My job in the fighting styles were only available in 1964 with irony. I studied a martial artwork commonly categorized as "soft" judo, but discovered that in application there was plenty of "hard" ;.Judo presented the hardest work out of any game I had ever practiced including football. I had more aching muscles, more muscle strains, and more bruises in judo than in most my different activities combined. And, in match application, the thought of harmonizing power or using the other person's strength against him was all but invisible. It had been struggle, basic and simple. Later I added the "hard" artwork of karate and the "soft" art of aiki-ju-jutsu to my repertoire. Unifying them made me realize that sometimes karate may be smooth and aiki may be hard. Training emphasis was something, application another. One's personal interpretation of and ability at the art also had an impact on the ensuing "hardness" or "softness" ;. Karate Jacksonville, FL
The apparent dichotomy of difficult and soft was being homogenized and specific within me as a martial artist. Other key themes (long vs. short range, straight vs. circular action, inner vs. external power, conventional vs. contemporary practices, etc.) looked also to stay struggle and yet existed within one martial artist, one method of training, one college, one model, or one art--this was a paradox. But I didn't take it as a true paradox since I believed that paradox is just a statement of our personal constraints in understanding. Anything can not be dark and bright at once, in the exact same sense, in the same context. That they could be seemingly paradoxical but are in reality ironic. Clear paradoxes then should be able to be resolved.
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that the best type of believed was to be able to hold two contradictory a few ideas at the exact same time. I don't agree. Conflicting a few ideas produce limited understanding, indecision, inaction, hence limited achievements. But apparently contradictory ideas which are settled within the thinker--now that's anything else.
Undoubtedly mastery and "high thought" aren't achieved simply by having a several conflicting a few ideas, finding out how to solve them to one's own pleasure, and then selling oneself to twelfth dan (traditional rates get up to just tenth dan which are very rare and are generally given to really experienced, really elderly, and often really smart practitioners of the martial arts). As an alternative, mastery of any subject, especially those like the fighting styles which are fraught with perfectionism, devotion, correct believers, fidelity, and multitudes of practices and emphases --mastery of those arts means that the ironies and evident paradoxes of the study must be understood and resolved.