Recently this summer, I have begun a rigorous training regime to better myself. Of course, I had always thought that the initial goal of karate was to beat the living crap out of people. Obviously, this was flawed thinking. Then, I began to believe that discipline and harmony were the essential goals of training. In essence, these are goals in training. But not the ultimate goal.

There are three types of people in this world.

1. Negative people.
These people think negatively about life, and do not seek to improve themselves, and complain a lot. They say phrases such as \"it\'s not working out\" or \"oh god, my leg . . . the pain!!!\"

Incidently, 90% of the world\'s population make up this portion.

2. Positive people
These are people who openly seek to improve themselves (much like myself). People who still have negative thoughts, but try to make the best of them. They say phrases like \"Oh god, it hurts . . . but I must bear with it\" or things like that.

These make up 9.99% of the world\'s population.
3. Beyond Positivity
These people are very rare. They have achieved mastery over their mind, body, and spirit. They don\'t have to say phrases like \"oh god it hurts\" because it doesn\'t hurt. And they don\'t have to make the best of things because to them, there is no good. There is no evil. There is only the self, and the world.

Thus, I wish to attain this level.

I have spoken to a close friend, who happened to introduce me to this site, known as WindRider~. He has spoken to me on this matter, and he finds that he doesn\'t seek to attain this level, because it has a lack of challenge.

However, I disagree. Reaching the level itself is such a challenge, and abandoning all thoughts of such frivolous concepts is part of the process of attaining such a level.

The real purpose I\'m writing this is to ask: How many people here actually practice the martial arts? And how many people actually know that I\'m talking about?


As a further note,
I am currently a purple belt in the karate discipline Wado Ryu, the way of peace and harmony.

[Edited on 12-8-2004 by Nevermore]

A further note. To attain a level of self, where evil and good no longer exist. It is not an improvement. If one does not see evil. One is especially vulnerable.

But don\'t you see?
There is no evil. There no good, there is no neutrality.

These are simple concepts created by a paranoid human mind.

To a true master, there is no need for such frivolous nonsense.

By the way, the non-existence of evil is different from not seeing it . . . which isn\'t there.

[Edited on 12-8-2004 by Nevermore]

It is there. If there is no evil. Then what about Hitler? Denying its existence doesn\'t change facts.

Don\'t you see? If you refuse those concepts, you are a master of nothing.

You don\'t understand.

What I am proposing is that nor evil nor good ever existed.

Morals are just concepts. Yes, they are indeed important in society, but that\'s just to keep people from lynching you.

If I had more time, I\'d get into detail, but the point is, there is no good, and there is no evil for masters.

And, BTW, following those lines, Hitler wasn\'t evil, he just did highly immoral things in society.

Morals are set by society to determine desirable behavior, but by no means do they bind your true behavior, unless your very religious, then, you\'ll burn in hell for your blasphemy

But, that\'s getting broad.

I don\'t wish to understand your sadly warped view.



Then what praytell drives men to save lives? What drives others to take those same lives?



No, they commit to a higher standard of living. They cause you to take a hard look at yourself and see who you really are. No one can define it but the one who looks at themself.



Then how are they masters? By isolating themselves from truth and living a lie?



Mass murder is usually defined by evil



There are some morals that are essential. Non-flexible



[Edited on 8/12/2004 by Mega X.exe]

The action of saving another\'s life isn\'t inherently good, and to think as such is foolish. People only give actions the quality of being good or evil in retrospect depending on where their personal beliefs guide them to.

If one were to save one that is believed to be evil by the mass majority, they will likely be thought of as wrong by most. Though, popular opinion really isn\'t correct, because no opinion is truly correct. But if you were one who shared the beliefs or cared about the one who society deems evil, then you\'d look at the person and their actions as a savior. In the end the action of saving someone isn\'t good or evil, it\'s just an action. Giving it qualities like good or evil just depends where you stand.

Likewise, taking another\'s life isn\'t inherently evil either. If a person was deemed evil by society and was killed, the killer would be heralded as a hero. Now, you could argue that some people don\'t deserve to live, but really, who is in any place to make such a judgement? Whether you feel someone deserves to live or not is again just an opinion, and no opinion is really correct. In the end, taking another\'s life is the same no matter what. But whether it was good, bringing about justice or evil, again, just depends where you stand.



Have you ever actually tried to see things from another perspective that doesn\'t agree with your own? Just because you say that evil being nonexistant is a lie, does that make it one. Just as much as Nevermore or myself saying it\'s true make it the truth. In the end it\'s all just beliefs and neither parties are correct or incorrect. Not ever is everyone going to see things the same and that\'s the way it should. People should learn to tolerate differences amongst them.



That\'s just a belief. It\'s as true as you believe it to be or as false as you believe it to be.


Now, in respect to Nevermore for what the topic was intended, I shall answer his question.


I don\'t practice the martial arts myself, but I do find them to be highly fascinating. I have been meaning to pick one up sometime, but I haven\'t gotten around to it, yet. It\'s not really procrastination as much as not really having the time for it. After I\'m done physiotherapy this summer I might though, which would be nice. I am honestly really interested in several martial arts.

I used to take martial arts. Sorry Necro, Kei\'s been gone for so long, I guess I felt the need to debate. I guess I need to cool my heels for a while.

Well i guess I\'m a positive person if you say ignoring pain counts. As for improve yourself, well arent people doing that every? learning watching reading, isnt that what improving is? Making yourself better? And as for good and evil i have to go with Nevermore, i dont think there is a good or evil. I just call if free will and my best friend called choice.

I tried Tae Kwon Do once but my tendons don\'t stretch very far so I couldn\'t keep up with the class when they did stretching exercises and... High kicks...

To throw my two cents in if it matters; Good and evil actually don\'t exist, they are beliefs like many people have already said. Somebody\'s personality and another\'s opinion make something good or evil. If you look at it through a cereal killers eyes, what they are doing may be deemed as good in there eyes. Its all a point of perspective.
_______________________________________________
And where back to the point.....
I have never really taken any form of martial arts classes. I did want to though when I was a wee Gutter mostly inspired by the 3 Ninjas movies and the Ninja Turtles. Like Necro, I do think it\'s a pretty intriguing art though....

[font=Century Gothic]In other words to explain.

In your view, It\'s subjective good and evil to your eyes and not objective. [/font]

Necro, may I pay homage and respect for fully articulating EXACTLY what I wanted to say, and in such a blissfully intelligent way also.

Incredible.

By the way, from what X.exe said, debate seems to be something of a staple around here . . . .or not.

Could someone explain?

You came post-Kei. That\'s when philosophical debates and rants were hot topics around.

I have some of the old ones.

http://www.interordi.com/mboard/viewthread.php?tid=6042
http://www.interordi.com/mboard/viewthread.php?tid=6059
http://www.interordi.com/mboard/viewthread.php?tid=6276
http://www.interordi.com/mboard/viewthread.php?tid=6236
http://www.interordi.com/mboard/viewthread.php?tid=5939

That\'s only a few. The CLASSIC, Time and Tangibility, seems to be deleted, but the main debate points I found here:
http://b4.ezboard.com/fyugiohsshadowrealmmessageboardfrm35.showMessage?topicID=132.topic

....

Great, people asking about debating..people posting really long posts that I don\'t care to read..

Makes me think Kei is back around here somewhere. But if you are I\'ll put you back in your place yet again. Muhahaha.

But no, debate isn\'t a staple around here. At all. Which isn\'t totally a lie because whenever a topic comes up that is on the lines of abortion, religion, etcetera..people sometimes get riled up and start bickering. Bickering isn\'t the same as a debate, in my opinion.

As for martial arts, I was like Gutter..kinda. It was just for play, mimicing movies and such.

And whee, I\'m part of the 9.99 percentile of positive people. Yeah yeah, \"Hollow isn\'t positive.\" But you don\'t know the person behind the name, do you?

Sorry for jumping the gun Kei, I may have botched your return. Oops.

[Edited on 8/14/2004 by Mega X.exe]

His return?

That fucker (pardon my language Breakman) isn\'t supposed to be here. He was banned for a reason, he\'s not allowed back, end of story.

Unless of course he gave a sob story to Doc..

Well, he did request a ban. He told me some sob stories, and the word on the street says Kei.

I take Thai Boxing

I didn\'t think it was a request.. I thought he spammed and got himself banned. Or gave his password and had people spam with it, either way.

And well, I guess I can sniff em out better than I thought.