The path of a true martial artist brings spiritual and emotional growth along with the physical discipline of the art.  If the spiritual and emotional paths are set aside or denied, all energy is devoted to the physical path and the aggression that goes with it.  Someone who falls for the illusion that after developing great skill in any particular martial art, they now will win any physical altercation, has walked down the path of ego.  Ego will tell them how strong they are; how physically well-built they are; how attractive they are; how superior they are to the rest of the world.  This ego will lead to narcissism, delusions of grandeur, and the insistent need to blame others for anything that goes wrong in their life. 

I talked with a woman today who's husband has filed for divorce.  She has been a loving wife and mother to his two children.  He has been hitting his wife and pushing and bullying his young children, calling them every disrespectful and nasty name that his out-of-control aggression can call to mind.  He prefers to continue to train in a physical martial art that fires his liver and he chooses not to balance that with meditation or QiGong.  It's a commonly held belief that encouraging and building this aggression will make you a stronger, more worthy competitor.  His wife believed for a while that this was her failure that

she couldn't handle his anger and physical abuse.  She now understands that he has chosen physical aggression over his family.  His teacher instructs with brutality and teaches that it's okay to  practice the skills that he teaches on the families of his students.  She now understands that she needs to make good choices for herself and her children and that she has to be strong enough to keep the abuser away as long as he chooses to make physical aggression the focus of his life to the exclusion of anything else.  He has chosen to make his family disposable

In order for the internal martial artist to progress to the softness and relaxation necessary to bring speed to the delivery of the jing, they must understand that they control nothing; that they are indeed completely helpless; that they must surrender the need to control and release the ego to become one with the universe.  They become sensitive enough to their opponent to become one with that opponent when the attack is initiated.  In becoming one with the opponent, there is no need to anticipate what the opponent will do.  The opponent cannot overwhelm them because they are part of the opponent. 

The ego will fight this surrender.  The ego will insist that the martial artist remain rigid and inflexible in order to maintain control over his world and the people in his world.  Surrendering and being willing to feel completely helpless will bring you to the next level of spiritual growth.