5. Fight philosophy: On the "Berserk" state and "Rage"

In this post, I will focus on the mentality or ability to switch from a calm and normal societal functioning mode to one that is prepared to take damage and dish out accordingly and even death at extremes which is so essential in both fighting for our lives or in the ring of a sanctioned fight.

Personally, I prefer the cool, calm and calculating detached approach to self and other when fighting. But the mainstream and spectator-projected blood lust upon combat sports and fights means that many a times, rage prevails in the popular pysche of both fighter and fight audience.

Before we delve into rage, I must separate it from the often confused "berserk" state. The berserk stage is a state of mind, body and social disconnection. The fear that a berserk fighter instils in the other feeds off his own self-conception of invulnerability and sometimes limitless god-like ability. In war situations, many documented cases of combatants going berserk later state a foggy memory of the incident. Why would such reckless behavior occur? On a biological level, it has apparent survival value. In the adrenaline-pumped and furious moment, the specimen overcomes all odds and betters his chances of survival since he has nothing to lose and everything to gain from the berserk state. Thus the berserk state ultimately derives from the fear of losing one's most precious gift and escalates into action in the form of an all-out attempt to overcome the odds.

Rage however has different roots. My personal experience of rage is "getting even". I recall being hit straight on in the face and then something changed in me. I hit hard and squarely out from a bad position. That rocked him. I rushed forward with my guard high and thinking to myself, "Oh, you are gonna pay for that." And accordingly, he pulled back. But I calmed myself down and smiled it off as I remembered that it was a friendly bout. Here in lies the first difference in rage and the Berserk state, I was able to remember my social time and space. This is what I believe rage boils down to. A sense of injustice, of something that needs to be righted. It greatly bolsters one's fighting spirit, to throw out that one hard strike from a defensive position which would rock the assailant who was peppering on raining blows and turn the initiative. It also achieves the same purpose as the Berserk state in instilling fear in one's opponent.

This then leaves me thinking: How do we de-escalate from a moment of rage to prevent the trappings of a mental state predominantly focused on offense (since the objective is to make the other pay) and thus leave one open to clever defensive strategies?

AND

Does a state of focused rage exist? Is it beneficial to maintain a focused rage in a bout?