Humiliation

I have already mentioned in an earlier post that the Christian martial way will, of necessity, require a rather more unique training than most martial ways demand.  It will require a training in the acceptance of humiliation.  In keeping with my latest post, I am continuing to read The Ball and the Cross, and have now come to one of those scenes which taught me this secret before I had ever thought of a Christian martial way.

I, like many men in the world today, always had a vague sort of understanding that what made murder evil, what made fighting wrong, was the physical violence it entailed.  Particularly now, there is an instinct that violence is, in and of itself, evil.  Many have this sort of reaction to violence that, no matter the cause, one should avoid it.  I had to read this particular passage to really begin to learn the truth:

"You may grow fond of that mire of crawling, cowardly morals, and you may come to think a blow bad, because it hurts, and not because it humiliates.  You may come to think murder wrong, because it is violent, and not because it is unjust."

A few paragraphs before, the same character had noted that there is no sin of bloodshed, only the sin of murder.  He is correct.  God never forbids violence, God forbids murder.  God forbids the unjust taking of human life - unjust because our lives are His, and His alone.  They are not even ours.  To take our own life or the life of another, without clearly justifiable cause, is the sin.  It is to deprive another of the gift of life which God gave that person, it is, in fact, to attempt to steal from God.  It is a spiritual incident, which is what makes it a sin.  It is the negation of good, the deprivation of life, which makes it so evil.  The violence with which it is accomplished isn't material to the sin at all.  Killing a man in a fight is no more and no less murder than smothering a child with a pillow, or poisoning a person's food.  Indeed, if anything, it may be less.

I have taken some pains to outline some understanding of the heart of a Christian martial way.  I want to take this chance to say definitively what a Christian martial art is not, and cannot ever be.  It cannot ever be cowardly.  It cannot fear violence, in and of itself.  I have taken into great account the very real truth that it is humiliation, not pain, which drives so much of our fighting amongst ourselves.  I admit readily that the Christian martial artist must be prepared to accept humiliation, to accept the true spiritual violence of a blow, to accept the evil of a strike.  To accept it and not respond in kind.  This is, to my mind, meeting evil with good.  Likewise, I own that I have counseled others in training that when responding in a situation of some difficulty, to escalate to violence, especially to humiliate another, is only to invite more trouble.  To pacify those in a rage or attempting to hurt another, we must be at pains not to humiliate them, not to wake their pride even further.  That is where there would be evil, that is what we must avoid.  But this is not avoiding violence, this is not to lack in fortitude, but to exercise justice and prudence.

There will come times when violence will be absolutely necessary, when one man's pride will be weighed in the scales against another's life or health, and the scales will and must tip.  Part of our training will be to not only accept humiliation and avoid humiliating, but to bring our minds to understand when prudence and justice have had their due, and now demand an immediate, and violent, resolution to a situation which has become untenable.  When that time comes, there can be no hesitation.  Other means having been exhausted, one will have to strike.  We cannot fear violence, or we will hesitate.  If we hesitate, some great good might perish.  We cannot ever forget that we are in a war, a war of good and evil, a war which is fought all around us between angels and demons, and amongst ourselves.  Wars involve violence, but wars call men to great courage, and they challenge men to remember what is good, true, and beautiful.  To remember that there are things which are worth fighting for, that there are things which must be defended, and that evil must be opposed wherever we meet it.