|
The Philosophy Written by Master Frederick O. McNab, Jr. MIND AND BODY There may be other ways of achieving harmony and freedom than martial arts, but I have not experienced them. Martial arts is my way, and it has created the path of my existence and never has it failed me or produced any flaw or crack in my spirit's strength. In martial arts we learn through bodily movement how to achieve mental control. Your mind is not a separate hotel that your body occasionally visits. Your mind and body work as one. Once you have found this unity within yourself you can control your emotions, your own violence, fear, weakness and so on. I call it learning to have explosive freedom. POWER AND VIOLENCE Our world, the one we all have created, is infested with violence. We have learned nothing about how to really control our overwhelming need to be violent. Each one of us is aware that violence is constantly threatening the quality of our daily lives. Violence, in one way or another, is our awful, divided need for power. Every human being wants power of some kind: power over one's country, over religion, against religion, over one's husband or wife, friend or competitor. It’s only by being free of the demand for power in yourself that you can be free of the need for violence, both physically and mentally. All of which brings us back to the need for harmony within ourselves. In martial arts we face violence and learn about its tremendous destructive forces, how it is born within us and what our response to its call will be. How far will you go? What are your limits? Mind and body struggle together through training to reach a balance where each one supplies the other with the harmonizing quantity. In time we learn to adapt that knowledge to achieving harmony with all of nature, mankind, and eternity. HARMONY A true martial artist is an extremely calm person. He/she is also non violent. Whereas his/her response to danger is automatic, he/she has no desire or necessity to initiate violence. Violence, whether mental or physical, lives in all of us and is the most powerful and destructive force in our world. Martial arts explores our own inner violence and teaches us how we can cope with these responses and self destructive impulses. To achieve harmony and peace through our world we must stop violence. Our world is governed by division, in war, violence, the destruction of nature, and inner division in our relationships. In many cases there pervades a sense of separate individual existence in opposition to the community. Even in our intimate relationships each one is basically pursuing his/her own fulfillment, happiness or ambition. We hold onto this divided, self centered attitude without looking at the whole. It's this terrible selfishness in us that separates and divides and causes the trigger of violent responses, of war, misery, and unfulfillment. LOVE In order to be free, to love, to be loved, and to grow as a human, you have to learn to flow with life, to be at one, to be with harmony to the world. You have to let go of all forms of possession. You have to learn that everything must die. Think about that. It is in many ways a very abstract statement. You know you never really own anything, the more that you try to possess something, the more that something automatically possesses or owns you. Love exists everywhere, on the mountain, within the singing trees, in the ocean's roll, in you and me. It exists throughout our universe, and it is the key to your happiness, to us all, together, creating a peaceful world. It is a state that is constantly born and must constantly die, as everything in the universe does in order to exist. PHILOSOPHY The key to understanding the philosophy of Tae Kwon Do, as I interpret it, is in understanding how to harmonize your mind, and the action/power of your bodily responses : then to relate that inner mental and outer bodily power to everything in your world; to flow continuously, with mind and body in unison, with life as it unfolds before you, with nature, with eternity. To achieve this peace, you need to have tremendous, explosive freedom. This state of being may be achieved through the practice of martial arts. I cannot give you a direct format which you can follow in order to achieve this awareness. It's subtle and individual, taking some students longer than others. I know you cannot understand really what I am talking about just by reading about it. You have to do it. It manifests itself within a student through his or her experience in training, not through words and thought alone. CONFUCIANISM Founded in China by Kung-fu-tzu (Confucius) in the 5th century BC, Confucianism believes that man is born with a good nature and is corrupted by his environment. Confucius believed that the climate of society was set by the rulers: "the prince is like the wind and the people like grass; it is the nature of the grass to bend with the wind. “ WHAT IS MEANT BY "AN AGGRESSOR"? Here are some definitions that courts have used to define an aggressor:
As you can see, there is sufficient ambiguity in the above definitions to warrant extreme care in the use of force, lest you be held to be the aggressor. Further, as a general rule, “fighting words” are not a legal justification for the use of force. To be safe you should assume an aggressor, to be labeled as such, must first commit some overt, physically hostile act. DOES A MARTIAL ARTIST HAVE TO WARN HIS OPPONENT? There is no legal requirement that you first warn your opponent that you are a martial artist. Further, to warn a potential opponent that you are a martial artist may increase the chances that you are actually challenged “to see how tough you really are.” You may also lose the crucial element of surprise. However, warning a challenger of your skill may be a relevant factor in considering whether you exhausted all alternatives other than using force, especially deadly force, against him. WHEN CAN YOU COUNTER-ATTACK? You can counter attack only to the extent reasonably necessary to protect yourself. When the danger is over, your right to counter attack is also over. On the other hand, if your opponent appears reasonably likely to continue his attack, then it is reasonable for you to counter attack, but once again, only to the extent reasonably necessary to protect yourself from the danger of the renewed attack. ARE WOMEN HELD TO THE SAME STANDARDS OF FORCE AS MEN? All things being equal, the answer is probably not. However, a woman’s size, age, experience, ability, etc. are all factors which may be considered. Thus a skilled woman fighter may be held to a higher standard or care than an unskilled male fighter. WHAT HAPPENS IF THERE ARE NO WITNESSES TO A FIGHT? Before a possible confrontation, try to ask several people to carefully watch what transpires. Their testimony that your opponent was the aggressor may be crucial. Also, the presence of witnesses often discourages potential attacks. Get their names, addresses, and phone numbers, and ask them to write down in as much detail as possible, as soon as possible after the confrontation, exactly what they saw. If there are not witnesses, you may have great difficulty in proving that you were not the aggressor. This is another reason why force should be used only as a last resort. |
||||