A Brutal Discourse
by Haydn Ellis, Brutal Founder
It is now only a few weeks until I move to Sydney. This year sure has flown by. A lot has happened in the past twelve months and once again Brutal has evolved. Like all vehicles of expression, Brutal is only a pointer to the truth. It is not the finger that points to the moon that is important, it is what it is pointing at that matters.
As a parting gift, I have decided to provide a greater insight into what Brutal actually is, where it came from and where it is going. So, Merry Xmas Brutal people!
Understand however, that you cannot teach wisdom to an idiot. You can teach wisdom to the ignorant as long as they are aware of their ignorance. To be ignorant is wise. It is the previously written about ‘complex ignorance’ that defines the idiot. Being unaware of your ignorance means it is impossible for you to obtain wisdom.
If you think you know anything about anything then don’t bother continuing to read this article. And this is a very important distinction to make. Knowing the ‘things of men’ is fundamentally ignorant. Nature does not care that you have a degree and that you know the accepted English terms for various body parts. You are still going to die. Ignorance is the ignorance of Nature, not to be confused with being ignorant of the laws and manifestations of mankind. These are all temporary illusions that have no basis in reality outside the minds of men.
Brutal Training is not called Brutal because of the severity or harshness of its training methods or principles. It is Brutal because to actually face what Brutal points to means facing the truth of reality and the truth of your own profound ignorance. For most, Brutal is not really brutal at all. It is hard training and hard training only. Brutal exists in the hope that maybe someone will be inspired enough through its existence to risk the comfort and security of the ignorant state and pursue the truth about themselves.
Brutal originated out of the following fundamental principle…
The human being has an infinite capacity for superhuman performance that it (the human being) is (in most cases) completely unaware of.
We will ignore for the moment why the human being is unaware of this. That is another 10,000-word discourse.
The above principle evolved out of many years of training, studying and researching the ancient martial artists of the Far East and beyond. From Mas Oyama and Morihei Uyeshiba to the monks of Shaolin and the Indian yoga masters, it became clear that in all corners of the globe there were individuals capable of extraordinary feats of a truly superhuman nature. My simple premise was this…
If the modern athlete trained 10% as hard and efficiently as the past Masters they would dominate their chosen sport.
The modern day athlete doesn’t remotely come close to the proficiency and perfection of the ancient Masters. The only two exceptions I am aware of are Walter Lindrum (billiards) and Mo Norman (golf). I have recently been reminded of the proficiency of the Masters in my renewed relationship with Master Raoul. At 63, he strikes with much greater speed, power and accuracy than I have dreamt of. And I’m fast! The ancient Masters got better with age. We get worse.
It was necessary then to begin to understand how these past Masters trained and what philosophies acted as cornerstones to their training practices. Understand that modern man is but a shadow of his former self. Man is lost in thought and for centuries has forgotten his true capabilities. It wasn’t long before my studies lead to a number of key areas for consideration…
- In all cases the past Masters made reference to an aspect of self that can loosely be termed at this stage as spirit.
- In most cases the past Masters learned their abilities training under a Master above them, also known as a Grand Master. The ‘teachings’ have been handed down over centuries. So who originated the teachings? And why were they so much more advanced than us?
- Rather than seeking to ‘learn’ something, the Masters sought to have ‘it’ revealed to them. It was through rigorous training that the skill or abilities they desired would ‘reveal themselves to the student’.
Master Raoul performed thousands of repetitions everyday. He trained 8 hours a day, 7 days per week. He trained in a manner consistent with the Masters of old, human beings capable of performing superhuman feats.
Nature will reveal itself to you as you perform countless repetitions. Nature will reveal itself to you faster if those repetitions are aided by the presence of a Master.
This is distinct from modern scientific method, which seeks to observe, quantify and teach on the basis of those observations. You can’t observe and quantify spirit. It won’t be recorded on a camera.
I had originally thought that the areas of study that interested me were quite distinct. I now know that they are inextricably linked. Broadly defined these were:
- Training and coaching
- Optimal nutrition
- The history and evolution of man and civilisation as we know it
- The development of religion
- Modern scientific method
- Martial arts and martial art legends
- Spirituality
- Meditation
The level of perfection that the Masters achieve can be temporarily experienced when an athlete enters the zone. It by no means insinuates that a punter in the zone could beat a Master but the punter can experience that same level of effortless achievement. I discovered early on in my coaching that by making athletes progressively exhausted their minds would quieten down and they would slip into this ‘mystical’ state. The problem of course was to enable this to happen without the 1000 push-ups before hand. It’s not great for the golf swing.