The things I have tended to stick with the longest are things that involve problem-solving, at increasingly challenging levels. For me, in a way, that's what martial arts are.
There is a situation of danger to give you some incentive to solve the problem efficiently in real time, cleanly enough to get away, at least. There is a relatively small number of basic elements to both the attack and the defense, determined by our biomechanics (though the environment can be a kind of wild card, ramping up the level of difficulty), but these can be combined in almost unlimited ways. You have to recognize the threat, identify the best solution and carry it out cleanlyĀand the best solution is going to be the one that leaves you in the best possible position after your move, and your opponent in the worst. It's like a pool player who calculates not just the effect of the shot, but the lie of the cue ball afterwards, so that the maximum number of balls can be sunk while leaving the opponent with the minimum of room to maneuver.
Skiing was for me very much the same kind of thing. I wasn't interested in powder skiing; racing and mogul fields were the incentive for me, because both of them involve problemsĀset by the designers of the slalom course in the first case and by the repetitive turning patterns of all the skiers before you on that run, that seasonĀand you have to solve the problems the gates or the bumps pose elegantly and cleanly, or wind up bouncing halfway down the run on your butt, with at least one of your skis a couple of hundred vertical yards above you. It's not quite as convincing an incentive as walking away safe and sound from some violent defective intent on breaking various parts of you, but it does give you some sincere motivation to learn the rules of the gameĀspot the line, stick to it, commit yourself to the fall line, and keep a cool head.
I think possibly the most satisfying feeling in the world comes from confronting a difficult technical problem and solving it crisply and economicaly. To me, that's what the notion of mastery is all about. The harder the problems, the more satisfaction there is in being able to solve them. It becomes kind of addictive, like logic puzzles or chess or anything like that. The MAs have all of the same traits as chess, in a way, but there's an extra dimension of space, and a lot more reason, in terms of sheer physical survival, to become good at the game...
There is a situation of danger to give you some incentive to solve the problem efficiently in real time, cleanly enough to get away, at least. There is a relatively small number of basic elements to both the attack and the defense, determined by our biomechanics (though the environment can be a kind of wild card, ramping up the level of difficulty), but these can be combined in almost unlimited ways. You have to recognize the threat, identify the best solution and carry it out cleanlyĀand the best solution is going to be the one that leaves you in the best possible position after your move, and your opponent in the worst. It's like a pool player who calculates not just the effect of the shot, but the lie of the cue ball afterwards, so that the maximum number of balls can be sunk while leaving the opponent with the minimum of room to maneuver.
Skiing was for me very much the same kind of thing. I wasn't interested in powder skiing; racing and mogul fields were the incentive for me, because both of them involve problemsĀset by the designers of the slalom course in the first case and by the repetitive turning patterns of all the skiers before you on that run, that seasonĀand you have to solve the problems the gates or the bumps pose elegantly and cleanly, or wind up bouncing halfway down the run on your butt, with at least one of your skis a couple of hundred vertical yards above you. It's not quite as convincing an incentive as walking away safe and sound from some violent defective intent on breaking various parts of you, but it does give you some sincere motivation to learn the rules of the gameĀspot the line, stick to it, commit yourself to the fall line, and keep a cool head.
I think possibly the most satisfying feeling in the world comes from confronting a difficult technical problem and solving it crisply and economicaly. To me, that's what the notion of mastery is all about. The harder the problems, the more satisfaction there is in being able to solve them. It becomes kind of addictive, like logic puzzles or chess or anything like that. The MAs have all of the same traits as chess, in a way, but there's an extra dimension of space, and a lot more reason, in terms of sheer physical survival, to become good at the game...
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