I am a Self-Taught MA Expert

[ETinCYQX]

For sure

I love going over there partly because 99.9% of that forum is goof balls. really funny

Yeah, it's nice to take things less seriously sometimes; this place can be a bit uptight for my tastes on occasion.

I feel compelled to ask, though, where in Newfoundland are you?

 

[Blade96]

Yeah, it's nice to take things less seriously sometimes; this place can be a bit uptight for my tastes on occasion.

I feel compelled to ask, though, where in Newfoundland are you?

east coast

 

[ETinCYQX]

east coast

I'm in Central right now, moving to the Avalon peninsula shortly for school. St. John's in particular is a gold mine in MA compared to where I am now. BJJ, MT, TKD, Judo, Shotokan, the mind boggles...

 

[Blade96]

I'm in Central right now, moving to the Avalon peninsula shortly for school. St. John's in particular is a gold mine in MA compared to where I am now. BJJ, MT, TKD, Judo, Shotokan, the mind boggles...

Yep

any person who like MA would have a field day with st john's as there are so many MA there......

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Er, I've seen his videos, Daniel, and, uh, the answer is no. Many times over, no. No, his "technique" is far from expert, it's far from realistic, it's far from practical, it's far from passable, it's far from any sense of reality, really.

Really, jump over there and find him. Tell you what, here's a link to one of his threads about one of his latest "creations", and I'll let you make up your own mind...

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96260

Just don't say we didn't warn you.....

Well that was... strange and disturbing.

Daniel

 

[WC_lun]

I think one of my favorite parts of wushurichard's stuff is he has an exact date, even down to it was a Tuesday, that he established his "art." Like he laid an egg and that is the day it hatched.

 

[Cirdan]

I think one of my favorite parts of wushurichard's stuff is he has an exact date, even down to it was a Tuesday, that he established his "art." Like he laid an egg and that is the day it hatched.

Whatever dropped out of his butt, I don`t think it was an egg..

 

[WC_lun]

Whatever dropped out of his butt, I don`t think it was an egg..

That was kind of my thinking as well

 

[Blade96]

whats most disturbing is that wushu richard is actually serious! and not trying to be a troll but actually believes the garbage he spouts!

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

whats most disturbing is that wushu richard is actually serious! and not trying to be a troll but actually believes the garbage he spouts!

Hardly surprising. People have a way of deluding themselves. Youtube has a way abetting people in their delusions; everybody thinks that they're the next viral sensation.

Daniel

 

[Fei Ze Min]

Sure you can be a self-taught expert. We must first define formal training. What is formal training? If it is the systematic unfolding of information to lead a student from point A to point B then anything can be considered a "formal teacher". If I walk into a rough bar and throw a right hook into the head of the biggest guy there then his reaction and my confrontation with him become the formal teacher.
Teaching comes not from situation but from reflection of the situation just encountered. I can read books or watch videos and get information that I can reflect upon get together with a friend turn that information into intellegence. Intelligence is applied knowledge.
So define formal teacher or teacher in general.

I think that as human beings we lost the art of observation. We are too used to being spoon fed "truth" or "reality" and we have yet to experiance either and accept the "word" as truth rather than the "experiance".

One can say that a teacher will provide the "experiance" for you and talk you through it while you go. This is not true. The teacher may provide you the forum with which to spar however onece the punches start flying how quickly the words of the teacher are not remembered anymore and we revert to our primal instincts.

We become better at something the more we engage in it and dissect our experiances in a way that are meaningful to us. This is something that a formal human teacher can not provide because they are simply not us.

This is not to say I will stop going to class because I love the conversation, the fighting, and the beer afterwards!

MMMM.....BEER

 

[KenpoVzla]

It can happen yes, but it's very unlikely. Grand-Masters had to at some point "self-teach" different ideas and concepts.....think of Mas Oyama going to his mountain retreat for mind and body learning.

 

[WC_lun]

It can happen yes, but it's very unlikely. Grand-Masters had to at some point "self-teach" different ideas and concepts.....think of Mas Oyama going to his mountain retreat for mind and body learning.

True, but I don't think Mas Oyama, and masters like him, are newbs who with very little experience that want to call themselves "experts" or create new systems. In my experience, the best masters I have ever met get really uncomfortable when you ask them if they are an expert. Usually the most they'll say is they've been working at it for a long time.

A self trained expert, just isn't.

 

[Cirdan]

True, but I don't think Mas Oyama, and masters like him, are newbs who with very little experience that want to call themselves "experts" or create new systems. In my experience, the best masters I have ever met get really uncomfortable when you ask them if they are an expert. Usually the most they'll say is they've been working at it for a long time.

Perhaps this is the quality that allowed them to becaome true masters.

 

[Fei Ze Min]

Anyone who walks around calling themselves a master whether self taught or not, isn't a master. There in my opinion is no such thing as a master just people who are better than you or better than some. The old saying rings true "no matter how good you are there is always someone better" So no one is a master.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Anyone who walks around calling themselves a master whether self taught or not, isn't a master.

We overblow the master thing in martial arts. Master does not mean perfection, nor does it mean ultimate fighter. To 'master' a skill means that you have become proficient in it. The term is used all the time outside of MA and nobody gets all lofty or philosophical about it. Being addressed as a master is, in some organizations, part of earning a specific rank. So long as people do not let it go to their heads, it isn't really an issue.

The same holds true for any other title one might be addressed with. I've seen managers of small retail stores get caught up in their title of 'manager.' You'd think that they were the president of the company. Nothing wrong with the title or being addressed as such. Nobody rolls their eyes when your doctor instroduces herself as 'Doctor Smith.' She earned the title.

Now, guys who are self taught and look like the gent in the videos I saw on that other site calling themselves master are just plain silly. But plenty of people of dubious skill, background, and education call themselves doctor as well.

There in my opinion is no such thing as a master just people who are better than you or better than some. The old saying rings true "no matter how good you are there is always someone better" So no one is a master.

A master carpenter, mechanic, electrician, or whatever is a master by virtue of what they have learned and the quality of work that they do, not based on being better than everyone else. They still learn new things year in and year out as they spend more time in their trade and as the trade changes with the advance of time.

Likewise, a master in martial arts is generally a master by virtue of knowledge, time in the art, and presumably quality of their practice. This in no way implies that they have learned everything or are better than everyone.

Now, I do agree with you that runnng around calling yourself master frivolously, such as on Youtube, is pointless, silly, and is asking for negative criticism, as calling yourself master on a youtube vid will insure that virtually every deviation or mistake that you make in the video, no matter how minute or what the reason, will be scrutinized and pointed out.

Daniel

 

[ap Oweyn]

That's an excellent point.

Hell, nobody calls people out on an MA or MS degree, despite it being short for "master of..." something.

 

[dancingalone]

That's an excellent point.

Hell, nobody calls people out on an MA or MS degree, despite it being short for "master of..." something.

I think the distinction is that I say I 'have a MBA', rather than stating I 'am a Master of Business Administration'. I think it makes a difference in perception and social interaction. People would think there is something wrong with you if you introduced yourself with the latter.

And there is certainly a stigma in certain martial arts in referring to yourself as a Master. It's certainly not a done thing in Okinawan karate, and as that is my primary martial art I do have a degree of antipathy for its usage, even when the user is in another martial art where perhaps the title is normal currency.

 

[ap Oweyn]

I think the distinction is that I say I 'have a MBA', rather than stating I 'am a Master of Business Administration'. I think it makes a difference in perception and social interaction. People would think there is something wrong with you if you introduced yourself with the latter.

And there is certainly a stigma in certain martial arts in referring to yourself as a Master. It's certainly not a done thing in Okinawan karate, and as that is my primary martial art I do have a degree of antipathy for its usage, even when the user is in another martial art where perhaps the title is normal currency.

I don't much like the term myself. I don't even like using the term "guro" (the relatively humble designation of "teacher"). I like "master" even less. Hell, I don't even put the master's degree after my name on my business cards. That said, it's not uncommon for people to say "I have a master's degree" versus "I have an MA or MS."

The difference, of course, being that virtually nobody says "I'm a master of science in... " That would sound odd.