Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

There are very specific things that have to be in place for study and training to be effective. These are the very basics of study. It does not matter what activity it is, because it sweepingly encompasses all learning. Martial Arts or any field of endeavor are not excluded from study technology. There is a technology that exists today that is revolutionary and gets results. It is called Applied Scholastics, based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard, a philosopher, writer, and humanitarian. The three barriers to study are: 1) Lack of Mass 2) Too steep a gradient 3) The misunderstood word. This will be a three part series on the subject of study and how it pertains to the Martial Arts and any activity in which one is engaged.

There is one obstacle that will stop anyone from embarking on a course of knowledge, and that is �thinking that you know it already.� If a person has this mindset, he cannot even begin to assimilate knowledge in any activity. There simply isn�t anything that any subject or anyo person can teach him. This closes the door on the possibility that there just might be something that one doesn�t know about the subject. The same effect occurs as a Martial Arts instructor. If a potential student comes into the school, and decides there is nothing I can teach him, he will be closed to the possibility of new knowledge. One must be willing to experience and inspect anything. The fear of experiencing life and really inspecting anything bars one from the �fruits of observation� and truth.

�Lack of mass� is the complete nonexistence of a mental facsimile reference point. A mental facsimile is a picture of something in one�s mind. A reference point only refers to the mental facsimile that one can recall from the past, and look at again. So lack of mass simply means no mental picture reference point to which one can refer.

I�m sure that at this point you are asking yourself how this affects study and learning. Before I embark on further analysis, I want you to recall the last time you saw a cat. Got the picture? Good! You just had a reference point for a cat in your mind. That�s mass. You have the physical reference point in your mind for a cat. Now, I will say, �Recall the last time you did the 1-60 Count Punching Exercise.� I�m sure that there�s a blank in your memory. You absolutely don�t know what I�m talking about. I could describe the exercise to you, but it is not the same as having the mass. A mental reference point of the 1-60 Count Punching Exercise just doesn�t exist in your mind.

There are specific physical phenomena that occur when one has lack of mass. They are 1) feeling squashed 2) feeling bent 3) sort of spinny (dizzy, as if one were spinning) 4) sort of dead 5) bored and 6) exasperated. These are physical reactions that occur when one is experiencing lack of mass. If one knows the technology, one can identify it when it occurs during study and training, and resolve it by supplying the proper mass.

The Martial Arts has a tremendous amount of mass because it is a physical activity, so students can see the techniques and exercises and associate them with the proper labels and terminology.

As you can see, the importance of mass is vital to study and training.

Sifu Villanuevateaches in Vallejo and can be reached at 552-7598.