As in Boxing, So Is Life: Guarding Against False Truths

“Experience without logic will leave us confused. Logic without experience or authority is superfluous. Authority without experience is corrupt. However, these three elements together work as a periscope on to the world.” (trip aum shanti)

Yoga Sutra 1.7

प्रत्यक्षानुमानागमाः प्रमाणानि

pratyakṣa-ānumāna-āgamāḥ-pramāṇāni

pratyakṣa:

• a cognition is pratyakṣa when the sense organ, sense object, the mind, and the witnessing consciousness are in unobstructed alignment.

• direct perception.

  
  

ānumāna:

• knowledge gained through valid inference

• logic

• a necessary conclusion based on a known, reliable relation

• inner discernment

• three types

  • Purvavat: inference from cause to effect

  • Sesavat: inference from effect to cause

  • Samanyato drsta: inference from general patterns

āgamāḥ:

• living transmission that is not necessarily a text

• sacred text

• authoritative knowledge received through transmission

• reliable source

• coming from

  • apta: one who is free from bias, delusion, and distortion

  • sista: one who is disciplined, ethical, and established in truth

  • jnani: one who knows from direct realization, not belief

• received knowledge that has been tested across generations

• trust the realized, the clear, and undistorted

pramāṇāni:

• the valid instruments by which reality becomes knowable

• valid but still binding until the mind is stilled

• the means of valid knowledge

What I have been working on lately is held within this sūtra. For me, as in boxing, so is life. When I began learning to box, my coach repeated the same essential truth: to understand how you fight, you have to understand how you are in life. Fight, freeze, or flight are not just reactions in the ring. They are reflections of your internal world.

In boxing you learn more than punches and footwork. You learn rhythm, timing, awareness, and the silent language of movement. You study the openings in an opponent’s guard and sense where their focus lapses for even a fraction of a second. You pay attention to the details others overlook, because a single moment of inattention can change everything. You do not simply react. You observe. You wait. You discern the truth of the moment before you act.

That is the heart of the practice. It is not only about striking. It is about learning to see clearly.

This carries directly into life. When I seek truth, I search for the same openings, the same inconsistencies, the same patterns of tension or weakness that reveal something beneath the surface. I look for what is concealed and what is exposed, because if I skip this step, something untrue might slip through and strike me where I am unprepared. Boxing taught me that awareness is protection and that clarity is strength. Life proves this over and over again.

This is especially important today. We live in a time when information spreads faster than understanding and belief moves quicker than discernment. People rush toward conclusions without allowing information to pass through the three channels that this sūtra outlines. Many claim certainty without direct experience. Many rely on logic without grounding it in reality. Many follow authorities whose clarity has not been examined.

Belief alone does not create truth. Without direct experience, without discernment, without authentic guidance, what we call truth might simply be a comforting or convenient opinion.

The sūtra encourages us to pause and ask meaningful questions. Have I experienced this directly and without distortion. Can I analyze this with clear inner reasoning and insight. Is there trustworthy guidance, whether from a teacher, a practitioner, a sacred text, or a realized being, that can help confirm or challenge what I perceive.

This does not mean surrendering your understanding to someone else. It means recognizing that true authority is not rooted in power or influence but in clarity and integrity. An āpta is someone whose perception is undistorted. A śiṣṭa is rooted in discipline and ethics. A jñānī speaks from direct realization rather than conceptual belief. To seek truth requires examining even the one who claims to offer it.

This is why reading foundational texts and studying the teachings matters. Human perception is limited and can be manipulated. Logic can be used to rationalize anything. Authority can mislead when it is not genuine. Truth is revealed most clearly when these three means of knowing come together and support one another. When that happens, they form a kind of inner compass that points not toward comfort or convenience but toward what is real.

In boxing, even the smallest gap in your guard is where the punch will land. In life, even the smallest gap in understanding is where confusion or falsehood can strike. This is why inquiry matters. This is why questioning matters. Truth is not fragile. It grows stronger with examination. Anything that collapses under questioning was never truth to begin with.

Truth reveals itself over time, yet it reveals itself more quickly when we are willing to look closely and honestly at our perceptions. Layer by layer, what is unnecessary falls away. What remains is not belief, opinion, or assumption but the raw, authentic Truth.

This approach mirrors the discipline of the ring. You stay present. You stay aware. You pay attention to the details. You watch the openings. You move with clarity. You question everything until only what is real stands unshaken. As in boxing, so is life. This is how you fight with integrity, and this is how you live with truth.