Science vs. Art - Which Would You Prefer to Save Your Life?

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I am perplexed by people's confusing looks when I tell them I do martial science instead of martial arts. After they are silent for a moment I am usually met with this statement, "So martial arts right?"

"NO! (I scream in my head) Are the words 'science' and 'art' synonyms? What are you so confused about?" 

This used to be my internal, mental dialogue until I gained more patience. The distinction between art and science is clear to me now but it wasn't always - like you, I too once believed that martial arts and martial science were basically the same thing. Like you, I wouldn't have known what to think if someone told me they were a "martial scientist". The differences between the two now stand out to me like night and day. Can you see the differences yet?

Let me put it this way: If you were shot and had a ruptured femoral artery, would you want the trauma surgeon who was going to attempt to save your life to be a scientist or an artist? What if just before they put you under to perform the surgery you heard the surgeon say, "Now it's time to see if this human leg looks like the pictures I've drawn in my sketch book." Imagine the mortal terror that would seize you as you realized (as you were falling asleep) that the surgeon who was about to operate on you was just a sketch artist - not a scientist. 

See my point? This is how it is for martial science vs. martial arts. Martial arts has a place and time (just like regular art) but that time and place IS NOT for personal protection/I-need-something-to-save-myself-now type of situations. If you wouldn't trust an artist to do surgery on you, why would you trust an artist to protect you or your family?

As a licensed martial scientist, I am like the surgeon. I have been programmed, validated and coded by the highest warrior scientists in the world and given permission to code, program and instruct new warriors/protectors. I am not an artist. The surgeon cannot just declare himself to be a surgeon one day – he must take examinations, perform hundreds of supervised and validated procedures on cadavers, shadow currently licensed surgeons, etc. An artist on the other hand, can self-declare his artistic title and there is no one to challenge his assertion. Would you rather have the self-proclaimed surgeon operate on you or the validated one from competent medical boards and doctors?

When people say, "So they're basically the same right?" I tell them, "Sure. If you think going to Harvard Medical School to study Neurosurgery is the same as studying interpretive dance at NYU." 

I want to be very clear, I am not bashing art. A good scientist is often one of the best appreciators of art. But a good scientist is also good at something else - knowing the appropriate boundaries and limits of a thing. Art should be "boundaried off" when it comes to fighting, protection, war, and preserving human life. Why? The consequences are just too dire if one allows "artistic expression" to make headway in a personal protection or "Self-Defense" class. 

If you are going to be the victim of a home invasion, do you want to know what works or what is artistic? Would you rather have been programmed and coded by an elite protector instructor that understands reality or would you rather have been taught by an artist who has no clue if what he has taught you will ever work under real-life situations?

I was fortunate enough to fall into the science realm over a decade ago. I did martial arts for years as a child - starting from age 5 and continuously for a decade. But thanks to my instructor, I was plugged in with the right people, and my training shifted to reality-based martial science. 

How does this relate to you? If you have been seeking programs, classes, and information on how to protect yourself and stay safe - I highly recommend seeking the scientists not the artists. Science is concerned with the pursuit of truth (does this application actually work?) whereas art need never consider whether it is true or not. 

In fact, asking truth questions of art can be rather meaningless. For example: If I ask you, "Is it true that sketching is better than painting?" You would look at me funny. "Huh?" might be your response. Because the question makes no sense. Better in what way? For what? Art need not care or consider these questions - science must or else (in martial science's case) people will die. 

If given the choice, do you want your surgeon to be a scientist or an artist? I know what my choice is - it is why I continue to train with Martial SCIENCES International and why I am licensed to instruct martial SCIENCE - not martial "arts". 

You make your own choice but remember that consequences flow from the choices you make and some consequences are irreversible. 

Live in the battleground,

Lanshe Sensei