Why This Blog- Why You Might Want to Care
I am a bit of an anomaly, my opinions are likewise. I have trained and studied like a madman for over twenty years in all things related to practical armed and unarmed combat. In addition, I have trained extensively in the warrior practices of physical, mental and spiritual self discipline that should accompany combative skill in any complete martial system. While I care about the world and what goes on in it, I have been admittedly apathetic to the general current affairs of the news. Most of what a man can do is to focus on his own lane. You have to live a life worth emulating before you should start talking to other people about how to live in general. We all have theories about life. You really ought to take the time to work your theories so that they work before you start prescribing them to others. In short, you should get your head straight about life before you start vomiting your half baked theories on the rest of us.
I grew up in far less than ideal circumstances and have always been a bit of an anomaly. I struggle to say this because I HATE to say anything that might make my parents seem negative but the truth is that I grew up in poverty, with divorced parents that were both struggling with addictions. What I love is that they tried, they really tried for me. The reality though that I learned from a young age was that they did not know the way. Like many parents, they could not give to me what they did not have themselves. This is one of the factors that has made me obsessively passionate about studying both philosophy and meditation over my lifetime.
I had a near violent encounter when I was about 12 if memory serves where I was nearly knifed by someone that recently got out of prison. Fortunately, I did not get attacked that time, but I would dare say it caused some psychological scarring. It caused a burning interest in learning how to fight, in figuring out what I might have been able to do. It made it clear that everything you build in your life can be meaningless and removed in an instant if you are ill prepared for combat.
This later is way has driven me to train obsessively in whatever I have been able to find that works in a real fight. When I say, "real fight", I am not referring to how to get into egotistical contests that you should have just walked away from but how to fight when someone that is psychotic picks up a knife and points it at you and you needed answers fast. This focus on learning what works in a real fight led me to seek REAL Martial Arts that would train in armed and unarmed fighting. Now when I was looking for this I did not know what the name for what I was looking. I was an early teen. I just really wanted to learn to fight at that time and get answers about what to do if faced with another situation similar to what I faced when I was 12.
I eventually found a great martial arts instructor, Master Tom Garriga, who had held a similar interest since his childhood from similar experiences and who consequently had done a ton of the groundwork in collecting the skills and information that I was looking for. Master Garriga just likes to be called Tom. Of all the many ego maniacs that go by the title master, Tom would easily be worthy of having such a title. However, that is not what he learned from his teachers nor what he taught to all of us that have learned from him. Tom always has been and continues to be one who is chronically modest and avoids the limelight (no offense my friend, just my opinion). He is also one of the best men I know and one of the people I enjoy spending time with and talking with. He is one of the people that is always making others better, it is just who he is.
Tom has multiple black belts in multiple systems, he was a Vietnam era Marine with multiple MOSs including being a Hand to Hand Combat Instructor. He was one of the quiet martial arts pioneers from the 1960s in California in the era where martial arts first took off in America. He studied with numerous instructors from numerous systems. He was a contemporary of Bruce Lee and Ed Parker, though with little interest in accumulating the same notoriety. From his upbringing he had also come close enough with real violence to want answers to the same questions that troubled me and that was his focus. Though like any teacher he will tell you he has struggled with his ego and failed as a teacher at times, he had filtered through what he had learned to get past the traditional and superficial and to pursue the core of both combat proficiency and the personal mastery to create an incredible composite system from what he learned.
He had compiled what he learned into a system he called Wu Ji Quan Fa (All Origin Martial Method). I encountered Tom by luck one might say at the age of 15. His All Origin System was incredible and I became obsessed. It answered many of the questions that I was looking for in terms of how to fight and survive in armed and unarmed combat. More importantly it taught me a way of thinking about both combat and life that has served me every day since I first started training. Along with combative skills, Tom exposed me to an "All Origin" approach to maintaining physical, mental and spiritual health through exercise, philosophical and meditation training (rather than mere study). While this information was not what I got into training looking for, it is ultimately the thing that was the most valuable by far. I have only had occasion to directly use fighting skills a few times over the years (thankfully), but I utilize what I have learned about personal mastery each and every day.
I have taught the All Origin System since I was 17 years old. While I love and respect those that I have learned from, I admittedly teach and train others in my own way and I deviate from approaches and thoughts that I disagree with or feel that I can outperform through my own methodology. I have always had a gift for teaching and mentoring (likely learned initially from my father who a top quality coach for several sports).
I never realized it when I was younger, but it was extraordinary to have men and women often twice my age signing up for classes and paying attention to what I had to say about life philosophy from such a young age. I did not realize until later that I truly have been blessed (and cursed if I am being honest) with wisdom beyond my years. You don't get people to listen to you about philosophy when you are a late teen and in your early twenties unless what you teach actually has value (it is just too much of a shot to people's ego to learn from a young punk unless what he has to teach is really working for them).
As I have gotten older, I still look relatively young, so I am not able to use appearance and clout to convince others, I rely wholly upon SUBSTANCE. As I have gotten older though, I have seen the lure of using clout and resume to impress others rather than to really help others. Admiration is a poisonous drug that destroys good teachers. The more admiration I receive the more I learn to be very careful to avoid it going to my head. For the most part, I believe I am successful in this because I am also blessed with a wife that would quickly let me know. Being serious again, I learned from an early time that the key to effective teaching is to really add value to other people's lives, to answer their questions rather than to pontificate about one's own perspective. This has always been my core approach to teaching. It is what I will implement in this blog.
Actually I shy away from saying that I "teach" others. It really is a misnomer. It implies that "I" do something for "You". The truth is that I first collect skills and knowledge that are of value. I practice them and refine them for months/years and then later I share them with others when I know by the fruits that the practices are good and are worth sharing, that they are no longer "half-baked". I take all recommendations I make extremely seriously as they relate to how you will adapt in combat and/or life.
Ego is a constant challenge for any "teacher". It makes us believe that we are something "special" in the sense of being "beyond" others. The truth is that the Way itself is special. Those that understand it and can share it are only special inasmuch as they effectively share the way and can keep their ego out of the picture enough that the Way can dominate the exchanges of ideas. Staying humble is the protection. Anyone with any amount of years of training can easily fall to the very things they warn others about. One should never think they are invulnerable because they "teach". One is first a practitioner of the Art of the Way, then they share with others that are newer to the path. That is all.
I have already been through many failings as a mentor as well. I have always told "students" that I am committed to sharing with them the best that I know and the best that I have at any given time. As I have continued to grow, I have had to refine ideas and revise recommendations both on the fighting side and on the personal development side. I have also already been through the phase that most good mentors go through where they are simply bad mentors and their head is not in the right place. After fixing myself and my integrity, the cost was losing several friends that I had not been a good friend to. Remembering this pain of the rightful loss of friendship and the cost of not living what you believe makes me a better teacher and mentor.
I work to be real with others and help them to be real. Statistical perfection I have never seen in a person yet in the sense that they have not made shameful mistakes. I have seen dishonest people that have made mistakes the same as others but who have been effective in getting away with it thus far. Sharing powerful philosophy such as what I will share in this blog can be tremendously positive or negative. Many popular teachers in the world today have statistical perfection that conceals the reality of who they are. They can't help others to be real and to have real happiness because they themselves still need the courage to become real. In the end, to be real, to be happy with who you have chosen to be and become, to be able to live out in the open with nothing to hide, with a perspective on life that actually works, that does not plague you with chronic dysfunction is the greatest "possession" of life.
Becoming "Real People" is the core principle of Daoism and most eastern schools of philosophy. Being "Real" is what Diogenes had when he only wanted Alexander the Great to step aside so he could enjoy his morning sunlight. The greatest things in life cannot be bought or stolen, the can only be earned and developed. Christ once asked: "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and yet loses his own soul?" To be at peace with yourself, to really know yourself and be happy with yourself is the prize of training in personal development.
I have never had a blog before such as this. I am going to figure it out as I go along. I hope it is a way to share much with students from the past I have lost touch with as well as an avenue to share the wisdom I have been privileged to learn with those I would otherwise not encounter. Feel free to comment. Keep your conduct in comment chains in line with the intent of the blog. I will simply take down any that are destructive, I am not going to the trouble to make these things to be trolled or to have others trolled. The internet troll is a particularly wretched and pitiful species that on the one hand needs the help of wisdom more than all the others they egotistically feel superior to. So it is though quite often in life that problems are systemic. Solutions are as well.
Look forward to sharing All Origin Philosophy with all the readers here and discussing it. Other than trolling, please use the comment options to share your opinions and also to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions, typically many have the same questions you have and questions lead to the best discussions and the most productive learning in philosophy.
I grew up in far less than ideal circumstances and have always been a bit of an anomaly. I struggle to say this because I HATE to say anything that might make my parents seem negative but the truth is that I grew up in poverty, with divorced parents that were both struggling with addictions. What I love is that they tried, they really tried for me. The reality though that I learned from a young age was that they did not know the way. Like many parents, they could not give to me what they did not have themselves. This is one of the factors that has made me obsessively passionate about studying both philosophy and meditation over my lifetime.
I had a near violent encounter when I was about 12 if memory serves where I was nearly knifed by someone that recently got out of prison. Fortunately, I did not get attacked that time, but I would dare say it caused some psychological scarring. It caused a burning interest in learning how to fight, in figuring out what I might have been able to do. It made it clear that everything you build in your life can be meaningless and removed in an instant if you are ill prepared for combat.
This later is way has driven me to train obsessively in whatever I have been able to find that works in a real fight. When I say, "real fight", I am not referring to how to get into egotistical contests that you should have just walked away from but how to fight when someone that is psychotic picks up a knife and points it at you and you needed answers fast. This focus on learning what works in a real fight led me to seek REAL Martial Arts that would train in armed and unarmed fighting. Now when I was looking for this I did not know what the name for what I was looking. I was an early teen. I just really wanted to learn to fight at that time and get answers about what to do if faced with another situation similar to what I faced when I was 12.
I eventually found a great martial arts instructor, Master Tom Garriga, who had held a similar interest since his childhood from similar experiences and who consequently had done a ton of the groundwork in collecting the skills and information that I was looking for. Master Garriga just likes to be called Tom. Of all the many ego maniacs that go by the title master, Tom would easily be worthy of having such a title. However, that is not what he learned from his teachers nor what he taught to all of us that have learned from him. Tom always has been and continues to be one who is chronically modest and avoids the limelight (no offense my friend, just my opinion). He is also one of the best men I know and one of the people I enjoy spending time with and talking with. He is one of the people that is always making others better, it is just who he is.
Tom has multiple black belts in multiple systems, he was a Vietnam era Marine with multiple MOSs including being a Hand to Hand Combat Instructor. He was one of the quiet martial arts pioneers from the 1960s in California in the era where martial arts first took off in America. He studied with numerous instructors from numerous systems. He was a contemporary of Bruce Lee and Ed Parker, though with little interest in accumulating the same notoriety. From his upbringing he had also come close enough with real violence to want answers to the same questions that troubled me and that was his focus. Though like any teacher he will tell you he has struggled with his ego and failed as a teacher at times, he had filtered through what he had learned to get past the traditional and superficial and to pursue the core of both combat proficiency and the personal mastery to create an incredible composite system from what he learned.
He had compiled what he learned into a system he called Wu Ji Quan Fa (All Origin Martial Method). I encountered Tom by luck one might say at the age of 15. His All Origin System was incredible and I became obsessed. It answered many of the questions that I was looking for in terms of how to fight and survive in armed and unarmed combat. More importantly it taught me a way of thinking about both combat and life that has served me every day since I first started training. Along with combative skills, Tom exposed me to an "All Origin" approach to maintaining physical, mental and spiritual health through exercise, philosophical and meditation training (rather than mere study). While this information was not what I got into training looking for, it is ultimately the thing that was the most valuable by far. I have only had occasion to directly use fighting skills a few times over the years (thankfully), but I utilize what I have learned about personal mastery each and every day.
I have taught the All Origin System since I was 17 years old. While I love and respect those that I have learned from, I admittedly teach and train others in my own way and I deviate from approaches and thoughts that I disagree with or feel that I can outperform through my own methodology. I have always had a gift for teaching and mentoring (likely learned initially from my father who a top quality coach for several sports).
I never realized it when I was younger, but it was extraordinary to have men and women often twice my age signing up for classes and paying attention to what I had to say about life philosophy from such a young age. I did not realize until later that I truly have been blessed (and cursed if I am being honest) with wisdom beyond my years. You don't get people to listen to you about philosophy when you are a late teen and in your early twenties unless what you teach actually has value (it is just too much of a shot to people's ego to learn from a young punk unless what he has to teach is really working for them).
As I have gotten older, I still look relatively young, so I am not able to use appearance and clout to convince others, I rely wholly upon SUBSTANCE. As I have gotten older though, I have seen the lure of using clout and resume to impress others rather than to really help others. Admiration is a poisonous drug that destroys good teachers. The more admiration I receive the more I learn to be very careful to avoid it going to my head. For the most part, I believe I am successful in this because I am also blessed with a wife that would quickly let me know. Being serious again, I learned from an early time that the key to effective teaching is to really add value to other people's lives, to answer their questions rather than to pontificate about one's own perspective. This has always been my core approach to teaching. It is what I will implement in this blog.
Actually I shy away from saying that I "teach" others. It really is a misnomer. It implies that "I" do something for "You". The truth is that I first collect skills and knowledge that are of value. I practice them and refine them for months/years and then later I share them with others when I know by the fruits that the practices are good and are worth sharing, that they are no longer "half-baked". I take all recommendations I make extremely seriously as they relate to how you will adapt in combat and/or life.
Ego is a constant challenge for any "teacher". It makes us believe that we are something "special" in the sense of being "beyond" others. The truth is that the Way itself is special. Those that understand it and can share it are only special inasmuch as they effectively share the way and can keep their ego out of the picture enough that the Way can dominate the exchanges of ideas. Staying humble is the protection. Anyone with any amount of years of training can easily fall to the very things they warn others about. One should never think they are invulnerable because they "teach". One is first a practitioner of the Art of the Way, then they share with others that are newer to the path. That is all.
I have already been through many failings as a mentor as well. I have always told "students" that I am committed to sharing with them the best that I know and the best that I have at any given time. As I have continued to grow, I have had to refine ideas and revise recommendations both on the fighting side and on the personal development side. I have also already been through the phase that most good mentors go through where they are simply bad mentors and their head is not in the right place. After fixing myself and my integrity, the cost was losing several friends that I had not been a good friend to. Remembering this pain of the rightful loss of friendship and the cost of not living what you believe makes me a better teacher and mentor.
I work to be real with others and help them to be real. Statistical perfection I have never seen in a person yet in the sense that they have not made shameful mistakes. I have seen dishonest people that have made mistakes the same as others but who have been effective in getting away with it thus far. Sharing powerful philosophy such as what I will share in this blog can be tremendously positive or negative. Many popular teachers in the world today have statistical perfection that conceals the reality of who they are. They can't help others to be real and to have real happiness because they themselves still need the courage to become real. In the end, to be real, to be happy with who you have chosen to be and become, to be able to live out in the open with nothing to hide, with a perspective on life that actually works, that does not plague you with chronic dysfunction is the greatest "possession" of life.
Becoming "Real People" is the core principle of Daoism and most eastern schools of philosophy. Being "Real" is what Diogenes had when he only wanted Alexander the Great to step aside so he could enjoy his morning sunlight. The greatest things in life cannot be bought or stolen, the can only be earned and developed. Christ once asked: "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and yet loses his own soul?" To be at peace with yourself, to really know yourself and be happy with yourself is the prize of training in personal development.
I have never had a blog before such as this. I am going to figure it out as I go along. I hope it is a way to share much with students from the past I have lost touch with as well as an avenue to share the wisdom I have been privileged to learn with those I would otherwise not encounter. Feel free to comment. Keep your conduct in comment chains in line with the intent of the blog. I will simply take down any that are destructive, I am not going to the trouble to make these things to be trolled or to have others trolled. The internet troll is a particularly wretched and pitiful species that on the one hand needs the help of wisdom more than all the others they egotistically feel superior to. So it is though quite often in life that problems are systemic. Solutions are as well.
Look forward to sharing All Origin Philosophy with all the readers here and discussing it. Other than trolling, please use the comment options to share your opinions and also to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions, typically many have the same questions you have and questions lead to the best discussions and the most productive learning in philosophy.
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