The stages of martial arts mastery:....

Stage 1: Turns up at school with high expectations of being able to 'kick serious ass' within a few weeks of training.

Stage 2: Very rapidly realises he has the coordination of an epileptic Glaswegian after a night on the hard stuff and the stamina of an obese octogenarian. Reappraises his ability to 'kick serious ass' to a few months of training.

Stage 3: Realises that the training is a lot tougher than he ever imagined (hell Jackie Chan made it look easy) and either
a. considers giving up but he's told all his mates now and they'd never let him live it down if he took the easy way out or
b. has watched a couple of Rocky films and is so revved up he is camping out on the dojo doorstep.

Stage 4: Gets his first ranking. Is now officially a martial artist and has the 'qualificatons' to prove it. However it is the first step and he realises he is still more crap than anyone else in the training hall.

Stage 5: Other new members turn up. Time to show off a little and maybe 'help the new fellows out with my in depth knowledge'.

Stage 6: After several years trainng some wisdom starts to seep in and realisation comes that the best martial artists have no need to prove themselves to others so are able to be true to themselves and prefer to help others on the same path (or am I just being overly optimistic?)

Stage 7: Becomes a teacher at last. Can finally look forward to having a massive income, hundreds of admiring students and the highest level of street cred possible.

He still has a long way to go!!

Good stuff, puffadder. But this begs the "creation" argument as well.

The self-promoted bogus 10th dans seem to magically appear fairly often, too. Or maybe tht is more related to your post after all.

I think you forgot a stage:

Stage 8: Realizes, no matter how much he/she trains, that he/she could still get "taken out" in an instant by someone who: got lucky/was more skilled/had friends/was armed/was bigger/was meaner, etc, etc. As a result, he/she not only trains harder and with more humility, but stays out of more trouble outside the dojo.


Mike

ha you're right.
Then finally comes
Stage 9. Has finally learned all the skills, secrets, weapons, tactics etc that he thinks will enable him to best any attacker but is now 97 with severe arthritis, senile dementia and keeps his concealed weapons in his colostomy bag!!!

Stage1. Feel like a nothing.

Stage 2. Feel special.

Stage 3. Feel like nothing special.