Plato- The cave

3. Fight philosophy- Wisdom From the "Five Rings" (Musashi)

No man is invincible and therefore no man can fully understand that which would make him invincible.

It is doubtful that anyone truly understands the 'real' way of strategy, much less truly lives it. Yet military leaders must have some understanding of strategy and they must pass it on to their warriors, regardless of the limitations of their own understanding. Strategy demands that you know the difference between yourself and others.

Do not mistake that it is sufficient to finish one section of a job without having planned its continuation. Masters plan for contingency even when it appears that they are only improvising.

The warrior is quiet and strong and seem to be doing nothing. They do not appear to be tense and do not appear to be in disarray. They simple appear.

Perception relies on intuition and is developed through practice. Sight is purely the physical ability to use the eyes. One must be prepared for the possibility of losing one's sight in combat.

The warrior must be loose and tight at the same time. He must be firm and resolute, yet pliable.

Regardless of combat circumstances, you must remain calm. Calmness is attained through meditation and belief in your own skills.

The warrior must be flexible enough to change the entire structure of his attack at any moment.

To become one with the attack, you must strike as quickly and directly as possible without giving the enemy any room should he retreat and not give him the time to regain and regather himself. You must stick to him like glue without worrying whether you will be hit in return. When you go into the attack, you are essentially telling the enemy that you don't think much of his spirit. Plus there is always the possibility of missing the block, if you approach the enemy with resolve, you will be in a better position to finish him off.

There is no need for the enemy to start combat, you go into the attack and if the enemy decides to go in at the same time then you must be quicker, more focused and resolute.

You must learn different combinations till they become part of you and come without thinking.

Falling on the enemy is attacking without preconceived ideas as to how to conclude the battle.

You must continuously strike and counterstrike until you break the will of the enemy.

Use everything to your advantage at all times. When outdoors, keep the sun behind you. When indoors, keep a door or avenue of escape behind you.

By constantly creating difficulties for him, you will force him to deal with more than one thing, giving you the advantage.

If perfection were attainable, it would have no value and there would be no reason to pursue it.

Feint prior to attacking strongly in order to open up the enemy.

There are weak spots in all armor. Chip away at the weak spots and he will eventually weaken. At times it may be difficult for you to continue the attack when the enemy is not beaten in body and spirit, this is when you must reach into the abyss and bring yourself to totally destroy the enemy.

Speed is relative, it is dependent upon the speed of the enemy. You must adjust yourself accordingly, if you move too slow or fast, you may give him the advantage. So you should instead strive always for quickness.

2. Fight Philosophy- Combat sports and Honor

In this post, I will be exploring the relation between fighting and honor and link it to modern sanctioned combat sports. First, I shall define "Honor" which is the evaluation of a person's trustworthiness and social status based on that individual's espousals and actions. Honor is the external expression of a person's character: whether or not the person reflects honesty, respect, integrity, or fairness. Accordingly, individuals are assigned worth and stature based on the harmony of their actions, code of honor, and that of the society at large in our concerned arena of Fighting.

Next, I trace the roots of modern fight sports which are derived from hand-to-hand complements to shield bearing and weapon slashing combat systems. This is because in ancient war (and even now), empty-handed combat has its relevance in keeping the individual alive. All modern combat sports are watered-down versions of such fighting systems and have come to be through the implementation of rules so as to limit fatalities and make it more culturally acceptable and in turn economically viable in a the modern world context. Also modern sanctioned combat sports are means of outlawing legally and culturally deviant forms of dueling in a world of state sanctioned violence. But ironically and perhaps intelligently, modern sanctioned sports borrowed many rules from the various sets of Code duello that existed. A code duello is a set of rules for a one-on-one combat, or duel. As we can see, Codes duello laid the foundation for modern sanctioned combat sports in their role of regulating dueling and assuring that non-violent means of reaching agreement be exhausted and that harm be reduced, both by limiting the terms of engagement and by providing medical care. Very importantly, they also ensured that the duels be witnessed. The witnesses would allay doubts of foul play to grieving members of factions and help provide testimony if legal authorities become involved. This would be the pre-modern equivalent of referees and medical doctors who could call decisions and for the fight to stop.

Moving away from Dueling and refocusing on warring, we find that it is precisely in the context of warring that honor came about as a linked concept. For one of the main purposes of fighting was the assertion or testing of one's masculinity since warring was predominantly a male occupation. The secondary implication was also that success in fighting and winning one's enemy meant that one could increase his economic resources which would indirectly add onto one's social status within his group and confer somatic and reproductive advantages. This still holds relevance in the world of modern combat sports.

Honor has to be validated by an audience. This was why private challenges often occurred in ancient warfare and was viewed and cheered on by their brethren on both sides. Successes and failures alike would be recorded down into folk cultures in the form of stories and songs and be re-consumed and passed on down to future generations. Thus "Pain was temporary while Honor and Glory was forever" but many fail to recognize that this phrase would not hold through without audience validation. Losing could mean the infliction of a negative social response upon the loser whereby others would take him to be weak and exploit him in the future. Thus honor was a very valuable social commodity that would be guarded to great lengths. We see the modern recognition and conferring of honor upon combatants in the form of medals. In modern combat sports, marks of martial excellence are enabled by the keeping of fight statistics and in turn can be constantly assessed and reassessed by fight audiences.

Honor is also dependant on one's enemy. The more skilled one's opponent is and the more spirit that one's opponent displays adds to the overall difficulty and value of the fight and confers upon the winner more honor for the act of subduing such a worthy opponent. Thus the modern conception of weight and skill classes which pit "equals" against each other. No or little honor is to be gained by defeating a minor.