Dog Brothers Public Forum

Grateful for this forum.

Grateful for feedback on an important document.

Grateful for a nice day spent with my family at a museum.

Grateful for a good training session which I went to despite a nagging urge to stay home.

I'm grateful for the knowledge that the sun will rise tomorrow and that a challenging time will soon be behind me.

Congrats to all. WELL deserved!

Grateful for a punishing weekend of stickfighting, amongst a like-minded group of men of whom I am truly HONORED to be a part.

Grateful to announce that my wife is 18 weeks pregnant with our second, and that we found out yesterday that Taiko (our son) is going to have a little sister!

It has been a hard year thus far for the “Scurvy Dog” Family. My wife and I both lost our jobs due to the sagging economy.  Subsequently we were then forced to sell one of our vehicles and eventually our home. However, throughout these trying times we have remained positive and upbeat and I am grateful and fortunate that my wife and I put little value in material things and instead place value in friendship, honor, integrity and living life to its fullest.

By living life in this manner, life has returned the favor and bestowed upon us a beautiful baby boy who was just born on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th at 1:37am! Tristan Alec Ferguson comes into this world as a happy baby and I am grateful and fortunate to share this news with all of you! I wouldn’t trade this last year for anything even with its turbulent ups and downs. Life is an adventure and the best thing you can do is hold on and enjoy the ride! 

Take care guys and gals and I hope to see all of you again soon! 

Best Wishes,
Tim “Scurvy Dog” Ferguson and baby Tristan

I'm grateful for positive mindsets, like Scurvy's, in these hard times. Congrats, Tim.

Grateful that I was able tonight to introduce a student to some amazing people.

Looking forward to it. How is everyone feeling?

Oh, you know. Just another weekend in the corral.

More character development via being beaten with sticks by much taller men (which is pretty much everyone for me).

More post-fight interviews with horse sh&% in your teeth.

Basically, I wouldn't miss it for the world. 

Grateful for the passage of time and the progress it brings.

Grateful to have half a day left of my weekend.

Grateful for a blank to have been filled in today through nothing more than time and reflection.

Grateful for some struggles and worries that will get me moving.

Greetings to all from Norcross, Georgia. I am here until Sunday for a conference at Sifu Francis Fong's school. Back to California on Sunday night, and I then I will miss not having a Waffle House down the treet from me. 

Grateful for some quiet.

Grateful to hear from some old friends.

And reframe was what I did, and it actually made me feel a little better, yeserday. Today has been a good day. I am grateful for being able to address some minor issues today.

Grateful for a fast day spent with family, and then training.

A phrase seems to be emerging as a theme from this thread: "the dark side".

Let's try and define "the dark side". For me, it means that the educated warrior spends time reflecting on the fact that ALL martial arts can be used to hurt someone. It is possible, in my experience, to go for a long period of time in training and forget that our arts, or systems are, in fact, martial. I had this happen a few years ago until (what a funny coincidence for this thread) I had my introduction to Sayoc Kali. I had years of pass/slash/thrust and other drills with the blade, but it occurred to me at that time that I had not spent a lot of time thinking about the fact that what I was learning could be used to hurt, or kill.

Such a thought might seem like it should be self-evident in martial arts, but on that day, I spent a lot of time thinking about the fact that a blade actually opens flesh and cuts arteries.

So, maybe "the dark side" is the part of a warrior's education that produces a state of awareness that our arts, are in fact, martial. The martial artist/athlete/scholar/researcher/sociologist has the training and the ability to avoid the "dark side" until it is absolutely necessary to cause injury, or death.

I am also not comfortable with the idea of the "dark side" being a state in which the warrior gives up the control of him/herself that has been gained through training. I don't believe that the warrior enters into the "dark side" and becomes a feral, killing machine. I don't believe that a martial artist would enter the dark side, cause mayhem, and later remark, "Well, it's not my fault. I was in 'the dark side'. I had no control over my actions."

To me, "the dark side" is the knowledge and reflection that our arts are martial, and more specifically the choice that in the moment, harm must come to the other person/people involved in the conflict. "The dark side" is, "Okay, I am in a situation here where I am justified in hurting or killing because if I don't, real harm is going to come to my loved ones, or myself. I don't want to hurt/kill, but I am in a situation in which I must."

If you are talking about "the dark side" of bladed weapons, that is heavy territory, because now you are talking about the same type of cognition, only the warrior is stepping into a realm where the necessary damage or killing involves doing so with a blade.

Maybe it is on the teacher to decide when to lead the student towards the reflection necessary to tap into "the dark side" with the blade. If you or a loved one were in serious danger, could you, would you cut someone's bicep tendon? If it were him or you, could you cut a femoral and back away as you watched the life bleed out of the man? I can think of a list of people for whom I would make that choice, but I can already imagine the reality spilling over me as I carried out the terrible, necessary actions. That being said, I hope I never have the opportunity to see if I could or not. I certainly do not enter into "the dark side" when I fight at a Gathering.

That is "the dark side". As we move through the arts, we come to know ourselves better, and we have a better barometer for when (if ever) it is necessary to consciously tap "into the dark side".

Ryan,

I like that story. To me this reads like an issue of mindset. When Guro flipped it on the group like that, the seminar participants were forced to mentally go back and think of the offensive side of things. That's very different than saying, "Okay, here's the best ways to kill someone with a knife. Let's turn you into a killing machine."

I like Guro Marc's policy that (And Guro C. if I get this wrong, correct me) there is no "secret" material except offensive knife. Now what Guro I. was doing in the previous story was not teaching offensive knife, he was offering a shift in mindset.

Last night, the 8:00 Kali class at the Inosanto Academy ended with about 25 minutes of knife. The vibe in the room was much more "martial scholar" than "produce bladed killing machines." So maybe the teacher has to avoid instilling a certain mindset in the student until there is trust in that relationship. Maybe that's the temporary secrecy.

Grateful to be moving ahead with some projects and ideas.

Grateful for a productive first month of the '09.

RIP

No doubt MANY will be heartbroken to lose a man whose life's work influenced whole generations of martial artists.