Three questions to Mike

Before we dive in Mike, tell us a little bit about yourself!

I was born near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in the United States but I now live In British Columbia , Canada. I am retired now but I worked as a Wildlife Biologist. I loved actually working with the animals. I have a Ph.D. in Zoology and Physiology. My research interests were diverse...population biology and biomathematics to cell biology and back again. I was also a high school teacher for a while and I have been a martial arts teacher for most of my life and this fills my cup. That and timber framing. I am a night owl!

What is something you’ve changed your mind about recently? 

The other day Diana and I were having dinner at our favorite local restaurant. It's called Farmstrong, and it is attached to a cidery. They serve a limited menu, but everything is interesting and delicious. The menu changes every few weeks, featuring things like a strawberry-brie chicken sandwich. You get the idea.

We were sitting on one of the verandas overlooking the idyllic valley where we live. The stress slowly ebbed away, and we relaxed into the quiet and peace of this remarkable place we call home.

After a while another group joined us on the veranda—three couples, I think. They were young people in the prime of their lives, full of stories and fresh discoveries. It was hard not to overhear them since they were seated no more than five feet away. One of them was a wildlife biologist, which naturally caught my attention since that had been my profession before retirement.

Wildlife biology is one of those careers that sparks curiosity wherever it comes up. The young man was enthusiastically recounting his adventures, fielding questions from his friends, and clearly enjoying the telling of his stories. In truth, he occupied the evening not only for his companions but for us as well, since he wasn't inclined to speak quietly—or to leave much room for anyone else to contribute.

You might think we were annoyed by the interruption to our peaceful evening, but we spend a lot of time in quiet these days. After a brief moment of irritation—we are human, after all—we simply leaned back and listened with half an ear.

It carried me back to my own younger days. At that age we often define ourselves by our pursuits, and I was certainly no exception. Truth be told, I am probably still capable of pontificating about my favorite subjects. But something has shifted over the years, and that's what I'd like to share.

As a wildlife biologist, opportunities to pontificate are plentiful. The same is true of being a martial arts instructor—or a teacher of any kind. I keep a blog, and a few weeks ago I was researching an article when I discovered a fact that surprised me. Apparently, only about 2% of the world's population practices martial arts.

That struck me as astonishing. I had long believed martial arts could be part of the answer to many of the world's problems. I've spent more years practicing than I ever spent in my profession, and, like many people deeply committed to a way of life, I simply assumed it was something everyone would benefit from.

Yet if only 2% of humanity ever takes it up, then martial arts cannot possibly have the broad influence on the world that I had imagined. That realization was profound. In some ways it was deflating, but in others it felt liberating. It released me from the subtle burden of believing I needed to persuade others to follow the same path.

What has replaced that impulse is the realization that what I truly value in martial arts is not the art itself, but the character it cultivates. The virtues the old masters spoke of are not exclusive to martial arts. They seem woven into the fabric of reality itself. They can be discovered through martial practice, certainly, but also through music, fishing, painting, timber framing, parenting—or almost any pursuit undertaken sincerely.

That points to the deeper change that has taken root in me over the past few years. I've gradually traded some of the certainty and outward energy of youth for a greater appreciation of larger patterns and quieter truths. I find myself more willing to watch, to observe, and to see how the play unfolds than I was when I was younger.

This has not been an abrupt transformation. Like everyone else, I have simply moved through the seasons of life, and I have become increasingly aware that the stages of life described by many of the old sages ring true. This recent realization felt less like a discovery than a confirmation that life itself has been quietly teaching the same lesson all along.

So I sat there that evening, listening to the young wildlife biologist enthusiastically telling his stories, and I admired him. That is what young men and women do. They use the fire in their bodies and souls to change the world. Sometimes they discover genuinely new paths, and sometimes they rediscover very old ones.

They will continue to do so until life eventually calls them up short, takes their measure, and invites them to take the next step—and then the next—until, one day, they arrive here as well. 

Who is someone you admire and why? 

I admire quiet people—those who possess great strength and constancy without attracting much attention. I admire the person who goes about life with steadiness and character, unmoved by the lure of recognition or applause. My father, my grandfather, my major professor Dr. Jenkins, my mother, and my wife all come to mind. None of them was or is perfect, but each was remarkable in their own way. What united them was a lifelong commitment to developing character. That mattered more to them than status or acclaim. 

I also admire people who are audacious enough to speak when they perceive an injustice, despite the criticism they know they may receive. Jordan Peterson comes to mind. Whatever one thinks of him, he has willingly filled the role of provocateur. Every society needs people willing to question prevailing assumptions. Growing up around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I developed a healthy appreciation for direct speech.

That said, I have little patience for what I think of as "jackal behaviour"—the use of collective pressure to silence, punish, or suppress ideas rather than engage with them honestly.

If you had to give a TED talk tomorrow, what topic would you choose and why?    

I would speak about the role of martial arts in character development.

Although relatively few people practice martial arts, they represent one of many paths through which people can cultivate qualities that our world desperately needs. If someone asked me to give a TED Talk tomorrow, this would still be my topic—not because martial arts are uniquely important, but because they provide a vivid example of how character can be developed through any serious pursuit.

Martial practice encourages us to examine ourselves before blaming others. It points the finger inward first. This is not because martial arts are somehow magical, but because they confront us with raw conflict. They create a remarkably clear laboratory in which to study ourselves, our fears, our habits, and our choices.

Standing before an opponent who intends to strike you brings psychological and spiritual questions into sharp focus. How do you respond to fear? How do you balance courage with restraint? How do you remain composed under pressure? These are not merely martial questions; they are human ones.

My own martial tradition also describes a progression through the stages of life. Whether or not those stages are interpreted literally, they offer a useful framework for understanding personal growth. The important point is that the development of character is not unique to martial arts. It is a function of life itself.

Martial arts simply make those lessons difficult to ignore.

What’s something exciting you are working on?

I had been teaching martial arts for years. My latest project was to investigate and teach western martial arts and not surprisingly, to focus on the moral and character development that went with it. I had this group for 11 years and recently decided to retire, finally, from actively running classes in favour of writing books and doing workshops and perhaps agreeing to an occasional private lesson for people. So the website is a blog, yes, but it is also an archive of the material that I used to run the martial arts school. My intention is to write more about the character development side of things and several of the posts are of that nature, but some are technical.