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Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture
Why the meaning of life is 42 and how this relates to self-defence

The “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is one of my favourite set of books, TV shows and radio programs (not a huge fan of the recent movie). This clip from the 1980s TV show, where the super computer  “Deep-Thought” is asked to answer the ultimate question of “life, the universe and everything”, and takes 7.5 million years to come to the answer “42” is one of my favourite parts! The problem is that no one understood the question well enough for a decent answer to be possible. When it comes to self-defence I feel we martial art types often do the same. We fail to accurately understand the nature of criminal violence (often assuming it’s just the same as sport, dojo sparring, etc.) and hence our carefully considered “answers” to the problem are just about as useful and satisfying as “42”. As this very funny clip illustrates, seeking an “answer” without understanding the question leads to useless answers. There’s therefore a moral to this story … :-)

All the best,

Iain

Spaniard
Spaniard's picture

Well thought and said!-

Erik P./Spaniard