Natural Misadventure

British law states that a victim must use no more force than is appropriate to defend themselves. Sowhat is appropriate?Most victims of violent attacks have no martial training and so their instinctive reaction of self-preservation is defensive; for example they may cower to avoid their attacker's blows. If such aperson reacted to avoid a blow and in so doing collided with someone and broke their nose, theyhave technically committed an assault. But as the injury was not deliberate; merely a result of theirinstinctive reaction to an external stimulus, it is unlikely that they would be charged with assault..What about a marital artist? Here's one extreme: as late as the mid 1920's there was a law in Japanwhich stated that if a registered Samurai killed someone he would be exonerated because it was hisbody performing the grievous act and not his mind.This might seem outrageous to many non-martial artists but there is a grain of truth here. Afteryears of training marital artists have instinctively developed offensive reactions - a state of `nomind' that enables them to react to external stimulus in specific ways. This state can be seen inactivities such as touch typing. The act of learning requires focused attention on the fingers as theyspell out words on each key. But when proficiency is achieved the unconscious mind leads thetypist's fingers to the keys - too fast for `thought' - producing words as if by magic.Another example is when someone throws a ball at a professional footballer; he instantly kicks orheads or chests it. An experienced basketball player would instantly catch the ball. These sportsmenhave no conscious `choice' in their actions. Their unconscious minds have been programmed byyears of training to react in specific ways to certain external stimuli.The analogy of a thrown ball is an interesting one. People in cultures with no experience of ballgames would react in a completely different way if a ball was thrown at them. There are so manyoptions; they could slap, push or punch the ball away, duck or swerve. Why catch or kick the ball ifwe aren't trained to? Similarly when we are attacked we are faced with so many options - and withonly an instant for the conscious mind to decide, the untrained mind dithers. Should the lay personward off or punch or kick or grapple? Their conscious minds try to think what to do but they friezebecause they have no programming for instinctive reaction to an attack. Their self preservationinstincts are purely passive (jerking, cowering away from the attack). But martial artist's self