Sidenotes

To preface this, I am not a crypto expert. I’m merely a fan boy. I read the Satoshi white paper in 2012. At that time my life was a wreck largely due to the 2008 crash. So Satoshi’s solution stood out to me as a game changer. I spent the slow weeks over Christmas vacation to dream about and publish a book on the subject. I enlisted help to help me understand it and write the book. Mainly as a means to understand it myself. The book is here. https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-Bitcoin-Phil-Weaver-ebook/dp/B00HKY8T3O It’s horribly outdated and better experts than I have done better jobs at writing books on the subject. Mine is just an artifact now.   After that I did a deep dive into Andreas Antonopoulos’s work. I watched everything he put out. I could see that this was going to change the world and I just had to understand it.  So with that in mind. Here is my answer to crypto energy usage. I get asked the question (or told that it’s bad for the environment) fairly regularly. So instead of repeating myself I pasted my answer here. Perhaps someone can do a better job of answering but as of yet I haven’t seen this info compiled into one place. If it is let me know and I’ll link to it from here.   Can anyone explain how crypto/blockchain “currencies” are going to be able to handle all the transactions they’d need to handle to replace the weird mix of stuff we currently call “money”? The power consumption just seems like an unsolvable problem, but maybe someone smarter like Phil Weaver knows.  ~Dan Theis   Yez there are several answers. 1) more transactions does not mean more proof of work computing. The computing power value used will always be just under the emittance plus transactiin fees. The electricity used dies not correlate to number of transactions. This is a fallacy spread by the media. 2) the large number of transactions needed are handled by layer 2 solutions such as the lightning network. Which is up and running. These solutions are proof of stake. This is an example of composability. One of the biggest ztrengths of crypto. Everything plugs into everything. Like legos. In this case computation (lightning) has been separated from security (bitcoin). Security is where the cost is. 3) a lot of mining is being moved to stranded sources of electricity. Geothermal in greenland and now el salvador. This is creating new clean industries. Essentially the power that would have gone to waste is converted to storable monetary value. 4) Renewable energy becomes financially viable. Renewable energy production does not generally match demand. And it cannot be stored. By placing proof of work mining near renewable energy sources it can use energy that would have gone to waste. The operators of renewable energy always have a place to sell their energy. This of course will lead to the building of more renewable energy facilities. Instead of raping taxpayers to build them the market will provide. Kinda the opposite of what the media is telling you Surprise!!!   It’s also very important to realize that what is being paid for with energy is only partially the creation of money and state changes. It is security. That is the most important feature of btc. So add up all the security costs of fiat and even gold. What do all of those building cost to build and operate. The security guards. The cybersecurity specialists. The upkeep of the ancient settlement system that uses programming that almost nobody knows how to code in anymore. And how secure is that? How fragile is that? If you want to compare apples to apples add up everything. Security, production and transportation, Compliance. Back in the day us crypto folks all touted the beauty of tiny transaction fees and all that enabled. I thought I would build my own tipping economy based on colored coins. That didn’t happen. The increased transaction fees created a problem and the market created a solution. Btc has evolved to become a settlement layer. That’s why it is referred to as digital gold. It is no longer a payment system per se. It is a settlement layer. When people buy a happy meal in El Salvador that transaction is not on chain. It is in the lightning network. At some point that lightning channel will settle out on chain but there is no predetermined time when it has to. It could stay open as long as it wants. and buy doing so it is saving on the settlement transaction costs. The computing cost to run a node on the lightning network is no more than a regular CPU and there is no proof of work algoryth. It is proof of stake. If there is more demand more channels open. And this solution has been operating for several years. Yes there was a problem with energy usage, but it is now at a point where that has reversed. Proof of work requires energy but to be competitive miners must find the cheapest energy. And that means finding energy that is not being used. Sometimes that means making it more financially incentivized to build green energy production. So our net in the end is actually solving environmental concerns, not creating them. Those who spout otherwise are slowing this move forward down. They are damaging the planet. They are damaging the economy, and they are most certainly putting our place as a world leader at risk. Incidentally Eth is moving towards becoming a settlement layer as well. They are not trying to be all things. They are trying to be what all things are built on top of. And the plan is to be 100% proof of stake. We’ll see how that goes. They also already have layer two solutions. Two different technologies vying for top spot. Optimism and zk rollups. Optimism seems to be the winning solution now but it is predicted that

Last night I chatted for a moment with an old student. It has been many years since I have seen her. She’s grown up, is married, a mother of two, and has a great career stretched out in front of her. She thanked me for Liz and I helping to shape who she is today. That felt pretty good and it also got me thinking. We are always looking forward to what we want to do but realizing what we have done is sometimes helpful too. So I started thinking about who else I might have helped shape. The list grew long in my mind. I thought it might be good to get a bit of it down. I have mentored hundreds of girls like her. Who, through learning to fight, realized not only that they were strong but also that they were worth fighting for. That theme has been a consistent one in girls and women alike. I don’t understand the cause but in my experience most women will not fight for themselves. When they learn to do so they change. They literally become different people. It makes me smile when they become dangerous. This has led to many divorces. All from abusive relationships. It’s led to a few abusers getting their ass handed to them. It’s also led to many happy marriages. Strong girls have a hard time finding a mate but when they do it’s a good one.  I’ll never forget what one young lady wrote on her college admission essay. She listed as a skill being able to take my constant criticism and demands of her, not saying a word, and doing what she was told for 10 years, resulting in finally getting her black belt. I don’t know if that skill set impressed but she got in, graduated, and is now travelling the oceans as a marine biologist. A lot of the “nice guys” stand out to me too. Guys that go through life in a very non aggressive way. Many might be mistaken as soft. But when something happens they become very dangerous in an instant. One kid, just days before graduating high school, in one punch, broke the school bullies jaw on both sides. Sending the guy through the air. The shop teacher who saw it said he’s never seen anything so powerful in his life. The bully had just burned a kid with a hot metal poker and must student simply reacted in defense. Awhile back I got a call from another guy who had trained under me decades ago. Also, a non aggressive fun loving guy. He called me from some town in the middle of nowhere after he had just blasted, with one punch, the town brawler. The guy was knocked out in the middle of the street. Same thing, bullying a friend. The locals vouched for what had happened. The cops laughed. He went on his way. His call was funny and like so many other calls. He couldn’t believe it worked so well and after so many years. My grand master used to get those calls regularly. I made one myself. Now I get them now and again. They are hilarious. I’ve trained at least one person who has stood bodyguard for the President of the United States. I’ve trained WITH one guy who we are pretty sure is some kind of undercover CIA operative working in some dangerous situations. In our online training we’ve trained over 40,000 people and here’s some of them we have heard from. A group of women training secretly in Iran Numerous men in war torn countries just trying to survive. Numerous people shut in by depression. People who gradually got stronger and more couragous. Finally making their way back into society. Numerous veterans suffering from PTSD. Many of these guys were able to get off of meds. They were relieved of nightmares and other PTSD symptoms. In person we have trained countless kids with learning struggles. Giving them the confidence and tools to work through their struggle. We’ve trained cops We’ve trained those going into the military We’ve trained those going into the FBI We’ve trained prison guards We’ve trained a few animal control officers. Animal control officers can have very dangerous jobs. Unarmed yet going into dangerous scenarios often before having police backup. Some stick out in my head but there are likely thousands that I have forgotten or never knew how they turned out. And sadly, a few fails as well. One in jail for murder. We only had influence over him for a very short time. I often wonder if we could have changed that. One who is constantly back living on the streets. He trained with us extensively but his life only goes well when he is actually training. Which is another common theme. What really affects me is the things that we may have caused to not happen. Violence, suicides, depression, etc. Of course we can never know, nd that’s a good thing. But we can extrapolate from what we do know that we likely changed the course of lives in such a way that they did not do bad things they might have otherwise done. That is unmeasurable and only theoretical and best kept that way. That “Thank You” I got last night sent my mind down this path. I’ve never mentally gone down this path before. It was a pleasure. But more than anything I realize that in this regard I have not realized even one percent of my own potential. By concentrating my teaching efforts and by making them as publicly accessible as possible I have no doubt that I will multiply that good in the worlds by thousands of times. Empowering women, making stronger men. At my Grand master’s funeral over and over very strong men stood up crying. they told the same story. He had transformed them into good people. They were going down a bad path. He changed that. I

Every once in awhile when I am teaching I puff out my chest and strut. I then say, “Who Is The Greatest Teacher” Most of the time I am answered with a nervous, “You are Shun Shifu” And I reply, “No, pain is the greatest teacher” This is ussually followed by an example. It’s been a running joke I have relied on for years in my teaching. But there is much more to it than I ever knew. Pain is far more complex than any of us realize. And indeed, it is a teacher. Even with my own knowledge of the subject whenever I feel pain I first attribute it to injury. This is actually only occassionally the case. Pain can be due to the mechanical, an injury to flesh or bone. But even so it is still a nerve signal to and from the brain and that signal can be upregulated, downregulated, or completely eliminated. The signal can be a false signal and this false signal can also be regulated in either direction. Pain can be psychosomatic. We don’t like to think this because in our society psychosomatic pain can often be judged as weakness. It is often judged or percieved as shameful. Negative emotions upregulate pain and shame is the most negative of all emotions. So a downward spiral ensues. This perception of psychosomatic pain being “all in the mind” is true but unhelpful. Psychosomatic pain is a protection mechanism. It is, in the right context, helpful. It protects us from ourselves. This protection can be physical. Preventing us from movement that might exacerbate injury. It can also be protection from our own negative emotions. The emotional pathways and the pain pathways actually share much of the same neural networks. And that phenomena can lead to some very unexpected human behavior. This psychosomatic pain alone is complex. Has it run amuck or is it serving a purpose? Do we need to rest or push through? It’s often very hard to tell. Often we can only guess. There is also a psychosocial aspect. Our society is overrun with this on the negative side. You know the type. Mention something that hurts and they have something that hurts worse. If two are of like mind a competition ensues. Try not to play that game, it’s a race to the bottom. On the positive side of this we have heroes. Their love for others downregulates pain. The mother that picks up the car to save their child. As a society we look upon this as the ideal. Just watch any action movie. I think there is much more to explore in the positive side of psychosocial downregulation of pain. Because I believe we can all learn to be heroes. Proper Shou’ Shu’ instruction does this and despite the fact that I have been observing and experiencing it in this venue for nearly 30 years I still feel I am just starting to understand. I often joke to my students about their Shou’ Shu’ training being hero training. Truth is that I’m not joking. As I mentioned, negative emotions upregulate pain. This leads to what is known as pain catastrophising. Another horrible downward spiral. It gets out of control very fast. Because I was brought up in a very negative and traumatic environment I learned to pain catastrphise at a very young age. Now that I have learned to avoid pain catastrophising I look back on much of my life and see how badly it held me back. It saddens me to see how it reduced my potential in so many venues. But that also gives me motivation to help eliminate it even more in myself and to help others do the same. Like I said, we can all be heros. I have learned to eliminate pain catastrophising through Shou’ Shu’ training. However the thing that really got me over the edge was Wim Hof training. When one can quietly meditate while siting in 35 F water something changes inside. Everything becomes much clearer. We can do much more than we think. Wim says the cold is his teacher. I understand. Wim Hof is a hero and he teaches others how to be heros. Go Wim! Another form of pain is reffered pain. When our nerve pathways conducting the pain get so strongly developed and so easily triggered that the signals actually just jump track. Like a short circuit. As an aside, cannabis, in it’s raw, non-psychoactive form was very helpful for me for this form of pain. I experimented on myself with it and it eliminated reffered pain in under two weeks. That’s a N of 1 so take it for what it is. Cannabis in it’s psychoactive form was helpful in figuring out some of the psychosomatic physical protection aspects. That plant is truly God’s gift. But like all powerful things, needs to be used wisely I no longer think of pain as an adversary. It is here to protect us. However, more often than not it protects us like a helicopter parent. Not allowing us to explore the world and grow. Sometimes you have to talk it down. Just explain to it that your strong and although you respect what it is trying to do it can stand down for now. Thank it for it’s vigilance and for being there when needed. It’s just not needed now. Despite knowing pain pretty well it’s still very difficult to understand what workings of it are going on at any given moment. It is deceptive. We have to experiment with it and see. And the results of that can be truly surprising. That’s not so fun but the good thing is that, in doing so we not only learn about pain but we learn about ourselves. I’m not sure if pain is truly the greatest teacher. Perhaps in our present state it is.  I hope and I strive to learn just as quickly without it.  I am certainly not asking for more but I am grateful

The VAK only informs the linguistic   This is why when I teach at a high level I can only check in. Did you feel that? Do you understand? And then, if they say yes, I look for signals that they are truly understanding. If they are, I leave them alone to just understand.   But it’s important to remember that VAK lies, this is why people get off track and arts are lost.

My wife is a huge fan of Darren Hardy. And for good reason. He’s awesome! Yesterday she sent me this video and asked that I share it with our students. https://dd.darrenhardy.com/a-team-attributes-7 It’s a great video and I’d suggest you watch it but the basic message is that to succeed you must look at everything in your life as your doing.  Back in the day, my Grand Master continually fed me this same exact message. I was in my 20’s and of course as most 20 somethings do, I mostly rejected this message. It’s a hard pill to swallow for anyone. Especially an arrogant 20 something (the old me). But swallow it I did. Just in tiny bits over 25 years (and still going) Yuck! Yet an empowering pill it is. I’ll leave the discussion about the advice for the video. It does a good job and there is little reason to talk about it more. Instead, I will examine how it was taught/accepted in physical form in the evenings training session. It may seem odd to extend a life rule to fighting, but it’s not. It’s normal for our lessons. And it’s been going on for millennia. I was actually reminded of this just before the lesson. I was digging through a box of important stuff (junk) and stumbled upon a long lost copy of The Art of War. A book of instructions that work in life just as well as in war. The lesson started off in the way they commonly do. I picked a technique to work on, asked the students to perform it, and quickly recognized that there was a fundamental problem even before the first motion. As it always does this led me off on a tangent of teaching principle rather than technique. I always have a plan. I never follow it. We ended up working on the principle of taking advantage of openings. Of only attacking weakness. And how effortlessly and naturally this happens. I put my students in stances and had them defend themselves against me. Then I picked them apart. Hitting them relentlessly. They simply could not react. Sometimes I used illusion but mostly not. I just exposed the weakness. Each time I hit them I asked why they got hit. They replied “M’Own Damn Fault” What they quickly recognized is that each mistake was nothing of epic proportion. Each opening was created by not having mastered a very simple principle. And each of these principles had been taught AT FREAKIN WHITE BELT LEVEL!!! They had been given these principles over a decade ago. After the embarrassment we set to correcting them. We used the exercise of slow motion sparring to expose each mistake and then work on correcting it. Each time they got hit they laughed and exclaimed, “M’Own Damn Fault”. Pretty soon they had fixed many of the mistakes. I showed them how to speed up their hands and soften their footwork. They listened and learned. Then the remarkable thing happened. They naturally started speeding up. As their skills quickly increased so did their pace. They relished being hit because it then, instead of being a hit to the ego, became an opportunity for change. An opportunity to increase their skill level. They laughed and echoed the mantra each time. Then set to improve themselves. In that two hours they improved upon skills that had been left in a sloppy state for years. Very important skills that when brought to a high level become magic. They had hit upon that state which we call coopetition. It is an amazing, egoless skill building state. A state that Shifu Miller and I have tried to explain to them for years. Why? Simply by understanding and implementing the lesson in that video. We had discussed it prior to the lesson so it easily became the lesson. A hard to grasp abstract concept put into physical form. And this is one of the magical things about Shou’ Shu’ training. It can take these age-old life lessons and put them to practice. It happens in lesson after lesson. More often than not. And every time it amazes me.  It is profound! This morning I got a message from a student who had watched the video but not attended class. Since those that did attend saw the message as well, they probably got a good laugh. It’s not uncommon to see the Dunning Kruger effect played out like this. The one person proclaiming a full understanding who in actuality completely missed the mark. It’s, “His Own Damn Fault!”    

Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity of observing groups of people at their craft/work (Not Kraftwerks, remember them?) And I learned a lot that I already knew 🙂 Two disparate groups which acted very much in the same way. They acted with focussed hustle. The first group was a group of young actors. I’ve been doing some fight scene choreography for a small film. The second group is a tree trimming company that is presently in my backyard getting an amazing amount of work done in short order.  Let’s take the second group first: I was told they would start work at 7:30. At 7:10 the trucks pulled in. Some guys were riding on the back firefighter style, hanging onto the rail with one hand. Long sleeve shirts ready to protect their arms. Scarves around their necks and hats in their free hand. As the trucks rolled to a stop they lept from the truck and quickly spread out. Like a well trained military force, they prepped the area. They did not walk to each task, they ran. They did not get off the truck looking for how they could waste a little time before work. They attacked the job. They didn’t “go to work”, they attacked the job. Focussed hustle. Now I have hired crews before. And what I saw did not compare to this. The local kids hired did not move like this. Instead, they found every excuse not to work.  Needed a drink of water, Needed a snack. Needed a bathroom break. Or worst of all, didn’t know what to do next. They robbed me of output a few minutes at a time. In my estimate, their output was maybe 10% of this crew. But of course, the pay scale was likely similar. At least on the same order of magnitude. I could digress on this point but that’s not what the article is about, so let’s move on. The tree trimming crew is Mexican. Some speak English, others don’t. One looks like he’s about 16. And in fact, most are young. Very young to have the work ethic that they have. It’s wildly impressive. Watching them work I instantly thought, “That’s it, I’m moving to Mexico. I’m never teaching lazy Americans again” But then I remembered the actors. Working on set has allowed me to observe a lot of young actors. Each day is a different group with just the main characters being consistently there. Despite the fact that it was a different crew every day I recognized the same thing. Focussed hustle. Each actor, when not needed, made sure they were not an impediment. They found a place to be out of the way and quiet. And they scanned for anything that was needed. There wasn’t a lot to do most of the time but I noticed that they looked for anything that could save the producer even a few minutes. It was remarkable.  Why? Well, that’s why. It’s the why. For the tree trimmers, I can make some assumptions. I could be wrong but I need a hypothesis.  Maybe they have family back in Mexico. A mother, a sister, who knows. Maybe that family will have no food if they don’t send money. Maybe it’s a cultural thing. Maybe they were taught to work hard was part of being a man and they don’t want to disappoint. Maybe it’s both of these things. I don’t know but regardless they seem to have a very strong why. And they are willing to suffer for that why. Had it not been for the actors I might have assumed that this strong motivation could have only been caused by culture and economics. Had it not been for the actors I would be booking my flight right now. But the actors did not have that economic drive. One, a kid of all of about 20, drove up in a brand new Porsche. The others also seemed to have ample means. Instead, I will assume, they must have the strong why of being successful actors. Or at least to be good at their craft. By close observance, I found out that they were all from the same acting “culture”. Attending the same acting schools. Working together on various projects. So we could say that both groups: 1) Had a culture that they learned from. In other words, good teachers. 2) Had a strong why. 3) Are willing to suffer for their why and to remain a part of their respective cultures.  And there is the magic key. I know many that have a strong want. They don’t necessarily do well. They perform at 10% of potential. They have a want not a why. I think that I am extremely good at giving them the culture of martial arts. I work hard at it because I have a very strong why. Yet some respond and work at full potential and others don’t. Some limp along barely alive. Showing up last minute for lessons, and not prepared to work when they get there. Others amaze me every day. Excelling beyond my expectations.  Each has the same resources. Namely me. The difference is the why and the willingness to do what it takes for that why. And that leaves me with a very big question. Do I make the why a requirement for training under me? Is it better to sharpen a sword or nurture a seedling that may never grow? Before writing this article I did not know the answer to that. But as I write this last line I now do. Thank you for helping me think it through.   Buenos Dias Shun Shi Fu        

Social media is abuzz with vitriol about rape and sexual harrassment. Statistics are thrown around that clearly imply that all men are bad. And those statistics are, without a doubt, leading the narrative. Leading the narrative with memes is a simple thing to do. The majority of the population will not dive deeper and try to understand. Our brains do not naturally do so. Our brains want ideas nicely packaged up like a big mac and fries. Grab it and go ideas.  Unfortunately, when we fail to think, we are easily controlled. And those ideas can be about as healthy as the toxic food served at the drive-through.  Not cooking? Not thinking about the toxins we shove down our throats in traffic at 60 miles per hour? Hell, we don’t even get out of our cars. And the same goes for the ideas we quickly consume. Absorb, scroll, absorb, scroll. Speed reading at it’s finest (I’ve never been a fan of speed reading, seems counterproductive to me) This is dangerous stuff here folks. Nothing short of mind control. And so easily down. Let’s take a quick think and see if we can figure out what’s going on in the “all men are bad” scene. Statistics say that most women experience sexual harassment and a large percentage have been raped. I don’t know the numbers. Just that they are reportedly large, and that is horrible.  I do agree that, as men, we have a responsibility to do something. Why? Because we are men, and men protect. That’s what it means to be a man. Despite what you are told it does not make a woman weaker if a man protects her. It simply makes her more protected. I think if you follow that logic out a bit you’ll know where the idea came from…and where, at least a part of the problem is coming from. (Yep, another meme populated idea) Commonly men are told, “If you’d taught your sons not to rape we wouldn’t have this problem”. I have my doubts that that is the problem. Let’s go back to stats and numbers. Simple thought experiment. Let’s say we have one predatory man in 100 men. If that man sexually harasses 100 women in a year then statistically most women would have been sexually harassed. Not all because some would have not experienced it due to geography, demeanor, or other reasons. So some would have been multiple times. Over the course of a working career this would result in statistically a woman being sexually harrassed 30 times. Now, as I said, I don’t know what the real numbers are. Does anybody really?  But what I do know is that it only takes one creep and a couple memes to make all men look bad. With the reality of this now being obvious the answer is much more simple. As men (and women) we must 1) Teach the creeps to not be creeps (methodology can be found in any of my videos) 2) Eliminate the predators from society Yet instead the idea that all men are bad is propagated. Without understanding the problem the solution is impossible to see. And as usual, the real problem is being obfuscated by memethink. And taking this just a bit further I think you can see that memethink is the reason many problems are never solved. Think before you meme.

Ah, a fresh start. Feels good right? Get rid of all that old baggage and start a new path. Awesomeness! Except… A fresh start is really starting back at ZERO. Some people get addicted to fresh starts. Failing miserably at whatever it is they continually fail at. Then finally crashing hard into the same wall they’ve crashed into over and over. Then announcing to the world that they have turned a new leaf. Announcing a fresh start. It’s better to call it what it is. Starting at zero. Go directly to jail. Do not pass go. If you continually have fresh starts you will spend your life going nowhere. However… If you learn a lesson from the failure this is truly not a fresh start. You are now starting from a new place. It may feel the same. Maybe you’re single again. Maybe you’re broke again. Maybe you are sober for 1 day again. If the lesson was learned it is a completely new place. Same scenery but you look at it differently. This then is an adjustment, not a fresh start. You have navigated a path forward. Not hit an impassible wall. Choose your euphemisms wisely. They can be lifelong sentences. And the key to the jail cells they build is only a few well-chosen words.  

Martial arts taught to 29 year olds. Seems to coincide with neuroscience findings thaat the Pre-frontal cortex is not fully developed until late 20’s in males

It seems that there is a fundamental belief that when we enhance male energy we are diminishing female energy. This is not only false, it is also the opposite of the truth. Strength is a masculine energy. Its feminine counterpart is not weakness. Depending on context it could be support. It could be harmony. We say things like “masculine and feminine energies are out of balance”. Implying that they are in opposition. They are not. When the masculine energy is enhanced it allows the feminine energy to be enhanced. And vice versa. The two build together. The opposite of strength is weakness. The opposite of masculine energy is non-masculine. Masculine energy is attractive and useful in males. As it is in females. Feminine energy is attractive and useful in females. As it is in males. Somehow this idea that masculine negates feminine snuck its way into our society without anyone noticing. When I speak of masculine energy I can see it on the faces of students and in their responses. The thinking is wrong. In Shou’ Shu’ this is obvious. Strong stances drive relaxed weapons. Yang drives yin. Yin turns to yang at impact. As yang is exhausted it changes to yin. Yin regroups and supports. Yang explodes and reinforces. Yin allows the energy flow. Yang delivers it. Neither is effective without the other. Carry this logic out a little further and one sees that the same mistake is made in asking if an art is a hard style or soft style. The question makes no sense. But that’s a subject for another post. The true goal (in martial arts) is not to enhance one and denigrate the other. The goal is to enhance both and build the skill of integrating them. It can be said that the true skill of a martial artist is in how well their masculine and feminine energies combine. There is a parallel in society. I suspect that all the uproar between feminism and, well whatever the opposite of feminism is, might be just a misunderstanding. But I really can’t say. I have a hard time wrapping my head around that ideology. I like to watch this interplay in pack animals. I have a female Siberian Husky. She has very strong predatory instincts. Shifu Miller has a male German Shepard and female German Shepard. I often observe them out it in the mountains. When the pack percieves a threat the male runs straight towards it. The females run to the sides and generally conceal themselves. They are not avoiding the fight, they are flanking the threat. If the beast were to actually emerge from the forest I suspect it would be the females to take it down. It’s a beautiful display of masculine and feminine energy working naturally and efficiently (Well then there’s also zip, but he’s small and wiry dog, not sure where he fits in) If we watch closely we can see the beauty of the interplay between masculine and feminine. It is everywhere. Each enhancing the other. Each existing because of the other. The assumption that these energies conflict rather than support one another is deep rooted in our language and our culture. If our language expressed the truth and beauty of their interplay and the power that comes of it, it might be a different world.