The Intelligent Warrior: Command Personal Power with Martial Arts Strategies. Steve Jones

      

      

Copyright

      Thorsons

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published by Thorsons 2004

      Copyright © Steve Jones 2004

      Steve Jones asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

      HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

      Source ISBN: 9780007160747

      Ebook Edition © JUNE 2016 ISBN: 9780008171537

      Version: 2017-08-16

Dedication

       This book is dedicated to the late Master Derek Jones

Acknowledgements

      I would like to thank the following for their help and support in the writing of this book: Susanna Abbot and the team at Thorsons, Michael Alcock, my mother and father, Master Sun Li, all those who have and who continue to study and train with me, Bruce Thomas, Grant Headley, The Gurdjieff Society, and a special thank you to Ria Holzerlandt and Dr Norman Jones.

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION

PART ONE: MEDITATION

       PART TWO: CHI KUNG

       PART THREE: MARTIAL SCIENCE

       PART FOUR: MARTIAL ART

       IN CLOSING

       References

       Further Reading

       About the Publisher

INTRODUCTION

      The purpose of this book is to provide a practical guide to using Martial Art strategies in everyday life; it aims to provide you with the necessary tools to analyse and transform areas in your life where fear and its related emotions operate. Central to the book is the concept of holistic self-defence, which is founded upon the principle that the primary form of intelligence to be applied to fear is one’s sense of balance.

      This book will also challenge many preconceived notions of what defines Martial Art. I examine many of the concepts and philosophies that comprise Martial Art and apply old wisdom to contemporary settings. I have personally found that the Chinese tradition (mainly derived from Taoism) is the closest in essence to true Martial Art and for this reason I have based the book primarily upon Chinese perspectives and spiritual backgrounds; however, this by no means excludes other cultural interpretations, nor is it meant to depreciate their teachings.

      Having spent over 22 years studying Martial Art, I feel that its true roots and its place in our daily lives has been overlooked and, to a certain extent, forgotten. In the last 30 years, Martial Art has enjoyed an explosion of popularity and although popularity is generally a good thing, it has engendered a variety of erroneous perceptions and interpretations of what constitutes Martial Art. The need for an ego massage and the lure of easy money have led to the emergence of many an unscrupulous and misguided teacher, and the mass-media marketing of Martial Art has further confounded the problem by creating fantastic images and staging fight scenes that bear no resemblance to reality. All of this has brought the world of Martial Art to a crisis point – what was once a noble and valid path for self-evolution has become a vehicle for people seeking their own materialistic and egotistic ends. However, this is not all encompassing as I have met many good and true martial artists in my time who are distinguished from their inferior counterparts by the quality of their ‘being’ and not their chosen Martial Art style.

      How to Approach This Book

      This book should be used as a working manual that can be dipped into on a daily basis, acting as a reminder and general guide to those of you who are searching for the martial way. It is also a good idea to read it from cover to cover to get an overall picture of what the study of Martial Art should include.

      I am using this book to present Martial Art to you as a tool and, like all tools, it will only be meaningful to you when you use it practically in your life. This does not require you to go out and start conflicts in order to fulfil your training. In fact, the truth of conflict and its associated fears is that it is a part of everyday life that we are continually affected by – we are often attacked from within by our own negative thoughts and attitudes towards ourselves; conflicts arise between people who love each other; fear exists between people who work together; people, whether consciously or unconsciously, send negative thoughts or ‘vibes’; and there is always a possibility of physical intimidation which, while relatively rare in most people's lives, is increasing in all our lives all the time. If you embrace the fact that attack in some form is integral to our lives, then you will start to see our training from a much wider perspective. By the time you have finished reading this book you should have gained an understanding of the nature and effects of fear in your life. Moreover, you will have a good understanding of the strategies that could be employed