On Wing Chun’s usage of the eyes
Mastery of Emotion
Proficient fighters know from hard experience that, although one could have the sharpest technique, the fastest reflexes, immense strength, and a host of other attributes, if the mind and emotions could not be properly controlled and their power harnessed, then one would be overcome easily by an unskilled and sloppy opponent who could apply his force with any kind of intent. The chaotic forces of human emotion under duress must be calmed and focused if you wish to realize true success in any endeavor.
In the chaotic environment of a high-intensity situation, there is a seemingly immense amount of information that your mind needs to process in order to see and create your desired outcome of overcoming and conquering the conflict. In particular to the nature of a physical assault, it is easy to become mentally paralyzed by trying to analyze every single piece of sensory information that comes to you, including emotional turmoil, whether they are yours or the opponents.
In many modern “martial arts†one can learn thousands of physical blocks and attacks, but the paramount importance of the element of discarding “non-essential emotionâ€, thereby preserving and harnessing “essential emotionâ€, is very rarely taught, and even more rarely exhibited.
The principle of Look At Nothing, See Everything is the gateway to mental and emotional mastery by removing non-essential emotion from the playing field, and allowing only the essential emotion to be exhibited. To understand this principle fully an explanation of the emotional content of fighting must be made.
Non-essential emotion is defined as any emotional baggage attached to the event at hand that destroys the clarity of the situation; and in the context of the fighting environment, non-essential emotion is usually exhibited through what the ancient Chinese believed to be the “Twin Destroyers,†fear and rage. Non-essential emotion must not be entertained or allowed to become involved in your responses, for it will become the puppet master of your actions, and any conscious control over your survival will be lost. You will be left to the “luck of the combat†and at the mercy of circumstance.
Essential emotion is defined as your mind’s pure intent - as your truest commitment to overcome all adversity. It is the mind calmed and expressing itself in total clarity. It is you at your most relaxed and powerful state. It is you when you are most “yourselfâ€.
Since we are speaking of defending yourself physically then we need to first understand how to avoid the “non-essential emotion.â€
When a fight begins, most people instantly become up tight, tense up both mentally and physically, and begin to analyze everything. This emotional and analytical process destroys valuable time. Once you get caught up in the analytical process, you run the risk of being caught up in the emotions that go along with it. The battle becomes chaotically emotional as well as physical. Because of this chaos you become confused, even frightened - especially if you look at the opponents face.
Facial expressions give away emotions of hate, malice, and ill?will, causing a rush of emotions inside you. If you look at the attacker’s face you will also be trapped in the natural tendency to analyze the situation, finding yourself posing internal questions such as, “Can I really beat this guy?” or “What is he going to do to me?” Your mind will automatically try to assess the potential danger to provide solutions. This analytical process is very useful when you have the luxury of time, but it is much too slow when your life depends on the speed of your actions.
It is this analytical process that brings upon you the non-essential emotional turmoil. This turmoil will bring you into a loss of control and the dangerous state of having your physical reactions provoked out of you by your opponent. When provoked in this manner it is your opponent who has assumed mastery of the environment.
Sun-tzu, the great 4th Century BC Chinese military general and author of the Art of War, recognized this principle when he classified five types of emotional disturbance that occur when a person is engaged in a high-intensity situation under the control of the non-essential emotional state of fear or rage. They are: recklessness, cowardice, anger, pride, and compassion for one’s enemy.
He coined these expressions of the non-essential emotional state as “weaknesses of character†and understood that when one was under the sway of any of these emotions, he would then be in the mercy of circumstance – a very dangerous condition when one’s life is on the line.
The main reason the fighting system you are learning here can work in such a short period of time is that it allows you to unlock your instincts. Creating a winning situation is the key to success, analyzing the situation will defeat your instincts.
Proper Use of the Eyes
So how do we see clearly the event before us without analyzing, or being caught in turmoil? We do this by learning to properly use our eyes and their sensory processes through the understanding of the aforementioned principle, Look At Nothing, See Everything.
Obviously you need to look at your opponent if you are going to fight him. But when you look at him, you should see everything about him that is a threat, but nothing that reveals his emotions. In other words, you should see everything by looking at nothing. The key to seeing everything and looking at nothing is to focus on an imaginary point just in front of your opponent’s chest. This point is about a foot away from his body.
When you focus on this point you can see the rest of his body with your peripheral vision. You will be able to see all of his weapons (his feet, his hands, his legs, or whatever). You then reduce his body to nothing more than a mass of colors and lines. This takes away the analytical process of the left-brain and forces the right brain to take over.
One advantage to this is that it disassociates yourself from your opponent. When you see your opponent as a mass of colors and lines, rather than as a human being fully intent on doing you harm, you can respond under your own emotional control, and not succumb to reacting in accordance with the opponent’s aggressive actions. This improves the situation because you are now acting instead of reacting—creating instead of analyzing.
Concentrate your visual attention to that imaginary point when you practice. Get into the habit of looking at nothing but seeing everything. It is easy to be distracted when you are not actually in a physical confrontation. But you fight the way you practice. If you are distracted during your practice, you will most likely allow yourself to be distracted during a fight. This is dangerous.
By the same token, if you can concentrate so intensely that nothing can divide your attention from the task at hand, you will have a much stronger mental foundation from which to defend yourself. By focusing your attention on that little imaginary point you can begin developing this level of concentration.
Your physical actions will then become greatly speeded up from the simple act of not giving your mind so much needless information to process. You will learn that true expressions of martial speed do not come from physical quickness alone, but from mental alertness and the ability of the central nervous system to process responses more efficiently.
