Caveat: Please make note that this article/post is my personal analysis of the subject and the information used was chosen or picked by me. It is not an analysis piece because it lacks complete and comprehensive research, it was not adequately and completely investigated and it is not balanced, i.e., it is my personal view without the views of others including subject experts, etc. Look at this as “Infotainment rather then expert research.” This is an opinion/editorial article/post meant to persuade the reader to think, decide and accept or reject my premise. It is an attempt to cause change or reinforce attitudes, beliefs and values as they apply to martial arts and/or self-defense. It is merely a commentary on the subject in the particular article presented.
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In a recent post by Michael Clarke Sensei of the Shinseidokan Dojo he wrote about rank, you can read it here. This post is not a comment on his post but just some thoughts about a very, very specific quote from that article. His article, in my view, is spot on. I can say that during my earlier years I was one of those guys who felt the urge to express my rank as if that would validate my expertise, knowledge and experiences - boy, how naive can one get?
The quote that inspired this article is, “ … depending on his rank to claim credibility.” I could not help but give thought to the “Why” of such a need. I think using the term “Need” may help with the explanation because I think that it comes from some deep seated need of humans as it pertains to survival, survival by our associations to the group for it is only in groups that humans were and are able to survive - even in these more modern times.
In so many ways it is about the group in human survival. It is not about just those survival needs say for combat but for the various levels of group/individual survival from the simply mundane all the way up to survival of violence with a goal of killing others.
When you adhere yourself to a group two immediate thoughts come to mind, first is status and the second is that status according to the hierarchy of that group. Humans can’t just collect into a group willy nilly, they need to have a hierarchy and for that to work there must be leaders and there must be followers therefore a hierarchy that is built somewhat similar to a military ranking system.
In order for a status driven hierarchal system to work you have to have an ego. Yes, ego is driven by such things as without ego I doubt we humans would give a shit about status or hierarchal models but we do because we all have an ego. It is a rare bird that stands alone, as alone as any bird can be in nature, and make their own path with minimal intervention, inter-connections and minimal exposure except what is allowed.
When humans gather even outside the group there seems to be the instinct to compare and establish a certain type and level of status that creates a pecking order. Isn’t this how work environments run since humans come together to perform services, etc. with strangers? Isn’t this how work environments end up in separate and distinct groups often referred to as “Silo’s?” Isn’t this why martial arts, such as the karate community, end up creating groups called “Styles?” Isn’t this why like-minded folks even within a particular group (Style) tend to create more groupings called “Associations?” You see what I am trying to get at, right?
Then those groups will create sub-groups regardless of styles called, “Traditional,” or “Classic,” or “Modern/Mixed,” and so on where humans quickly establish a hierarchy, levels (grades/ranks/titles, etc.), and statuses within often driven by human politics rather than anything driven by the martial arts practices.
I guess what I am driving at, at a very basic kind of instinctual level is humans tend to gravitate “naturally” toward group like-minded gatherings where they instinctively create an ego driven status type hierarchal system so that their cultural belief system can survive and even flourish. Is ti then a wonder why so many tend to display, like a bird displays it colorful feathers in a mating dance, their colors, ranks and knowledge and experiences, etc.? Come on, isn’t that really why we have the huge variety of colored and designer uniforms, the large and group governed rank requirements along with the associated colored belts, and finally the need to display those colors, ranks/belts and ego driven accolades from certificates, trophies and personal associations, i.e., how I trained with Master so-n-so and my sensei was a first generation student of said master and so on and ete., etc., etc.?
No wonder the world is full of those who demonstrate, display and articulate their achievements let alone the socially mandated need to display for all to see our status within the social hierarchy of that society.
So, going back toward the spirit of Clarke Sensei’s article, it is a rare bird indeed who can discard such trappings so their focus aims toward the soul of karate (martial disciples) practice to achieve a certain goal that is not about the trappings of a social group survival dynamic but a more introspective understanding of a physical introspective way of practice that build on things like character, personality and enlightenment. Isn’t this why certain philosophical aspects of martial practice is about lessening the hold ego has on us, controlling the monkey brain, allowing our lizard to learn the jutsu of martial disciplines and to promote a more human brain form of living though actions, deeds and words? Or, is this just another model that also creates the exclusivity of a group dynamic called “Traditional, true or some other more descriptive name?”
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