540 - (FREE TO READ) Ride The Tiger vs "An assumption of permanence"

(S.I./A) On being able to withstand the shock of change

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Some ruminations on the concept of change and what it can mean for the survival oriented mindset.

That old Chinese curse of “May you live in interesting times!” sure seems to apply to all of us these days doesn’t it?

Not a day seems to pass when some talking head isn’t using their Faustian fifteen minutes to push some blatant agenda, erase our past or “nudge “ us to some new normal on behalf of those that pull their strings.

What has this got to do with survival or “self defence”?

Quite simply, an awareness of the possibility of change.

The assumption of permanence of resources or circumstances is a critical error in awareness planning for crisis events.

The idea of a fluid “NOW” should be embraced and preparations made that contain this that contain a plan B, C, and at least D - after all “the map is not the landscape” as the saying goes.

The goal is to become “Anti-fragile” (0) when dealing with, or better still, preparing for, events involving sudden life altering change.

Personal

Health

Injury or change in health have an immediate derailing effect upon what you expect as a norm of functioning and therefore ability to defend yourself.

I write about ageing quite a bit as it’s something we’re not supposed to admit is happening to us, but it is.

You can’t recuperate as quickly and so on. In my case I’ve had protracted health problems that forced me to not only train very conservatively but also forced me to down grade massively my ability to earn money and support my family.

Finances

Would a change of circumstances in terms of finances effect your ability to even afford training?

Will your franchise dojo drop prices for you if you can’t afford it?

Have you set up a home training regimen that can allow you to train free without need for gyms, dojos or maybe even a partner?

Even getting injured through training itself can lose you work and if that’s serious enough, that could be a real problem for you, worth thinking about if you espouse gung ho macho crap.

External Environment

“Ride the Tiger” (1)

Remember during lock downs from 2020 onwards? The behaviour we all witnessed? Those who would physically fight for toilet rolls, foods, and sometimes, items that they didn’t even need?

What about those that turned on family members and friends over views or reported others for breaking a rule?

I’m sure these same individuals would have been the ones to proclaim loudly that they’d never do that just weeks before a perceived threat to their comfy worldview and they’re damn quiet about it now, aren’t they? At least until the next interesting time comes down the chute from on high.

Changes in local feeling of safety?

The trickle down is real and gets personal when the downturn affects your safe neighborhood/ area with perhaps, a sudden general awareness of crime or threat locally now developing.

Many people will simply never think of changing their behaviours and certainly not of sourcing defensive training as something they need until during or after something has happened to them and that’s fine, I’m not here to sell it or persuade in any way as I know that I’m writing for a reader who is already taking action of some kind and not waiting in a docile manner for the worst to catch them out.

How unpredictable an event seems to the average person depends on several factors, some of which may be:

Life experience:

What they know and what they have learned from experience previously. If they’ve never had bad times or seen others live through them, they can be less equipped to act.

Social Pressure:

Group dynamics play a role—people may reject knowledge to conform to the attitudes of their community or peers. If everyone around them denies an issue, they might follow suit to fit in. This links back to my comments in “Ride the tiger” - critical thinking is a key survival attribute, think for yourself always.

Effort Required:

Integrating new information takes mental work. It’s easier to ignore or practice denial than to rethink one’s stance or take action based on new knowledge.

So their ability to accept information and their willingness to implement planning based on it along with a rational risk appraisal ahead of time is just too much work. But not for you, you see the value in it.

Comfort and Stability:

I’ve met many types over the years who are often unwilling to admit that an area they have moved to may have negative aspects - they’ve sunk their savings into this place and don’t want perhaps to accept that they missed something or that all isn’t just Utopian. They can also refuse to accept evidence of its flaws, as doing so feels like a personal attack or admission of a poor decision, so ego is in there too.

Try tipping off your new neighbours about drug selling up the road and marvel as you get dropped from the social invites.

Yes, there are good people out there, but there are also some pretty bad ones too and they have an advantage while some refuse to even see this. These types actually ENABLE the bad ones with this refusal.

They tend to silence or distance themselves from voices pointing out these issues and consequently, these same individuals are completely caught off guard by events that are obviously approaching unlike those who have positively prepared.

Trust in Sources:

Whether people accept knowledge often hinges on their trust in where it comes from. A credible source might be embraced, while an unfamiliar or opposing voice might be dismissed, even if the information is valid. They can also assume that they are smarter than you for whatever reason, and therefore, ego comes in yet again.

Desire for control:

By rejecting unpalatable knowledge, they maintain an illusion of control over their narrative.

An event close to home can change that, and then there’s a sudden interest in finding a solution, at least until they can tell themselves it was a one off and they can return to their previous status quo.

As always self preservation will outweigh self actualisation on any day of the week when times are hard as a gentleman called Maslow once put forward.

Ironically, Maslow was from Ukraine and his homeland, a country that few people in this ever more Septic Isle would have even known the geographical location of (perhaps even still) is somehow being put at the centre of every decision in the country at time of writing, from food and energy bills, to old people freezing, to people arguing that we should be at war for it. Times change, or rather, are changed for us, and they change fast!

Internal Environment

Changes here may be because of the Personal and/or External changes

Mental health

A change of circumstances in terms of your psychological state - some events can derail your ability to devote yourself to training; depression, bereavement, you name it. These are real-world events that never seem to be considered in martial arts industry sales spiel.

I have friends that are now homeless, divorced. Some have, what I can only describe as, lost their minds and fallen away, a lasting sadness.

Many think they will be tough enough to just slide through something, but you don’t know until you are there. These can be profound crossroads moments in lives and they are seldom considered or even acknowledged as though it is negative to do so.

Expecting only roses is deluded and negative, these types are always found out by life.

Self-image

Something happens to wreck the way you feel about yourself and it all goes to shit fast. From losing a job or a relationship to trained guys that lose a street confrontation and descend into a black hole of self-doubt over this, becoming reclusive or withdrawn, whereas they were outgoing and confident before.

Social status change

I’ve known former military guys who have been unable to function or even cope with basic “grind “ jobs for reasons as simple as not being able to adapt to a world where not everyone says “Yes Sir!” when they told them to do something.

As simple as that, tough guys who had worked protection duties abroad and worked military police, were off work with IBS and stress-related health problems because they were completely lost in a world that the rest of us have to navigate daily. This is status change and for those that place a value on status this can be a crushing thing to deal with if you delude yourself with it’s importance.

Self delusion

Those that intellectualise violence and aggression to the extent that they forget what training for it means, or they fantasise a higher place in the food chain than the one they really inhabit which is the same as being completely unprepared. See also “imposition of the will”

416 - Imposition of the will

Thinking

If you can make an allowance in terms of finding some small forward movement or consistent attempt at it, no matter where you find yourself in life this habit of thinking will see you through very bad times and challenges. Loads of people throw the word “warrior” around ( a word I dislike to use) but these situations are the ones that can truly test that self image to breaking point if you labour beneath it.

It’s like many people assume that life will always be an abundance of XY and Z and the slightest knocking of this comfortable picture is enough to wreck the whole thing when they find themselves there.

Embracing the fact that things may well be fucked but finding some way (although reduced) to continue moving forward is a great asset to surviving things in general. This is the source of genuine toughness, not just physical strength or bad attitude.

The Half full cup

Seeing what you still have rather than what you may have just lost is a powerful tool to apply to your thinking. I try to practice this ( I say try…) daily and to be thankful that though my health and circumstances are seldom ideal, I am still moving forwards in some small way. This has been I think, one of the only reasons that I’m still writing and occasionally able to coach.

It is simply part of life and I try hard to constantly readjust my expectations based on a realistic appraisal of my abilities rather than comparison to what others have or can do. And if they try and push otherwise on you, tell them to fuck off - ok, maybe don’t do that as they may well be able to kick your ass, but you know what I mean!

So, in conclusion, or is that “In Concussion?

Just as we must revisit the who, what , when , where, how and why of our lives from time to time for our training to stay relevant, we must also have an allowance that whatever the current situation is, it is “subject to change”.

NOTES:

0 - a phrase coined by author Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his works “The Black Swan” and “Anti-Fragile”.

1 - "Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul" by Julius Evola is a philosophical treatise published in 1961, in which Evola discussed ways that the individual can “Thrive in the chaos” of turbulent, changing times.

Rather than resisting this decline head-on, which he deems futile, Evola proposes "riding the tiger"—a metaphor for enduring the chaos of modernity while remaining detached and rooted in an inner, timeless tradition. He puts forward a path of self-discipline, resilience, and metaphysical transcendence for the "differentiated man" who can transform destructive forces into personal liberation amidst the ruins of the modern or our now, post-modern age.