Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Paring Away to The Essential

It seems to me, that what makes us better as we gain experience is not mastery of new techniques, but being able to better fit things into our base of knowledge. We are better able to pare down to the essential.

Thoughts?
Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

2 comments:

Restita, Seattle Wushu Center said...

I wholeheartedly agree. Its kind of like the the "sculptor analogy"....When asked how a sculptor was able to sculpt such a great elephant, the sculptor said..."its easy, I just grab a piece of marble, and chip away at everything that doesn't look like an elephant". :) But, I've noticed that (with my own students) people have to learn what the elephant looks like, first. :)

Anonymous said...

Along with pairing down to essentials, I also think that there is a place for expanding your skills/knowledge within your "simplified toolbox".

For example, I've been focusing on my carbine skills lately and within that singular weapon there are MANY skills and techniques that I find I need work on. And there are technical/mechanical issues with the weapon itself that I have been learning. Even if the martial artist decided to "pair down" to only hand striking skills, within even that one approach there are many "deeper issues" you can dig into.