Objectives of learning silat

It has been acknowledged that among the common objectives of learning silat (my typical common objectives) are:

a) To defend - oneself, immediate family members, belongings, those in need and the nation in general.

b) Recreational/Sports & Self-Development (Physical and Mental)

c) perhaps - to delve into the mysteries and the unknowns whether they are of religious-related domains (i.e. Spiritual/Metaphysical) or simply crave for 'inner powers'.

In this century, internet has played an unquestionable role in promoting silat. Those who possesses keen interest in Silat can simply find abundance of information about them by one click in the search engines.

The good part about the internet in the context of silat promotion is that, the apprentice knows in advance what to be expected out of him/her such as the protocol between the master and the student and some form of brief explanation of what Silat is all about. (Example - is this article that Nadzrin speaks about giving some good tips or insight or overview of Silat)

Back to the common objectives of learning silat – factors (a) and (b) would always be the standard core reasons but factor (c) is usually initiated by certain strong influence that is related to the following:

a) Having watching movies or some stories or perhaps documentaries on television that are of silat and spiritual related aspects,

b) Knowing some friends or close relatives who somehow have demonstrated the 'spiritual forces/powers' that relates to silat.

c) Hearing stories about the 'mystical parts' of silat e.g. By God's Willing, you would be 'invulnerable' during the 'boiling oil bath' session.

d) Even, surprisingly, due to the urge to be 'recognized' in certain community in order not to be called some sort of 'weakling',

e) and the aspiration to become a 'new person' – usually from a 'bad guy' to a 'good guy'.

f) encouragement from close friends, relatives and even from parents who are silat practitioners themselves.

Whatever the reasons, I have discovered an interesting phenomenon, that for those who love challenges for the sake of both spiritual and physical strengths would always be the frontline in Silat. Nothing beats the awesome feeling of 'graduation'. It is when the practitioner feeling mixed excitement and nervousness at the same time.

“Can I pass or can't I?”

Of course, the 'level by level achievements' would really depends on the kind of silat that the practitioner is involved in. Most of the silats nowadays would produce their own modules to benchmark the performance and achievement but usually in the end, some masters would tell them that 'there is no ending in the journey of learning silat'.

In a way, it's like the conventional alma-mater graduation – the good lecturers would tell you 'to move on with life and be more matured or learning never ends.

Thanks Poknik for allowing me to post this as an article in my blog. I liked this article because it contrasted nicely with my rant in 'Monolog for a friend'.