Training is a remedy for the danger of artificial intelligence, for all the dangers of worldly obsession. Worldly obsessions are premised on the same error as artificial intelligence: that more is better. Better tools have meant that we can impose our will on the world more efficiently. With better tools we can get more of what we want and destroy more of what stands in our way.
If our will is wise, then that is good. If we are motivated by greed, hatred and delusion then we will magnify the error in our minds in our effect on the world. We are witnessing this now, in every field of human action. In the name of abundance, comfort and efficiency we have cut ourselves off from the natural world and from each other. We have hurt the world, and each other. It is a direct, zero-sum consequence of implementing our unwise, untrained will in the world.
Training as a remedy for this does not mean withdrawal from the world. It means engagement in a healthy way. It means avoiding the whirlpool of distraction and desire. It means taking command of our minds and bodies, our relationships and our work.
That is a full time, whole life commitment. It does not guarantee reward in the world. It does not offer “more”. It does not promise congratulations, pleasure, comfort, attention, influence, wealth or status.
It does promise a good life. It is the only thing that does. By training I do not mean just martial arts training. That can play an important role in making us healthy, focused, strong, flexible, self-reliant, confident and competent. It can reunite our body and mind, will and heart. That is an important part of the picture.
By training I mean continual wise attention to what we are doing, saying and thinking. Cultivating our lives, removing what is harmful and nourishing what is good. Making that, not “more”, our priority.
For us there is no other way. There is no other way for the titans and tyrants either. The difference is that we are free to do it.
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Post copyright © 2026 Jeffrey Brooks, MountainKarateNC.com, Yamabayashi Ryu, Mountain Karate Dojo, in the mountains of western NC.
Photo by Randy Fath via Unsplash
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read True Karate Dō by Jeffrey Brooks
“One of the best books I’ve read in years, inviting and compelling. Jeff Brooks moves effortlessly from martial arts to Buddhism to consciousness studies, self-transformation, and related fields in this wide-ranging and Illuminating study that has much to offer both novice explorers and veteran practitioners. A splendid achievement.”— Philip Zaleski, Editor, The Best Spiritual Writing series