By Justo and Andy
So what exactly is KFM? Quite simply KFM is the consequence of our life’s.
Born in the 1950’s KFM has, of late come to the attention of a greater audience. With a rather unique and specific flavour combined with a radical and explosive expression, this been a direct consequence of its early roots, KFM now has the opportunity to pass on its intriguing wealth of experience and knowledge to all those who follow a similar path of investigation and discovery.
KFM is not a classical dojo martial art, rather a thoroughbred art form born on the street.
Justo has made it quite clear that the martial arts did not teach him how to fight, far from it. He investigated the martial arts to try and better understand the life and to escape the crazy world he was born into. Justo and myself make no apologies for saying that people who seek the answer from martial arts need to tread carefully these days, as the martial art world is now infected with many charlatans who abuse a once honourable place of learning.
WHAT LIES BEHIND THE DOOR
Until we open the door of investigation how do we know what lies inside?
It’s possible when we pass through the door we enter into a total darkness and we are non the wiser, unable to see clearly. Now what? Do we leave the room or try to find the light switch? What will we find? Who knows!
INVESTIGATION IS THE KEY
Investigation is the blood of KFM its what fuels it and gives it life. Instinct lives in the blood and not in the accumulation of techniques. Its really important that we all have this very clear whilst on the journey with KFM. Debates on techniques are pointless as it’s not the technique that gives the answer, its you! Ability is the consequence of training for sure, but pure instinct is the thing that gives us the answer, not the technique and it is for this reason that the essence of KFM is the cultivation of instinct and not that of a technique collector!
Constant research, development and construction of the work is a daily and never ending process. Trying to resolve problematic areas that have no real set answers is a daily challenge. This keeps us alert and on our toes and confirms that nothing is ever final and it is the moment that will ultimately dictate the outcome.
Obviously if we spend every day of our lives studying a subject then things become a little clearer and we will find many self truths, many of which we sometimes don’t like but we need to face and deal with. This is where persistence comes into play. It’s often hard to keep going when things are not so clear, when there are no obvious answers, when we have spent weeks and weeks of hard work investigating and we are not happy with some of the answers that we find. But in the end this is the fuel that keeps the fire burning, the thing that keeps us all constantly searching and developing.
LEARNING
The concept in the KFM is to be constantly active in the arena of learning. For us this is a place with no limits, a place where we can express the creativity of the mind into the physical form.
Learning is a great thing and to do so we need to be very willing. Knowledge is the consequence of learning but once we have learnt something we need to be very careful so as not to fall in to a classic and predictable trap. It is inherent in us humans to think that we always know best and always have the answer, Not so, we must never prejudge something that we have never seen before, nor can we prejudge something that we do not have full understanding of! So, as soon as the mind starts to say, “Oh, I know that” we cease to learn. This process becomes very detrimental to our personal growth and development.
A conditioned mind, that is to say a mind that is influenced by its past, loses its ability to think freely.
This process called past conditioning prevents us from entering into the arena of learning, instead we open the door of illusion. This is where the process of self deception starts (seeing what we want to see, hearing what we want to hear).Quite clearly this is not a place to be and inhibits our personal learning process immensely.When we operate in this deceptive and dysfunctional state we walk blind and we now start travelling in completely the opposite direction to that of which we aspire. This classical process of past conditioning is the most common disturbance in our efforts to develop ourselves further.
Learning is non accumulative, we cannot store learning as it happens on a daily basis and each day brings with it something new. We can only absorb this “something new” if we stop, look and listen. Easier said than done but that’s the challenge laid down to each and every one of us!
HISTORY
The study of history is very intriguing, but lets not forget most of history is documented on paper. Who wrote these documents? - A select few. It goes without saying that history has been distorted, manipulated and in many cases totally fabricated. Don’t forget that history is only a version, a version of those who win wars, a version of men who have killed to bury the truth and the version of a handful of priests who enjoyed the blessed gift of writing. It is for this reason we need to read historical facts with a fair degree of caution.
Until next month, enjoy the journey!
