There are basically two ways in which we are to be imprisoned. First there is the fact that when ever we try to make ourselves look like what we think others expect to see, we simply prevent ourselves from doing the things we would otherwise like to do. For example, if your friends know you as a heavy drinker and they choose to ask you out to have a good time, you will most probably get drunk because you have an image to keep up. It doesn't matter if it doesn't have any sense to it; you will just tell yourself (on a sub-conscious level) that you enjoy what you are doing. The only way out of this is to confess to yourself how it is that you really want to live.

If we keep up these images and live with all kinds of unreal expectations we, sooner or later, begin to believe in them ourselves. This is the second way of imprisonment. It is more serious than the first one because it prevents us from seeing ourselves as we are. For example, consider a bully who thinks he is a real tough fighter. He makes up stories of himself beating people up, pushes weaker people around and when he becomes threatened by mortal danger he gets scared like a rabbit. That happens because on his sub-conscious level he has a much brighter picture of his abilities and skills. The role he has been playing simply alters his image in his mind... Until reality hits!

The way out of the second imprisonment is much harder but it begins from freeing yourself from the first imprisonment. After this your eyes open and you will be able to see your own abilities in more balanced manner.

It is only human to try to look a little more and a little better than you really are. This all derives (in my opinion) from some primal instincts, so one can not free oneself completely of this kind of "pro-social-acting." We simply need attention and positive feedback (the word "positive" is relative) from other individuals. By acting and adapting different kinds of roles in different social situations we try to gain some extra respect from other people. To fight this natural phenomenon too hard would be a waste of time and energy. Via practice we can develop an eye for this. Then we are able to find our real fears as well as the fears of others more easily.

We who practice arts of combat must be aware this. People can be guided by using their fears and by leading their assumptions on how you see them. By mastering this, one may be able to avoid threatening situations. However, it doesn't always work as we would like because the way the mind of man functions is extremely complex. This may lead us to a situation where the use of force is unavoidable.

When we are forced to use our skills against an assailant there are risks involved. We might get hurt or the other guy might get hurt. First thing to consider is that we get through with as little damage as possible. The faith of the assailant simply depends on our personal moral and ethics. The point which must be carefully judged is whether it is justified to cause physical harm to the person we think (or rather want to think) is possessing a threat against us. This is when we must have a clear and true understanding of our own skills as well as our motives, the motives being more important. We could be thinking something like: "This is a great opportunity to test my skills in real life and there isn't really any worry because I could beat this clown up even blindfolded." In a situation like this it is not necessary to harm the opponent badly. Force may be applied to secure our own safety but it should be left to that. Sometimes the things are different. Given all our practice and skills we still could be terribly frightened because someone is behaving aggressively towards us. We might even get so scared that all our limbs just freeze up and all we can do is to watch what will happen next and hope for the best. These are the situations we have been training for. It is then time to confess to oneself the presence of fear and see that we must take action to prevent a real threat. After all we've been training to be able to defend ourselves from serious attacks and not from those which we can deal by talking ourselves out. In this point it is all up to our ability to recognize our fears and to deal with them. Otherwise we may be led to a unnecessary use of the art of self-defense.

This is how I see the philosophy behind self-defense. Feel free to disagree. The reason I wrote this for is simply me wanting to appear as a wise and knowledgeable man.