(1 minute 45 second read)

“Without context words and actions have no meaning at all.”
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This is a major problem today where so many individuals, many without experience of other martial arts, confuse their own ‘way’ as the one and only ‘way’.
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Cricket is an amazing sport, but would a cricket player excel in Baseball? They both use a bat. Would a soccer player excel in Basketball, both played with ball?
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Context, is paramount.
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In simple terms, martial arts techniques are like raw ingredients. They’re powerful, but without understanding, they’re just movements. The recipe that turns them into something useful, is the knowledge of when and how to apply them (context).
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The term “dumb down” exists for a reason. Many people prefer to receive their information in predigested sound bites so they don’t have to think about the implications and conclusions.
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Not understanding or caring about the importance of context is a sign of intellectual laziness, IMO. If you want to know without understanding, content is all you need.
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Without context, anything can be easily misunderstood or misinterpreted. Just look at the confusion behind kata practice as an example.
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It seems that nowadays people have a lot of trouble with context or any kind of finer point, putting pieces of information together to form a clear picture of anything.
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It doesn’t matter how hard we try, some people can’t be taught about why something was created, or be given any kind of information to help their understanding. They just don’t piece things together to see how one part is related to another, putting two and two together. Nuance is lost on people and the concept of context doesn’t play a large role in their thoughts.
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To understand context you need to stand back and see the bigger picture. Most people have neither the time nor the patience to do this. They increasingly just want the ‘bullet points’ summarized in such a way that they can digest it easily.
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Is it because some people are unable to apply critical thinking? They are more interested in being ‘right’ than evolving their understanding?
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Within any martial art, context is way more important than which art is the ‘best’, or who would win on the ‘mat’.
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Just like ingredients need a recipe to become a meal, each different martial art needs context to be truly effective. Every method has its strengths, but without knowing when, how and the best place to apply them, they’re just ingredients.
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Photo of Morihei Ueshiba