Monday, September 24, 2012

Calasanz Is and Was

Even in the early years of my life I understood who Bruce Lee was.  He was a very talented martial artist who trained for the real world and at the same time he was a natural and excellent actor.  He trained martial arts around his life and more; he trained martial arts as the way of life.  At one point I heard people saying that he could not fight his way out of a paper bag because he would not compete.  And while it is true that he was not a competitor, it is not because he did not know how to fight.

Since day one I've always understood that the best, bright, smart and intelligent martial artists are not the ones in the ring.  A true martial artist is too smart to be taking those sorts of punches because they understand how this will effect their brain later on.  They are smart enough to put foresight to use and thinking about life in a broader sense; recognizing that there is more to life than what happens between the ropes.  Fighters, they don't think about those things, so don't let yourself be fooled.  Those good, excellent martial artists like Bruce Lee are fully capable of fighting but are mentally cognizant of the avoidable long term effects that will be seriously crippling later in life.

Since day one my idea was to fight the competitor, the champion, that is what I have done.  I don't go into the specifics on this topic here, but if you'd like to hear about the champions that fell before me and the stories behind it look for "Calasanz A Lifetime of Lessons".  This will give you a deeper understanding of how I think and who I am.

I train to win against the competitor, anybody can be a fighter but not everybody can be a competitor in the ring.  Many people don't want to be around Calasanz, especially if they are very good.  Why? Very simple, they have an ego and they believe that they are best, then they get close to Calasanz and they feel that they have a lot of work to do, so many of those who come will stay for awhile but will then leave because they want to be themselves, they don't want the truth.  For example, I gave a lesson to a talented martial artist.  He thought he was the best and he trained with the best but he forgot the philosophy and techniques of building a tough shin.  I put him to fight with a student of mine, who was not in great shape mind you, and my student brought him to his knees with just one kick.

Calasanz was born with a gift.  Some people say he is a natural.  Anybody can be a natural, but not anybody can have it since birth.  Calasanz has it, he's always had it.