Wisdom of the Ages
That Will Help Kids Control
Their Bodies & Minds!
Boyé Lafayette De Mente
Getting Control of the Body
Newly born babies come with a suite of software—which may be loosely described as instincts—already installed in their brains. The quality of this software varies greatly in individuals because it is something of a crap-shoot that we get from our combined ancestors’ pool of genes.
As a result of this method of evolution, a significant percentage of new-born babies start off with the cards stacked against them because their basic programming has glitches in it.
One very conspicuous example of this hit-and-miss approach is the very obvious fact that nature does not always get the sex of the individual just right. Some individuals who are born with male genitalia have an overdose of female hormones so they end up as “girly men” (to use a phrased coined by actor-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger), or as homosexuals who look like men but think and behave more like women.
On the opposite side of the gender programming, a certain percentage of individuals who are ostensibly born as females have an overload of male hormones and end up as masculine women or as lesbians.
Then there is a smaller group of people who really get the shaft when it comes to the allotment of genes that control their gender and end up being even more of a sexual mix up than homosexuals and lesbians.*
____________________________________________________
*There is an obvious cure for all of these gender failings. Scientists could learn how to measure the specific sex genes required for fully functioning males and females, and see that children have the right amount before they are born.
____________________________________________________
A hard-wired genetic factor that is even more common in both males and females is a wide disparity in the intelligence potential of individuals. Some people are born with an amazing potential for learning. Their eyes and faces literally glow with curiosity and intelligence. Others have faces that are like dim light bulbs that give off very little light. People in both of these categories may have great energy that can manifest itself in either good or bad ways.
These attributes are givens. They are built into the brain before birth. But these inherited traits can be muted or enhanced, depending on their nature and role. Like all animals, the genetically programmed behavior of human beings can be dramatically altered by training. In the first months and years of the life of children this training is generally designed to teach them how to behave like civilized human beings instead of little animals.
At first this is a strictly physical process, since the little ones are not yet capable of intellectualizing the lessons they are being taught. But little by little it works. Their ability to think gradually takes over and they begin to understand verbal teaching.
But too often the physical training that small children receive is limited to learning how to play. The point that many parents fail to perceive and follow up on is that from about the age of four or five the physical training that children receive—or fail to receive—will have a fundamental affect on their lives—mentally, intellectually, spiritually and philosophically.
There is now a growing body of evidence that one of the best training programs for young children and teenagers is a modernized form of a fighting technique that became popular in Okinawa after the island was unified into a single kingdom in the 1420s.
The new rulers of Okinawa banned the carrying of weapons of any kind by the populace. This resulted in the spread of an ancient Indian and Chinese method of defending one’s self with the bare hands, using techniques that made it possible for them to disable or kill an opponent with a single blow.
When this way of fighting was first imported into Okinawa from China it was known as Toh de (Tohh day)—literally “T’ang hand.” The Okinawans merged this with their own indigenous method of hand combat called te (tay) or “hand,” resulting in it eventually becoming known as karate (kah-rah-tay), or “empty hand.”
The Okinawans kept the training methods of karate a virtual secret until 1905 when a karate club was formed and the methods were finally revealed to the public. In 1922 an Okinawan karate master named Funakoshi Gichin staged a number of exhibitions in Tokyo under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Education.
This resulted in the appearance of a number of karate clubs throughout Japan. The country’s military and police forces also incorporated karate into their training programs. With Japan’s World War II defeat in 1945 training in karate virtually disappeared, but it was revived in 1955 as a modernized sport designed to teach positive character traits, and has since spread around the world.
Getting Control of Your Mind
There is, in fact, no way that an individual can get full control of his or her mind without special training, and for the best results this training should begin when he or she is very young—meaning, of course, that it has to be initiated and administered by a parent or some other adult, generally over a period of at least 10 years.
The first step in getting control of your mind is getting control of your body—and, again, intensive training in karate provides fast and enduring results.
Getting control of your body requires the use of your mind on its most basic level—a level that even the very young can understand and achieve. The more precise the forms that make up the physical training, and the more intensive the training programs the more control that is developed over the mind. Karate training combines and harmonizes this physical and mental training.
In today’s world the mind of the average untrained person is a trash dump of babble and garbage absorbed both knowingly and unknowingly over the years. To clear the mind of this trash, even for a second or two, is incredibly difficult and is beyond the ability of the untrained mind.
But unless you can consciously suppress or eliminate this garbage from your mind you cannot focus clearly and completely on either opportunities or challenges. This goal—absolutely clearing one’s mind and focusing with the power of a laser beam—was one of the primary aims of the martial arts training of Japan’s famous samurai warriors.
They pursued this goal with incredibly intensity through the practice of kendo (ken-doh), “sword-fighting,” and other demanding martial arts during childhood as well as after they became adults because their lives depended on their physical skills and mental control. Throughout their lives they were subject to being cut down (killed) without notice, when a single second could be all the reaction time they had.
I am not proposing that today’s kids be trained to the same degree or for the same purpose as samurai children, but modern-day karate is designed to instill the most desirable and admirable character traits in those who practice the art—including determination, diligence, perseverance, courage, respect for others, respect for one’s self, a refined sense of right and wrong, and justice.
Once these traits have been implanted into the mindset of preteens and teenagers their ability to control irrational emotions—that can cause great harm to themselves as well as to others—is dramatically increased.
In today’s world many parents depend on sports such as baseball and softball to instill desirable traits in their children. But this training encompasses only a small percentage of the world’s children, it is not started early enough or continued long enough, and does not directly or deliberately include all the lessons young people need to know about themselves and human relations.
I also do not propose that karate is the final word in training children and teenagers. But I believe it is far superior to any other training method that is available for young and old alike. In addition to addressing the physical and mental side of one’s being it also provides a spiritual base that is essential for a fully balanced life.
Taking Control of Your Spirit
The third most critical factor in the make-up of human beings is the spiritual element... and I do not mean a belief in some religious dogma, which is often so far removed from reality that it is both ludicrous and anti-human.
In fact, the misunderstanding and abuse of the spiritual element in human life has been the greatest self-imposed evil that has befallen mankind. Natural disasters and diseases, which have killed millions of people over the millennia, have not been as destructive or killed as many people as misplaced religious dogma.
Still today, despite millennia of learning and the development of an enormous reservoir of wisdom by many cultures, irrational religious beliefs continue to influence people to discriminate against, torture and kill each other in numbers that are incredible.
It now seems clear that the solution to this astounding human weakness will not be found in any organized religion, but in personal actions taken by individuals, including the nurturing and strengthening of the spirit.
In this effort I am not referring to anything supernatural, divine, or religious in any sense. I am referring to all of the mental attributes that make up one’s character and personality, and is a manifestation of the “force” that brings life to the body and mind. This spirit or life-force is something like a battery that runs our bodily functions, our thinking, and most of our physical actions.
The power of this life-force, which various greatly in individuals, it can be increased by physical exercises that challenge both the body and the mind. It can also be increased by learning how to focus the mind on a single thing—or emptying the mind altogether.
When this spirit/battery is fully charged it includes such elements as courage, determination, diligence regarding both large and small things, perseverance in pursuing goals, an appreciation for form and order, harmonious personal relationships, and respect for all things.
One of the primary goals of the modernized form of karate is to develop all of these elements by a type of training that is based on these factors. It introduces these elements to novice students as an integral part of the physical and mental training they undergo—not as abstract principles of behavior.
Karate students learn the lessons of how to think and behave in an ideal manner by actually performing the functions of the desired behavior…not by wrestling with abstract thoughts.
In this way, the philosophical aspects of karate are integrated into the body and the mind in a physical and mechanical sense. They become a part of the body and the mind.
Wise men and women learned a long time ago that when good behavior and knowledge are taught as physical subjects, not as mental exercises, they become embedded in the body and mind and have a lasting affect.
“Body memory,” as all great athletes, artists and performers know, is far more powerful and important than mental memory.
Training Your Intellect
Once you have taken control of your body, mind and spirit, the next step in becoming a fully civilized individual is to take control of your intellect—the higher order of your mind that understands things, that makes choices and decisions based on rational, logical thinking and whatever experience and knowledge you have accumulated.
But if and when irrational emotions take over the intellect it can override all of the other basic functions of the mind, making bad choices inevitable. So it is essential that the intellect be trained to harmonize with the body and spirit.
The final control of the intellect comes under the heading of philosophy, which refers to the love and pursuit of wisdom through intellectual means and moral self-discipline—with moral self-discipline being the key factor.
Without rational and humane moral self-discipline there is no dependable compass or overriding guidelines for behavior, which is the reason why so many well-educated and experienced people do such terrible things.
Again, something as simple as long-term training in modern-day karate can help reduce the incidence of destructive behavior. It is based on extraordinary self-discipline and a solid moral foundation—a combination that is absolutely required for leading the best possible life.
It is obvious, of course, that present-day child-raising and educational systems in the U.S. and elsewhere do not get passing grades in either of these two areas. Again, I do not claim that long-term training in karate is the complete or final answer to these problems, but there is substantial evidence that it makes a remarkable difference in the character and personality of both boys and girls as well as adults of all ages.
#
Copyright 2010 by Boye Lafayette De Mente. All rights reserved.
____________________________________________
For a manual on the advantages of martial arts training, see the author’s Samurai Principles & Practices that will Help Preteens and Teens in School, Sports, Social Activities & Choosing Careers, available from Amazon.com and through leading bookstores. To go to the “buy page” of Amazon.com click on the title.
Boyé Lafayette De Mente is also the author of THE JAPANESE SAMURAI CODE—Classic Strategies for Success; SAMURAI STRATEGIES—42 Martial Secrets from Musashi’s “Book of Five Rings,” and over 40 other books on Japan, all available from Amazon.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment