Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts Blog

The Quest for Perfection

studying internal arts Dec 11, 2006

There's a quote that has been attributed to different people, but I believe it was first said by a Roman philosopher:

"The perfect is the enemy of the good."

When we study and practice martial arts, we work hard to be perfect. We want to have the perfect stance, throw the perfect punch, move with perfect body mechanics.

Sometimes we get so hung up on trying to be perfect that we forget to have fun, and we forget that being good just might be good enough.

I'm frequently stunned when I look at videos of some great Chen tai chi masters such as Chen Xiaowang, Chen Xiaoxing, and others. And when I see them in person, the difference in quality is surprising.

I've been told that some Tai Chi students who travel to the Chen Village in China come back to the U.S. and give up Tai Chi, because they realize they'll never be as good as the people they see there.

I like to compare my practice of the internal arts with playing other sports such as basketball. I can get together with a bunch of...

Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

The Quest for Perfection

Author - Instructor

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