Article 1 of 8
In the trilogy of articles on "New age, Budo and change processes", we have looked at the present and past development, influence and requirements in relation to martial arts and martial arts - with an approach through an unconventional holistic light, and not the traditionally accepted and suboptimizing spotlight.
In the first two chapters; "Today's prehistory, influence and thoughts on martial arts and martial arts" and "Society's prehistory, influence and thoughts on martial arts and martial arts", we illuminated a lot of more or less clear connections.
Keep your mouth shut, many are thinking. Could you be a little more concrete and specific? Now we have gone through the entire history of the world, the development of society and the dynamic tools of people in their constant processes of change at a high, low, constant or periodic pace. Furthermore, martial arts or martial arts are something that everyone associates with the Far East, and we therefore live in the West! So where are you going with all this? Could you be a bit more concrete and specific? Of course, it's coming now.
My main angles are the following:
- People are people, whether they are white, yellow, black, brown, tall, short, fat, thin, or male or female.
- All people are born curious and inquisitive to a greater or lesser extent.
- All people go through internal and external processes of change in their lives, to a greater or lesser extent.
- All people use and are influenced by their chosen or assigned external reference points. They help shape them as people, whether they live in the East, West, North or South.
- All people use and are influenced by their inner reference points in the spirit.
- All people are unique and want to be unique.
- All people think and communicate beyond what exists for the benefit of others than themselves. Few act beyond what exists for the benefit of others but themselves.
- All people who can eat with a knife and fork, chopsticks or with their hands, can practice and train martial arts and martial arts according to their choice and motivation.
- Martial arts is an external point of reference, which can periodically through focus be united with the internal points of reference to create harmony, calm and overview at the right time and place.
- Martial arts unite your outer reference points with your inner reference points with the goal of finding yourself, your fellow man and the path to life's holistic and all-embracing, formless and timeless essence.
Article 2 of 8
An instructor with many years of experience said to me; "All that constant change through mental pressure in addition to our existing limits and form - it can also become too boring and tiring in the long run!". Interpretation and meaning: To think, communicate and act beyond what exists and thereby constantly change oneself for the better is one of the absolute cornerstones of all martial arts. It is a lifelong process. This instructor is an excellent martial artist.
An instructor with many years of experience said to me; "All that training alone - it can very well be boring and too much fun!". Interpretation and meaning: To be alone with oneself and one's thoughts, words and actions in order to find oneself, and express and dare to show this through active expression, is one of the absolute cornerstones of all martial arts. It is a lifelong process. This instructor is an excellent martial artist.
Two ambitious and very experienced directors said to me in a serious moment after a reception: You are the living example of the failure of our others. We are almost the same age, have trained almost the same number of years, but we are still lower ranked black belts, while you are a high ranked black belt and Menkyo Kaiden “Initiated master of all the martial arts”. We can't even say you got your degrees easily and you're not that damn smart. Because we know that is a lie, and we have both seen and felt it ourselves. - You serve all the rest of us better as dead, ha, ha.".
Interpretation and meaning: Such episodes of honesty, jealousy or intrigue are experienced by all people who have achieved something that others themselves want to achieve in their field. This can be constant, period or episode wise. We all know the silly, open or hidden remarks from friends, acquaintances, colleagues, bosses, employees or complete strangers when we or a person happily talk about a new acquisition, a success or big visions. It doesn't have to be that way, but reality shows otherwise. Why do people find it so difficult to be genuinely happy about other people's success, progress and joy?
It is really strange when people throughout the history of the world admire, look up to and celebrate those who do not belong to the gray mass in their field - i.e. in the period when they control their lives too wildly. It immediately becomes something else when this is no longer the case. There are numerous examples of this. The royal house is a very good example; Most people expect royalty to serve as examples and live like in the fairy tale. If we get too close to these people in whom we can live out our dreams, people's reaction is often the opposite. People's expectation of the illusion burst, and opponents of the royal house breathe the morning air and set sail in the storm. We have seen this in England, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Monaco and Denmark.
Article 3 of 8
Many people are prepared to kill in order to maintain their glamor and illusions - which, by the way, they also did in the "uncivilized old days" with cash settlement and consequences. Most people of influence are expected to meet some definable “pedestal norms” that require a certain distance to maintain the glamor and illusion.
When people get too close, the icons are reduced to people, forcing the admirers to decide whether the icons are better people than them. Which can be particularly difficult with our western norms of "Freedom, equality and fraternity" and gentrification, - although of course everyone knows that there IS a difference between people.
But admitting that, is like admitting that you yourself should improve your "development areas" - the change process of knowing yourself. If an icon expresses this publicly, he or she is simply amazing. If an ordinary person does this to colleagues, peers or others, this person is just a loser because this person has opened up and made himself vulnerable in this "eat or be eaten mentality".
Yes you say so how can we change this. The answer to this is simple; "If everyone knew themselves, the problem would be solved". But who will begin? :. Who came first? The chicken or the egg - here is also the answer to why society today most often rules according to the lowest common denominator, and only in the mind according to the middle one. The highest common denominator only in secret, as it aims to make the world better - by knowing oneself :.
The proverb "Flying high, falling deep" can be interpreted both as a schadenfreude or as an eternal reminder of optimal timely care in all significant aspects, both external and internal.
This admiration and cultivation applies all over the world, which, for example, manifested itself in the Vikings' heroic quatrain, the songs of the North American Indians and other peoples, and in today's world the boundless admiration for business leaders, sportsmen, actors and super models.
The way to admire these is different from Europe, North and South America to the East. This is historically and socio-culturally conditioned. This is traditionally reflected in message, plot and angle in the film world.
In the past and it still happens, many European films were very "heavy" with many intellectual psychological and unfair realplots where "the hero dies and the villain wins". In the US it is most often the opposite, with light entertaining and fair fantasy plots, where "the hero saves the heroine and the villain is elegantly defeated by the hero and receives his well-deserved punishment".
Just as most citizens in the "middle & upper class" officially do not read gossip and weeklies, watch Wheel of Fortune, Robinson or Big Brother - we Europeans often belittle and excuse the fact that we watch these American entertaining, popular and easily forgotten films, instead of a traditional profound Ingrid Bergman film that constantly reminds us of our own unresolved everyday problems, encouraging us to self-pity, melancholy and "how we have it harder than everyone else!"
Maybe this explains why the American movies are so popular? :. You know what you pay for and get to see.
Article 4 of 8
Many readers have probably already had the idea that the essence of these differences is that the purpose is the same, but from different angles, parts of the world and people; to know oneself and thus also to be oneself constantly. After all, it will be difficult to be someone other than yourself when you have finally learned to know yourself. "Burnt child shuns the fire" - you usually only put your hand on a hot stove once in your life, although there is nothing to prevent it a second time.
The strange thing is that many people insist on putting their hand on the stove several times, to the detriment of themselves and others, just to prove that they control and decide over their own lives - even if they receive perfectly well-intentioned and correct advice. Many teenage parents, parents of young children, bosses, employees, friends, acquaintances and Budo instructors can nod in recognition to this. Yes, actually all people can.
The question is simply whether people's need for self-assertion, self-punishment, self-pity and self-justification has generally diminished throughout time and history, and if it has not, there must necessarily be a purpose for this - if people believe that life has a purpose. There is now a difference between theory and practice and thus also experience.
Among people, the biggest barrier to learning trust is called; ego, and how well you know yourself - in reality. This can usually have something to do with age, but not necessarily.
Usually this goes along with how early you have been motivated for this. Everyone knows from school that it can take 3-5-7 times as long to acquire material that you are not motivated, disposed and matured to learn and experience. This is also the case in martial arts and the world of martial arts – just like in all other parts of people's lives.
Martial arts and martial arts come from the East. There is a difference between East and West, and learning pedagogy and methodology. You can read more about this here: "The nice master". In the East, it is expected that students will push their instructor for knowledge and quick learning. That is it is the student's job to learn something. In the West, it is often the exact opposite.
In the East, it is expected that when the student asks his instructor for an answer, and the answer is cryptic but long-term, the student works intensely on this until everything has been extracted from the answer and the essence has become permanent.
In the west, the student expects to receive a direct and easy-to-understand answer that does not go too close to the student's person and work areas. And if this is the case, the answer must be made so cryptic, but direct, that the student can interpret the answer according to his own worldview, maintain his illusion without responsibility, since the instructor has taken this on himself and create the feeling of a short-term victory.
It is extremely rare that a student has the will to maintain a sparring and coaching course until Menkyo kaiden "Initiated master of all the martial arts". Most jump from far, far before.
Sam Torrance, one of the world's best golf coaches, said that the difference between an amateur and a professional, after he has taught them through a course, is that the amateur does not know why his game has improved, but the professional is well aware of this.
Article 5 of 8
It is the difference in attitude, the will to the goal and the degree of the indefinable, timeless and formless self-knowledge. Likewise, it is also with martial arts and martial arts, and it is also becoming this way in the East. The world has become much smaller and is constantly meeting.
Some instructors asked me how this related. Below is the answer I gave them:
“Most people blame others when they are pushed into a corner. It makes it easier for them. Most people are like that – although of course no one will admit it.
Most people feel self-loathing when they are confronted with "the innermost secrets" that they do or have done but haven't done anything about because it's too painful, or they've blamed others, to market themselves at the expense of others.
It is always easier to blame others if you have not been good enough, or to assert yourself in other ways, often at the expense of others. This is increasing the more self-aware you become, until you “know yourself 100 %” by Menkyo – in Yakami language 5th dan, Menkyo.
In newspapers, books and interviews, it is pointed out that willingness to change and self-development is a must in today's world, both business-wise, work-wise, in schools, kindergartens and nurseries, and also in the cultural and sporting associations.
We all have to keep up with the times to survive. But it has also led to a certain mental fatigue in the face of the changing trends and demands on how we all have to be in order to be "up on the beat and in the loop". Along with the communication and transport options, the world has become considerably smaller. This also applies to the spread of self-staging, image care and own branding. Today it is everyday life for most people, where before it was first reserved for kings, emperors, presidents and prime ministers, later politicians, business leaders, entertainers, idols and other people with social influence, and now the turn has come to the next level in the conscious self-staging chain; all of us "ordinary" people.
I have trained an incredible number of people over the past 20 years. People have passed to 9.kyu to 6.dan. And people have dumped to 9.kyu to 6.dan. Dumping people is never nice, because you really want them to pass. Because in its innermost meaning, dumping means that you are not good enough - yet.
From 9-4.kyu this is technically concrete. 3-1.kyu there may be a minor ego blow and some stop. On the 1st-3rd, a major ego-crush comes and many people reevaluate their priorities and self-perception. 4-6.dan, here you can feel that you are losing your "personality", the ego fracture is of gigantic dimensions, and many choose to cover this up by belittling, slandering, ridiculing or undermining the person who dumped them, about or down-prioritizing , extra will to complete next time, or they want to "start their own system within the system", where they decide or control the criteria and they are "king or queen".
After Menkyo Kaiden, this is a non-issue, as a practitioner becomes totally indifferent to degrees. Degrees will only be a pat on the back and something that means more to others than yourself. You will be the "real thing", open and not hiding anything others could benefit from if they want it.
This has been the case for centuries, but in ancient Japan, on the other hand, only the best survived, so the "false goods" died quickly, or quickly re-evaluated their behavior and statements.
That consequence is not there today, and most people today place more importance on the outside than the inside, - and there are plenty of "teachers" who will support them in this illusion or illusion.
It spreads like rings in the water, so when the water meets the "real thing" you rather sail around it than stop and go ashore. Therefore, Minouchi Sensei (BUIDO's founder) said that Budo had reached the low level today.
Article 6 of 8
Depending on the graduate's degree and thus the size of the ego fracture, the process most often becomes this if the graduate does not progress; After the dumping, there follows a period of post-rationalisation, self-blame, doubts about one's own ability - which after a while turns into the opposite.
The instructor decides he wants to learn again. This is just not done 100 %, but with a distribution on willingness to learn and self-protection against a possible new dumping.
The slower the learning process goes compared to before, the more frustrated the instructor becomes. The instructor knows very well that it is his or her own ego self-protection and built-up illusions about one's own ability that place greater and greater limitations in the learning process. An old proverb says "You can drag a donkey to the trough, but you can't force it to drink". The higher the degree of the instructor, the more disastrous this "teaching method".
When the Instructor at some point crosses the line, where ego protection turns into ego assertiveness during teaching, the phase shifts to the instructor only wanting to learn in his own way, demands and conditions, which most often directly depend on the instructor's current emotional state. Then a learning process becomes impossible, and the student has reached his "ceiling", but most often denies this himself.
This can cause the instructor to try to eliminate the conditions that confirm the truth about one's ability, illusion and self-denial and thus actual conditions. Most often, the director begins to experiment and develop himself in the system, attach key persons for his own external "success" and protection closer to him, and a detachment is underway.
Many establishment of new systems have been done in this way, and therefore Minouchi Sensei drew attention to this, - and became very unpopular in many circles for this statement, although his intention was to preserve the original requirements and level of Budo and Bujutsu.
Minouchi Sensei was not of the opinion that there was only room for the few, but only that the right "Product label" should be applied. So illusions and systems that had actually arisen on the basis of an ego self-defense system should not market a level and insight that it could not hold.
Today, it is not unusual for instructors from groups 1-3.dan and 4-6.dan to establish their own systems, if the "market base and disciples" exist. After the First World War, it has been normal practice that the establishment of officially recognized systems could only take place at 7-8 dan. And before this time, by the old Budo and Bujutsu degrees; Menkyo Kaiden (Initiated master of all the martial arts).
There is a big difference between marketing a 7-8th dan's or Menkyo Kaiden level, when the insight and skills are significantly lower. It is equivalent to marketing that anyone can pass a university's doctorate without it being necessary to take an exam and meet the set requirements for competences and insight. It then only becomes a question of setting the requirements low enough so that the interest in the "market base and the disciples" can continue and possibly be expanded.
Article 7 of 8
The socio-cultural development and difference between East and West means that when some people drop to black belt degrees 1-3.dan, this is done very, very discreetly and differently from person to person. It is kept within a narrow closed circle until the degree has later been passed. Then it can first be used as an example of learning for those who come after.
From 4-6.dan, the course can/will be significantly different, as Yakami-ryu does not have honorary degrees. Teaching goes exclusively from the inside out, where before it was the other way around. And it's the world's most thankless job during the course, after the course, especially if they dump - until at some point, and if, they achieve Menkyo. The world's most thankless job must be equal to pure charity, otherwise it cannot be endured :”.
If one Grandmaster from the East invites an instructor for special training, this is considered a great honor, where the student knows very well that he/she only gets this one chance. In the West, it is often the exact opposite.
There must also be a good reason why grandmasters, wise men and women or others with special knowledge, usually only give a student one chance. Either you want it or you don't. There is no need to waste each other's time and energy. This is how it has now also become Jokokan.
We have also experienced this in Jokokan. We have therefore respected this different attitude and approach to receiving learning, training and methodologies, which the basic idea of association life also reflects.
But with the caveat that a sports organization is never better than its practitioners, and this in a martial arts or martial arts organization places special demands on the foremost exponents and leaders in the organization.
We learned this the hard way in the organization's change process and during individually targeted special training by Jokokan's main exponents.
Before the change process, the unity was very close and therefore the group pressure was probably also greater. We rarely let each other down, intensively training Yakami-ryu martial arts with skin, hair and whole heart all the time. During this period the high level was founded.
The change process has changed this, as it turned out that the majority of all instructors one by one prioritized differently. The natural development and balance has therefore meant that the broader framework can accommodate everyone, and not just as before - super elitist-minded practitioners. The Jokokan Association (JDK) was established as a community-based martial arts organization with now 7 schools and approx. 350 members, which also includes the possibility that if the interest, motivation and will are present, one can be invited to individual sparring, coaching and training in the "old" Jokokan organization; The association for Yashin mon. Yakami no Taijutsu from 3-4.kyu.
Article 8 of 8
The difference in attitude between martial arts and martial arts is also reflected in everyday life. It will only be natural, since everything you do usually has a purpose in your life.
A friend once excitedly told me that he had just bought this wine for us to taste. As always, he had thoroughly familiarized himself with the cases. He told how good the wine had become after the winegrower had purposefully and tirelessly worked for countless years towards this lovely and round quality wine, driven by the love and perfection of the craft; Winemaking. He had expressed and put his soul into this wine. Nothing in the process was accidental and nothing was compromised.
Novra, I said, and thought if I got as excited about this wine as my friend, then it was probably a good idea to buy this wine too. My friend was right, it tasted divine! So I cautiously asked “Uh, How much does one wine like that cost..?. With a big laugh, my friend said: "Now you have to hear the best, I got it for half price through an offer, and I can probably get you some too!". My friend was thrilled that I also thought the wine was gorgeous and wanted to share his knowledge and wine deals with others.
The following week I was at another dinner party. The host exclaims as he pours the wine" I was in a bit of a hurry - now I damn well hope the wine is good because it cost a fortune - otherwise I'll complain!".
Question: What is the marked difference in thought and attitude in the above stories? Seen from an everyday situation and angle, this is also the difference from martial arts and martial arts attitude.
I have now illuminated the difference between martial arts and martial arts from an unconventional angle. I must stress that neither of the two methods is better than the other - they serve different purposes and goals in life, which depend on the individual's personality, life, lifestyle and path of self-discovery.
But the goals, purposefulness and duration of the change process are very different. This is the individual person's choice and responsibility in this life. It is these choices and goals that make people so unique – and different. We are not all the same. There ARE some people who are better people than the rest of us, who know more, who have more money, who have more power, who are more beautiful and more developed than the rest of us. Just as there ARE people who are worse people than the rest of us, who know less, who have less money, who have less power, who are uglier and less developed than the rest of us.
How it is in reality will probably be beyond most people.
