About a year ago, Anthony wrote a three part series of articles called “The Martial Artist Mentality” explaining how different lessons we learn in the martial arts can positively affect other realms of our life. You can see all three of those articles below.
Today I am writing to explain to you the benefits of sticking to the martial arts to the point of mastery by telling a story (I promise it won’t be three parts).
When we look at mastery in the martial arts, one of the main components of mastery is self-mastery. When I think of self-mastery, there are three things that come to mind: self-awareness, outcome independence and operating on principle.
When I look at the 4 Dan Levels I have achieved in Tang Soo Do, my thought process evolved at each step (as it should have). Each time I progressed in age, rank and maturity, I got closer to the three points I mentioned above.
At my test for 1st Dan in 2010, I went to my Instructor, Master Inoshita and asked, “Did I embarrass you, sir?” In this instance, I was testing not for myself but for my instructor. I could not accurately self evaluate my performance during the test, and I was focused on the result of the test and not on the act of training.
At my test for 2nd Dan in 2012, I went to Master Inoshita and asked, “Did I embarrass myself, sir?” In this case I was testing for myself. I cared about not embarrassing myself, not whether I was embarrassing someone else, but was I able to self-evaluate my performance properly? No. Was I relaxed on what the outcome was? Not at this point in my training yet.
At my 3rd Dan test in 2015, I went to Master Inoshita and said jokingly, not asked, “I hope I didn’t embarrass myself.” In this case I was improving in my ability to self evaluate, but there was still doubt. I also cared deep down about the outcome of the test, but at least was able to take it in jest a little bit.
In the first year of the two year testing process for 4th Dan, Master Inoshita was not there, but I recall telling everyone after the test a simple sentiment, “That was Fun”. At this point I was at the point of doing the test out of principle not out of pleasure, and in doing so it ironically made the test more fun. I was able to relax and focus on my technique. I was not necessarily certain of my performance, but I was able to accept the outcome no matter what it was and that put me at peace.
At the second test for 4th Dan in 2022, I went to Master Inoshita, and without a doubt, I said, “Master I, I didn’t embarrass myself.” I knew I did my best. Did I know that I passed? No, not yet. I felt like I did, but that didn’t matter, what mattered was that I was able to test with complete confidence, self evaluate with confidence, and know that the test wouldn’t define me and who I am. At this point I tested for myself. I tested, not for the belt, but for the transformative learning process that it was. I was able to self evaluate myself and through all of these things, I was able to master myself.
Self-Help Guru Gary John Bishop has a saying, “Expect Nothing and Accept Everything”. In doing this, we will be able to further master ourselves through the martial arts, and as Anthony points out, the transformative process that we see in ourselves will lead us to self-mastery.
