Distance

“Grandfather, Owl?” asked the child.

“Yes my little bird?” replied Grandfather Owl.

“You are plump. You are happy. Never a night do you not return with supper”, said the child.

“Yes, yes, all true, so true,” said Grandfather Owl smiling a memory back to life.

“How?”

“What? What’s that you say? How, what?”

“How do you always return with food?”

Grandfather Owl, sighed, ruffling his feathers and then settled back to his perch.

“My little one. I merely see the mouse and attack. What else is there?”


Distance as Metaphysical

Distance is defined as: The space between two things.

A lot of us have come to assume this a concrete subject. The space between A and B is the distance. We forget that it is space and instead attribute a much more lasting quality to it. We think of distance as a real item. How far is it to get to work sticks because of the time it takes to complete this task. The time becomes the distance and since the passage of time is readily felt by our sensory inputs, we can make this distance something greater than it truly is: a mere definition of space. It is because of this that it's multi-dimensionality gets lost.

Forget what you know about distance. Forget it as an object, think of it as the emptiness all around you, after all, everything in every direction is at a distance to where you sit, reading this right now. Make these 2 dimensional measurements irrelevant to your fighting nature.


Distance as physical

In the fighting world, we think of ourselves as an object in space, occupying a place in the physical universe. This location is easy for us to define, as it is apparent to our conscious minds. The opponent, also, must live in the same dimensional universe, and thus occupy a location in this plane of existence. How close the opponent is to our physical location defines how much of a threat they are to us. Weapons, such as sticks and bombs, are designed to eliminate the space advantage (and to increase lethality). In this way an unarmed opponent thirty feet away is at a distance at which the person does not have to be fully invested in the fight. There are more options. Distance is life, because it institutes time on which options can be applied.

The physical distance between A and B are important, but there are subtle distances at play here too. The distance between A’s fists or kicks, the distance between B’s center of gravity to the ground, the distance between parallel strikes and the ground.

Distances are based on lines (or arcs – but for simplicity we’ll stay with lines) These lines are all angles from 0° to 179° (any other angle for us is a reflection of the rest and may only serve to confuse the reader). These lines of movement, of direction while moving through space to change distances are important to remember and recognize while learning how to move and maintain space so that you can continue to create time for yourself and maintain your balance. The lines themselves have global distances as well: the distance from fist to fist, from fist floor, from fist counter strikes. All these angles reflect other distances. Study on this.


Distance universality

“But Grandfather Owl. They must see you coming!”

“Then why is it I never starve?”