Thursday, August 02, 2012

Learning Pencak Silat or anything

#pencaksilat #pencak #silat #pertempuran #combat #silat #combatsilat

I've been taking a class at work for something else but there is a simple list that was created for that class about the learning process. Not sure if it came from somewhere else, but based on the comments I get from time to time and the way people seem to think about martial arts, I thought it would be a good impetus for putting some new info out on the intention of Pencak Silat Pertempuran and on learning in general.

The basic outline is this:

1: UNCONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE—the person is complacent due to ignorance of their state.
(To not know and not care.)

2: CONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE—the person has had some sort of impetus that has moved them from being unaware of their ignorance to being aware and ready to learn.
(To want to know something.)

3: CONSCIOUS COMPETENCE—as the person begins to learn, they are increasingly aware of both what they know and their limitations, making them ripe for coaching.
(Knowing some and aware that you have more to learn.)

4: UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE—as the person practices and perfects whatever it is they're learning, it becomes second nature.
(Doing well enough to do without thinking—as if it is intuitive.)

5: REFLECTIVE COMPETENCE—if the person is called upon to teach others, they will need to move beyond doing it intuitively to doing it reflectively, considering the processes and parts from various perspectives.
(To master something and then reflect on it in order to teach)

The last three of these are what I refer to as: Knowing, Doing, and Being or Scio, Operor, Existo (which is more becoming then being).

Recently I had someone ask me about PSP and the system I have organized and how the organization works. 

They were really asking a secondary question about the validity of having 8 responses to choose from. It showed their ignorance of what I teach and how the system works. (Step 2 above.)

The numbering system itself is only meant as a tool for teacher and student to have an organized discussion and approach to learning. It is not meant as a rolodex to flip through as you fight, per se. (Step 3 above.)

In reality, under pressure, you're only going to do what comes out of you naturally. If you train enough, gain faith and confidence in what you're learning—even if something goes wrong—you can you still do with surety what you've been trained to do. It must be trained enough to be natural. It's that simple—and that difficult. (Step 4 above.)

His question was "with eight possible responses how can you sort through that in a fight?" He would be very shocked to understand that there are hundreds of responses, maybe more honestly. 

The reality is that you don't sort through them at all. You just need to practice, and then practice, and then practice some more, moving through the three stages, letting your responses develop and letting your understanding of the physical, psychological, and emotional relationship transpire. It's both active and reactive—not one or the other. 

The training method I have created is meant only as a way to organize in a small, relational way, SOME of the possibilities, and more specifically the probabilities. 

It is not prescriptive like most martial arts but it is somewhat predictive.

Thanks for reading,
Sean
Pencak Silat Pertempuran

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