Skepticism & Spirituality in the Martial Arts

**Downrange** · Posted On: 4/03/2012 4:47pm

Originally Posted by It is Fake

There's none left you used it all in every post.

Oh no.

Then don't ever read your own posts.

12 years on the net and you flipped out over someone talking slick? Hahahahahaha......
Oh and how did the ignore function work?
Bwahahahahahaaaaaaa.............

Hey tard, guess you never heard of browser add ons. Fucking idiot.

***battlefields*** · Posted On: 4/03/2012 5:06pm

This is hilarious. N00bs, for your own benefit, STFU. Seriously. Read more; post less. Your opinions are not only stupid, uneducated, inexperienced, with a heavy dose of wataah movie influence and the majority of members here are laughing their arses off AT YOU and your whinging about TMA.

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 4/03/2012 6:00pm

so you are going on ignore, something I've never done in 12 years of being on the net.

Originally Posted by Downrange

No it did not work now watch me cover my ass.

Fixed!!

I do like that you claim to never have done it, but you know about browser add-ons LOL.

Oh and you still didn't ignore me dumb ****.
Bwahahahahaaaaa

**Jim_Jude** · Posted On: 4/03/2012 7:03pm

Originally Posted by Downrange

Oh goodness fucking gracious dude, why don't you help yourself to a steaming bowl of ****. Now this is directed at you: **** you. Not arguing with a fool so you are going on ignore, something I've never done in 12 years of being on the net.

First off, why the hell would you tell someone they're going on "Ignore"? Just do it. & Second, why announce that you're going to do it before you know if you can do it or not? & Third, you can just ignore someone by choice, you don't have to interact with their stupidity/belligerence/whatever, kinda like you do in real life?

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 4/03/2012 7:17pm

Originally Posted by Jim_Jude

Third, you can just ignore someone by choice, you don't have to interact with their stupidity/belligerence/whatever, kinda like you do in real life?

Yes, and Jim knows what he is talking about because he has more of those than me, Sirc, and Rudy combined.

**Downrange** · Posted On: 4/04/2012 8:51am

Did It is Fake douchebag say something????? I won't know if she did because her posts are ignored!

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 4/04/2012 8:56am

Originally Posted by Downrange

Did It is Fake douchebag say something????? I won't know if she did because her posts are ignored!

OMG it has me on ignore, but not really.

**AXPickle** · Posted On: 4/11/2012 9:29pm

Pretty awesome video, going to add him to my list of awesome skeptics (Neil Degrasse Tyson is my hero). I would say watching it should be a requirement for joining the forums but as has clearly been demonstrated, half the newbies (and some of the older farts) have a deep seated urge to make it about them or their art vs the world.

There should be a giant banner on the website that explains exactly how skepticism works.

Originally Posted by battlefields

This is hilarious. N00bs, for your own benefit, STFU. Seriously. Read more; post less. Your opinions are not only stupid, uneducated, inexperienced, with a heavy dose of wataah movie influence and the majority of members here are laughing their arses off AT YOU and your whinging about TMA.

*bows head in shame* okay

**Mumon** · Posted On: 5/14/2012 8:23am

I'm a Wing Chun relatively new practitioner - and an admitted newbie to this forum,...but I have been studying Zen Buddhism for some 20 years or so...

I do have a few points to make:

1. I don't think Matt Thornton fully understands "Buddhism" as a "religion" means well millions of things to millions of people.

2. In particular, for millions of people, my self included, "Buddhism" is indeed a thing that encourages the attitude of if you can't know about it (e.g., life after death) you don't say you know about it. (I would prefer to call it a "religion" instead of "spiritual" for precisely the reasons Thompson brings out - I deplore new age fluff or superstition.)

3. I would take every single point everyone makes about CMA/JMA - and Wing Chun especially - as "having no ground game" and all that...and reply, "Point taken, but for many practitioners, myself it's not particularly relevant" because...

4. There's aspects to martial arts as 功夫 - "kung fu" - in its original sense as to be a person of accomplishment that means that whatever some or all of the TMA/CMA/JMA martial arts "lack" in terms of ability in an actual fight is more than made up for by the psychological/motor skills/social/... benefits provided. Thompson kind of makes this point, I think but I think it's much stronger than he makes it.

That last point is a subject for a whole other thread probably.

**Colin** · Posted On: 5/14/2012 8:43am

Thanks for your contribution, Mumon - but I think it's pretty important to clearly delineate between general lifestyle benefits, and actual martial value.