Why Rank Matters

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Well, in a nutshell it is about belonging, and belonging is about survival and survival depends on hierarchal systems with status and ranking within the group, group dynamics. When you start to study humans, our species, and what makes us tick while getting past all the cognizant dissonance driven tapes and movies we humans need and create we get down to our very base instincts of survival and that means procreation for both are similar to the egg and chicken - which came first. 

Our species like any other wants to survive and in order to survive we must procreate so which came first is the only question and that is totally an academic one because when it comes down to the base foundation, it is survival and procreation. Everything, and I mean everything we humans create in that endevor, is about that survival. It may have transitioned from hunting and fighting rival tribes to working hard to achieve income that presents status to others and fighting verbally, psychologically, economically and physically against others or rival employees, companies, etc., it still comes down to - wait for it - … SURVIVAL and PROCREATION!

In the dojo, in martial arts and in karate the entire system is a microcosmic form of the tribe, tribal members, status according to a hierarchal, say rank or grade, system the denotes where you stand and how others perceive you within the system. This is why we gravitate toward building such systems and then assigning them status driven symbolic titles, etc., such as senpai, kohai, sensei, soke and other such as hanshi or master or grand master and so on. Ain’t life grand. 

In the scheme of nature and its base instinct toward procreation and survival these models we humans create simply stoke the ego, give us self-soothing satisfaction and fill in all those missing components of nature’s base instinct to survival and procreation to fit the social models that evolved over time due to influence of war, violence, and revolutionary changes such as the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution and todays technological revolution. In the end, it is just a way to determine status and how well we procreate and survive. 

Ain’t Life Grand!!!

Bibliography (Click the link)

“In order for any life to matter, we all have to matter.” - Marcus Luttrell, Navy Seal (ret)