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Philosophical aspects of Systema

There is a reason why Russian Martial Art is called SYSTEMA. It is a complete set of concepts and training components that enhance one’s life. In this case, acquiring the martial art skill is a way to improve the function of all seven physiological systems of the body and all three levels of human abilitie's the physical, the psychological and the spiritual.

The key principle of Russian Systema is non-destruction. The goal is to make sure that your training and your attitudes do no damage to the body or the psyche of you or your partners. Systema is designed to create, build and strengthen your body, your psyche, your family and your country.

Systema has another name “poznai sebia” or “Know Yourself”. What does it really mean to Understand Yourself? It is not just to know what your strengths and weaknesses are, that is good but fairly superficial. Training in Russian Martial Art is one of the sure ways to see the full extent of our limitations – to see how proud and weak we really are. Systema allows us to gain the true strength of spirit that comes from humility and clarity in seeing the purpose of our life.

As the roots of Russian Systema are in the Russian Orthodox Christian faith, the belief is that everything that happens to us, good or bad, has only one ultimate purpose. That is to create the best possible conditions for each person to understand themselves. Proper training in Russian Systema carries the same objective – to put every participant into the best possible setting for him or her to realise as much about themselves as he or she is able to handle at any given moment.

One of Mikhail Ryabko’s words to beginners is “Be a good person and everything else will come to you.” In a simple, yet comprehensive way Systema helps you choose and follow the right path.

The Heart of the Church: There is an imperishable treasure deep inside the human soul – God's gift of endless joy of the eternal life. This gift is hidden in the heart - the center of our spiritual life (This link is highly recommended by Mikhail Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev).

ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY AND FIGHTING

Many people who are seriously studying Systema and are trying to understand its spiritual basis, at one point face this question: If Christian Orthodoxy is love and peace, how can it be the foundation of a martial art? Balancing non-violence and acting in self-defense is an issue that every human being has to resolve for themselves. So let’s take a look at it.

Compare an athlete fighting in the ring and a warrior defending there homeland. Both are prepared to hurt another human being, but what a huge difference in justifying their actions! The goal of a ring fighter is to show that they are superior to the other fighters, to prove that they are the best. While the goal of the warrior is to save there family, there friends and there country from death and misery. The warrior clearly has a noble goal, at that moment they are close to God. While the main motivation of the ring fighter is PRIDE, the warrior is driven by LOVE, love for there family, friends and country.

Thus, training to be a true warrior is not only justified, but is necessary. How else can we save innocent people from evil? We have all seen the events in Beslan. How else can children held hostage by terrorists be saved? Professionals such as soldiers and police officers are trained, armed and prepared for the task of saving lives. They put their own lives on the line with humility and honor.

Orthodox Christianity teaches us that fighting becomes a sin only when there is pride and aggression in it, or if it contains hatred, revenge or callousness, when the causes are greed, vanity, envy, desperation and other such vices. Otherwise, if it is fighting for defense, for rescue – it is a sin not to fight and let your loved ones get hurt or killed or have your country destroyed.

There are numerous examples of righteous warriors since the creation of the world. The first warrior known to mankind is the Archangel Mikhail – God gave him the sword – the power to fight evil; and with that sword He had banished the fallen angels (not killed but banished) from God’s Kingdom, all those who no longer served God, but only served their own pride. It had to be done, so that evil does not take over.

We see the Prophets in the Old Testament – such as Gideon or Samson: – they were blessed by God to fight evil. All the way to our times, when during World War II, many nations had to go up against evil.

The Word of God in the bible tells us that there is no bigger sacrifice than to give up your life for others. Thus, anyone who prepares to be a true warrior, who undergoes training and takes a weapon in his hand, accepts this possibility of sacrificing there life in the name of love for other people; in essence, they prepares to become a martyr.

The ultimate quality that Systema develops in its practitioners is humility. Training in Systema lets the person see there own egotism and other weaknesses and gives them ammunition to overcome them. A humble person devotes there life to fighting evil in there heart and constantly asks God to help them with that. In reward for there hard work and resulting humility, God gives them this amazing gift of peace, joy and absence of resentment no matter what happens.

If humility becomes our character, there is no more room for pride, aggression, vanity, greed and envy. Our spirit will always be with God and you will fight only when it is absolutely necessary, only for a noble cause, always causing the least possible damage to your opponents, in a calm, firm, fearless and professional way. We have to do it, otherwise evil will take over.