Forrest E. Morgan

Living the Martial Way I think is a text I would recommend to serious students of the martial arts. I find that I agree in many ways with the author go about describing how warriors ought to comport themselves and its easy to tell the seriousness in which he takes what that calling. I appreciate his discussion of Doctrine, Strategy and Tactics as well as his explanation of somewhat esoteric principles like Mushin or Zanshin. I was particularly impressed with the way Morgan defends the kata so much so that it has changed my mind about its usefulness. Despite this where this text falls short for me the lack of depth when discussing the concept of Honor. I think this was a missed opportunity to emphasize how truly malleable such things are. In someways this is addressed by his encouragement to define ones own sense of honor but without noting that these things do not exist in a vacuum from our own biases I found myself disappointed. There were also a few places in the text particularly in his personal anecdotes where his summation of those situations lacked nuance and context. His discussion suicide as generally cowardly in particular springs to my mind. Though to be fair Morgan may have just been referring to the particular context of a warrior. I also was not pleased with the lack of sensitivity in regards to his discussion of Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, and Confucianism as philosophies that have been twisted into religion parts of it felt condescending to me.

I do find this text to be a good starting point in a path to warriorship. It lays down the basic considerations, commitments, and seriousness a person must approach this path with.… (more)