability. Same as saying, “Don’t pick a fight with a total stranger, because he might be highly trained in CQC, and then you will have bitten off more than you can chew. Hey, why don’t ya try being a civil human being in the first place?” Basically, if the other guy chooses to act out of violence, it is entirely on his head what happens as a result of that choice (of course, the defender has the unfortunate moral obligation of determining and executing “appropriate” force, not suddenly free to unleash hell just because the other guy “started it”).

The rhetorical argument on this matter speaks to a broader, more alarming misunderstanding of the Martial Way itself. Not surprisingly, many of the people who misunderstand are either misusing their own Christianity or Buddhism to do so.

First of all, let’s look at the I’m-smarter-because-I-am-in-the-liberal-arts-higher-education-and-I-don’t-believe-in-Jesus crowd. So you have outgrown your Bible-thumping, American JEE-zuss upbringing. Good for you. Here’s a cookie. But where in the hell do you think the martial arts originate? Karate, from Okinawa. Obviously. All the budo, for that matter, of course come from Japan. But if you trace everything back far enough… hey, look, we’re in Buddhist monasteries in India. How about that.

My problem with this overly intellectual crowd (most of whom found their way to BGSU, where they spent their time drooling over any mediocre musical drivel that came from the East) is the misunderstanding of meditation itself. Meditation is not an isolated thing. You don’t just spend an hour sitting on the floor every day, then go back to your contradictory lifestyle, apathetic of your physical self. That’s just as pointless as spending an hour praying to God then thinking you’re a good Christian no matter what you do outside of your living room.

Kata is essentially “moving meditation.” This concept is just as misunderstood as anything I can mention in this post. Meditation is both physical and mental, or else there is no balance, is there. The body is not a temple or a vessel. It’s both, neither, and more. Personally, I don’t believe Buddha was an obese man at all, but then again I never met the guy.

The artsy pseudo-Buddhists, the Orient enthusiasts who are actually far more Occidental than they care to admit, scorn Christianity for being too narrow-minded and exclusive in their view of what is the One True Way, yet those same people doubt and misunderstand the meditative nature of anything other than their own way of sitting cross-legged on the floor with their eyes closed and breathing deeply. They are blissfully unaware of their own gloriously ironic hypocrisy.

“But there is only one Way, Tim. That’s why it’s called the Way.” And we’re back where we started. Every time.

Impossible to be understood by outsiders? Is “outsiders” a derogatory term to begin with? Does everyone including myself just always come off sounding snooty, no matter what? Who has raped their own belief system more—the Christians or the Buddhists?

I don’t know, man. I’m tired of philosophizing these days. It’s so easy to fall into an irresolvable argument just for the sake of debating. That’s not really debating so much as masturbating. Here’s a parallel for you: the intellectual bully who tries to start an argument with a total stranger at a coffee shop because he assumes the other person can’t possibly be as smart as he is… yeah, that dude is exactly like the belligerent drunk at a bar who shoves a total stranger because he thinks the other guy can’t possible be as good a fighter as he is. It’s the exact same. It’s taking a total stranger you know nothing about, assigning him the role of OWNED!, and then proceeding to elevate yourself because you assumed too much and want to show off. (I just came here to drink coffee and read my book in peace, dude. Sorry if the title of the book sounds pretentiously Eastern, but I actually do read things other than Star Wars novels.)

Like I said, philosophizing just seems to end up being an exercise in futility, one I am long disinterested in. These days, I tend to shrug it off and walk away from the argument, confident that the person just wants to belittle me anyway. What’s the point? I’m not out to convert anybody, after all. But I’m hardly the spearhead of a revolutionary new philosophical movement here.

Furthermore, to imply that my heart is in the wrong place is ludicrous. Budo philosophy strikes a chord deep within me. And no one understands what that means, or even what the appeal is. Lowry writes about sabi-shiori (“solitary alone-ness” loses something in the translation) and the nature of often being alone both literally and philosophically.

A few weeks ago, I sat in on a church sermon cautioning us against idolatry in all its forms. Certainly a good lesson for any person on any walk of life, something everyone needs to hear. And the guy even talked about how good things can become idols, too (e.g. fanatical exercise routines). Something about that seemed offensive to me. At first I thought it was my pride reacting, which would certainly mean that it was the Truth trying to wedge its way between my stubbornly crossed arms and into my heart. But I pondered it for a few days, and decided that it wasn’t pride but some more mature cousin to cognitive dissonance. I decided that there can hypothetically be “too much of a good thing,” but also that there’s a difference between obsessive behavior and a way of life (neither of which I can truly say I have at the moment, mind you; I’m just as much an unbalanced failure as anyone else).

To a point, I can understand and even admire the person who is so pious as to purge their lives of anything not related to Jesus, wrapping themselves up in the coziness of Scripture, living the Way as they see it, simplifying everything including their views of the world. It’s a life of sacrifice and service, something I can understand. But at what point does religion itself become an idol? At what point is religion unhealthy? Well, I’m not touching that. Just throwing it out there as a counterpoint; if you want to split hairs about “idolatry,” I can go all day. Just because the budo are ostensibly connected to Shinto doesn’t mean… ah, whatever. I digress.

I used to be discouraged by the automatic misunderstanding on the part of such people. Now I just find it irrelevant, sometimes even comforting. Yes, comforting. Comforting, as in “I take comfort knowing that, if these people who can’t possible understand are telling me I’m wrong, it really means that I am most likely on the right track.”

But for those who do wish to understand, I can advise two things. First, take at least a year of regular classes in any budo (stay the hell away from the sports-oriented, commercial mockeries). Second, I have some books I’d be more than happy to loan you. But I want to go on record saying that only a shallow fool thinks he can gain knowledge simply by reading books. No, you have to actually test the ideas. Try them out. Practice them. Being able to quote philosophers doesn’t make you wise, it makes you pretentious. Just as quoting the Bible doesn’t make you a better Christian. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I thought you were walking away from this thinking that I am just being pretentious. I’m not. Not at all. I’m just struggling to explain some apparent contradictions, that’s all. I held my tongue for years, internalizing when I could have spoken up out of pretentious showmanship. Now, here, in this friendly, safe environment, I feel the necessity to delve into the facet of the blog that is usually passed over in favor of poop jokes and movie quotes.

I truly apologize for the incoherent scattering of thoughts and points here. That’s what happens when you try to dissect something as unexplainable as the Warrior’s Paradox, especially when it’s not a paradox at all. All things are connected, and I started pulling the thread to unravel the sweater. Now I have a bunch of disgruntled readers and a ruined sweater. The only pretense or intellectual arrogance I can really be accused of showing here is having the audacity to coin a term. I strive to avoid the smug superiority that seems to go with followers of any particular Way. I just want a cup of coffee and to be left alone.

The bottom line is this: if you think that the Martial Way conflicts with the virtues of Faith, think again. Rather, think beyond the most callous, superficial level of easily twisted nomenclature. Virtue is virtue. Morality is morality. Meditation is meditation. Budo, Christianity, and Buddhism are not mutually exclusive. That notion underlines your lack of understanding, not mine.