As with political parties, martial arts systems take on a certain point of view in their approaches to problem solving. All martial arts styles solve the problem (challenge) of self defense or competition in their own unique ways. Naturally, instructors within all styles also develop their own specific methods.
Unfortunately, as in politics, martial artists then begin to disagree with each others’ approaches and perceive their position in the martial arts world based on these differences. The MMA community looks down on the traditional stylists, then there is the grappling vs stand-up fighting divide, northern kung fu or southern style, the lists goes on and on.
These disagreements are based on divergent points of view which are formed sometimes by experience, and other times by lack of knowledge. A person who has experience in multiple styles will naturally understand a technique differently than a person with a single style perspective. A person with 3 decades of practice will undoubtedly have a different point of view than someone with less than 5 years of training.
Now enter the human ego and the world of martial arts becomes full of distractions. Many people with a lot of experience spend a lot of time promoting or defending their point of view as the most effective, enlightened or valuable rather than continuing to develop and refine their approach through practice. Then as time goes on, their point of view becomes more difficult to defend because they are out of touch with the active work of habitual martial arts practice.
All points of view hold some value, and all approaches can be effective (according to their point of view) if training is taken seriously and enough time is invested in study and practice. The rest of the details are meaningless distractions. No matter what kind of training a person pursues, or what the goal of that training might be (competition, self-defense, tactical military applications, etc), every human in martial arts will need to work hard continuously to become proficient and maintain their skills.
My point of view exists and I understand it, but I do not hold on to it too tightly. I continue to refine and develop my art because a point of view should be fluid and able to adapt or evolve. Regardless of how my point of view fits in with the martial arts world, it is still there. Its similarity to or difference from any other point of view could be somewhat logical, but it is otherwise coincidental.
