Beginnings...

 

“What the caterpillar calls the end,

the rest of the world calls a butterfly.”

-Lao Tzu

            It is often said in the martial arts world that black belt is the stage at which we really start to learn; that is not the ending of our training, but merely the true beginning.  If this is true, and I must say I agree that it is, then we must ask this fundamental question:

If black belt is only the beginning of our learning, then how, exactly, do we begin to learn?

While this proves to be a difficult question to answer, in either a qualitative or quantitative fashion, it is nonetheless what I will attempt to do over the next few months.  Before we can even begin to answer how we begin to learn at the black belt level, though, we must first ask what it is we are attempting to learn.  What are the qualities of a black belt student that are different from those of the color belt student, and what is a black belt striving to be that a color belt is not?

            Obviously, we could discuss the basic mental, physical, and spiritual development of the martial artist, and determine that a black belt should be a person who trains hard, who studies the history and terminology of his or her given art, and who is of strong character, but the fact is that all of these areas have been developed since white belt.  The training in these areas does not really change, and it certainly does not begin at black belt, so again we must ask, what is beginning, and how does it begin?

           Based upon my experience watching and training alongside countless students and instructors, I fell that I can say with some certainty that one of the qualities of a good black belt is understanding.  A black belt should strive to do more than simply perform the motion of a given technique or skill.  A black belt needs to be able to apply that technique, and must be learning how to do so for a variety of different situations in a dynamic way.  The black belt must display the ability to improvise multiple solutions for a given problem, rather than simply show that he can demonstrate a static drill through rote repetition.  The black belt is moving beyond mere imitation of what the instructors and senior ranking students are doing.   The black belt is in the process of attaining knowledge about why we perform our techniques and drills exactly as we do them, is learning how to use these techniques correctly, and is learning when to use one technique over another.  It is in all of the above areas, then, that a new black belt’s learning begins, and it is in these areas that the instructor must guide and develop his black belts.  To reiterate and consolidate these ideas then, a good black belt curriculum must facilitate the development of three key areas:

1.      Understanding (knowing why techniques work as they do)

2.      Application (knowing how techniques work and can be used)

3.      Improvisation (knowing when to use one technique or application over another)

           While this list of characteristics is meant to illustrate the qualities that the black belt is beginning to explore and develop, it is important to realize that it does not denote a simple step-by-step process, and should not be viewed as one.  As a black belt develops ability in one of these areas, it in turn feeds into another area as well.  A student may start by learning a particular application of a technique, and this in turn can foster both a greater understanding of the art and at the same time trigger certain improvisational skills.  Each of these three areas in turn feeds into the other two, and is not only a circular and cyclical process, but one that can travel in multiple directions at once, and also feed back into itself.  Perhaps the process can be best viewed like this:

                If these are the areas in which true learning begins, where, then, will this new beginning take us?  Is there some inevitable destination to which this process will bring all black belts?  If the black belt does, in fact, go through the process of learning each of the above key areas, then I postulate that yes, there is one destination common to all good black belts: becoming an instructor.  If one truly understands the core concepts of his or her own martial art, can apply those concepts, and can improvise and adapt to diverse situations, then I truly believe that person will naturally develop the desire to see these skills develop in others, and will want to be the one to teach them.  This stems from a natural desire to see the art we love continue, and this can only happen by passing our knowledge on to a new generation of martial artists.  It seems to me, then, that a good black belt curriculum must take teaching into consideration as well.  A black belt who is beginning to display development in each of the three key areas identified above must also be encouraged to develop teaching skills, and must be presented with teaching opportunities.

           Knowing, then, that we must cultivate these areas in our black belts and that in so doing we can be assured that our art will be perpetuated, why do we see a continued trend of black belts who quit their training while only on the beginning steps of this journey?  In the “old days” of martial arts training, we would always have placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the black belts who quit.  The responsibility for discovery, research, and technical development was theirs alone, and only the occasional nudge from the instructor was expected in order to keep black belt students on the right path.  If they strayed from the path, it was their fault, and it was generally up to them to find their way back.   

           Perhaps, though, it is time to reconsider this philosophy, at least to some degree.  While it often is the case that a black belt quits due to their or limitations, or for their own reasons, it is also true that some portion of the black belts who quit do so because they aren’t learning that which they need to learn.  We must identify the areas in which our curriculum for black belts is deficient, and we must innovate new ways of teaching an ancient art in a modern world, while still preserving the integrity and traditions of our art. We must realize that there are situations we face today that our predecessors did not.  We must determine where and why some of our current practices fail, and change those practices accordingly.  It is not an easy task, but with some thought and some hard work, it is one we can accomplish.

 

Kick. Punch. Easy Stuff.