Once again, we are on the exact same wavelength, my friend. I have been thinking through a lot of these same ideas recently, and I have just written an essay about how manual labour engenders a deep-seated knowledge or awareness of the self and its relation to the whole, drawing upon my experiences as well as the Scheler essay on suffering, which has continued to lurk in the back of my mind. When a man comes up against his own limits, he is able to trace the contours of his soul and discover how it relates to the whole of reality. I think the fact that I see this in difficult labour, while you see it in wrestling, and other people have noted similar things in other activities, shows that this is in fact a ubiquitous part of the human experience, and I think the affluence of present western society has reduced this understanding.
Also, that Soloviev quote is fantastic. I will have to check him out.
Combatants collect cliches, like, “to know is good, to understand is better.”
body-sticking is a practice of learning to exert your intention and to detect the intentions of others. It has many other names , like qigong, set-ups and fake-outs. In the fore-aft plane of collegiate wrestling, pushing back invites a fireman’s while pulling back invites a head-n-heal. As application proficiencies advance, sequences of countering and recountering become seminar material, colloquia, along with refining deception through, e.g., breath control and increasing sensitivity, e.g., training blindfolded and, the all-time chop suey favorite, kata on elevated beams. Before one knows it, one’s reading minds! :)
I’m the eternal white belt. My professor only promotes in the gi and I train exclusively nogi for now. But I’ve been training like 3-5x a week for 2.5 years now, plus 1 year of just freestyle wrestling.
Ah, that’s the worst. I’ve had several training partners who’ve been stuck in that same kind of purgatory for years. One has been grappling since he was five, the other guy—a “purple belt”—is one of the best teachers and leglockers I’ve ever met.
The gi/nogi split is especially frustrating when it comes to promotions. Grappling is a true meritocracy, or at least it should be. To see guys not get promoted because of gi attendance is a shame.
I was in a similar boat as you for a couple years. I got my brown a few months back.
It’s always a pleasure meeting other guys on Substack who also train. A lot of people like to write about masculinity, grit, stoicism, toughness, alphaness, etc. and I find myself unable to take a lot of what they’re saying seriously because it doesn’t seem as if they’ve actually lived out what they’re writing about. It’s always great finding someone who actually has some lived experience when it comes to these topics.
Ya I don’t care too much about the belts tbh. I’m in it for the long haul now, so the belts will come when they come. As you say, it is a true meritocracy and you can really feel who is better or knows the most.
I still feel like I know nothing (especially about leg locks ahha). I was fanatically interested in handfighting (in wrestling) for the past year or so, and I may write a longer essay on this subject in the future. That’s probably the area where I have legit knowledge—that and maybe front headlock style attacks/transitions. It’s funny because it’s not super important given that people can just pull guard and 90% of the stuff happens on the ground, but it has proved to carry over much than I anticipated.
Congratulations on the brown belt too. That’s a huge accomplishment. I also find it hard to take people serious, especially because I know just how big the disparity is in some cases between what a person advises and how they are.
Ha, somehow I thought I was reading someone else's piece and was thinking, huh, this guy sounds a lot like Krug… Justified true belief!
Once again, we are on the exact same wavelength, my friend. I have been thinking through a lot of these same ideas recently, and I have just written an essay about how manual labour engenders a deep-seated knowledge or awareness of the self and its relation to the whole, drawing upon my experiences as well as the Scheler essay on suffering, which has continued to lurk in the back of my mind. When a man comes up against his own limits, he is able to trace the contours of his soul and discover how it relates to the whole of reality. I think the fact that I see this in difficult labour, while you see it in wrestling, and other people have noted similar things in other activities, shows that this is in fact a ubiquitous part of the human experience, and I think the affluence of present western society has reduced this understanding.
Also, that Soloviev quote is fantastic. I will have to check him out.
I wrote an essay over a year ago on the theme of self knowledge as it relates to labour, which complements, but is distinct from, the one I'm working on now, if you're interested: https://philosopheroftheoilsands.substack.com/p/work-and-the-human-soul
Combatants collect cliches, like, “to know is good, to understand is better.”
body-sticking is a practice of learning to exert your intention and to detect the intentions of others. It has many other names , like qigong, set-ups and fake-outs. In the fore-aft plane of collegiate wrestling, pushing back invites a fireman’s while pulling back invites a head-n-heal. As application proficiencies advance, sequences of countering and recountering become seminar material, colloquia, along with refining deception through, e.g., breath control and increasing sensitivity, e.g., training blindfolded and, the all-time chop suey favorite, kata on elevated beams. Before one knows it, one’s reading minds! :)
Interesting read! I'm curious, what belt are you?
I’m the eternal white belt. My professor only promotes in the gi and I train exclusively nogi for now. But I’ve been training like 3-5x a week for 2.5 years now, plus 1 year of just freestyle wrestling.
Ah, that’s the worst. I’ve had several training partners who’ve been stuck in that same kind of purgatory for years. One has been grappling since he was five, the other guy—a “purple belt”—is one of the best teachers and leglockers I’ve ever met.
The gi/nogi split is especially frustrating when it comes to promotions. Grappling is a true meritocracy, or at least it should be. To see guys not get promoted because of gi attendance is a shame.
I was in a similar boat as you for a couple years. I got my brown a few months back.
It’s always a pleasure meeting other guys on Substack who also train. A lot of people like to write about masculinity, grit, stoicism, toughness, alphaness, etc. and I find myself unable to take a lot of what they’re saying seriously because it doesn’t seem as if they’ve actually lived out what they’re writing about. It’s always great finding someone who actually has some lived experience when it comes to these topics.
Ya I don’t care too much about the belts tbh. I’m in it for the long haul now, so the belts will come when they come. As you say, it is a true meritocracy and you can really feel who is better or knows the most.
I still feel like I know nothing (especially about leg locks ahha). I was fanatically interested in handfighting (in wrestling) for the past year or so, and I may write a longer essay on this subject in the future. That’s probably the area where I have legit knowledge—that and maybe front headlock style attacks/transitions. It’s funny because it’s not super important given that people can just pull guard and 90% of the stuff happens on the ground, but it has proved to carry over much than I anticipated.
Congratulations on the brown belt too. That’s a huge accomplishment. I also find it hard to take people serious, especially because I know just how big the disparity is in some cases between what a person advises and how they are.