Schrödinger’s Punch



Erwin Schrodinger



The acclaimed physicist Erwin Schrödinger put forth a theory in 1935 which has become commonly known as Schrödinger’s Cat, which describes the paradox of existence. How all things in the physical realm are able to exist in two states at once.  While the validity of this experiment and its resulting theory may have been the cause of much debate, its application is much more relevant in the world of martial arts.

When a punch leaves its position in the guard or from the hip, depending on your practices, it has both the elements of being a strike as well as a block (or deflection for those purists). It travels outward at our opponent and its existence or purpose is dependent on the intended and final target.

While this hypothesis, can be applied to any strike, I’ll simplify the concept by using chudan uke or a middle block and its interpretation of being either a defensive deflection against the opponent’s strike,  while at the same time it has the potential of being an uraken uchi or back fist to the opponent’s head, ribs, or even the arm itself; the latter being the epitome of this hypothesis, where the block is the strike. The contact point of the block is the same as the target point of the strike.

While an entire book could be written with these examples and variety of strikes from the upper body and lower body, that will be left for future development. Prayerfully, I get the chance to attack that project before a better person beats me to it.

So ultimately, by the law of validation by transference (OK, so its not a law– its been 20+ years since my last physics class, but a really good way of validating theory) By being able to apply the theory to a wide variety of models and circumstances, one moves incredibly close to proving theory. In this case we transfer the theory from the proven model of the strike/block to our existence as Martial Artists and Peaceful People. It is often a point of contention that the martial arts produce individuals who seek to inflict violence on others, while proclaiming that they are striving for peace. Certainly  there are individuals who corrupt the nature of the arts in this way by intentionally choosing to target other people, and actually picking fights or inviting attacks.  However, if a poll is conducted of experienced martial artists you will discover that the greater majority of martial artists have never needed to utilize their since beginning their training.

A punch isn’t by its nature a violent act, guns don’t kill people, my word processer doesn’t misspell words, and the martial arts don’t create violent people. It’s the free will of the individual to use their resources for good purposes or evil purposes, but not merely by chance or circumstance, but by the intent of their spirit and mind.  We are violent monks prepared to unleash the amazing power of destruction or compassion, based solely on our choices.