Moraliteit in Judo

Vandaag plaatste ik een post over moraliteit in judo op een judoforum welke ik jullie niet wil onthouden. Hij is wel in het Engels, maar ik veronderstel dat dit geen probleem is.


Morality in Judo ?

We now seem to have a discussion about Morality in Judo. How it does or does not belong there, or how it has lost its meaning in Judo.
Morality in itself is a strange thing, because "morality" is the system of behavioral patterns with regards to standards of good and bad behavior. As such it reflects the concept of moral responsibility in relation to our conscience and acts. So, morality is not a thing exclusively owned by Judo. Morality is everywhere in our society. Without Morality, our society could probably not even survive. Morality is not some kind of result from any theological system or belief. Every human being in our society to some level accepts some kind of Morality. So the Morality you practice and believe in just extends into your judo life. The strange thing is, that judo also helps to create the code of Morality that you believe in as a human, and as such judo is a part of the systems that help form your moral view in life, and in return, is on the receiving end of the results of that Morality considering that your Moral point of view has consequences for the way you act in judo.

Humans are often weak, directed to own interests, lazy and without proper knowledge. We built and destruct. Each one of us can see those effects in our personal lives. Relationships are built and sometimes ruined by the same people as a result of taking the easy way out when problems occur, or for whatever counterproductive reasoning. We are perfectly capable of taking a sound concept and fish out of it what suits us, leave the rest that does not suit us, and end up with something completely different which in no way has the benefits of the original concept.

Haven't we seen this in judo as well? Often changes are inevitable since circumstances change as well and we have to adapt in life. Judo also is a concept that needed adapting to changed environments over the past decades. But the hardest part of change is not "to change" but to change in such a way that not only wishes are realized but also the actual values are protected and still in place. Judo has changed. But judo does not deliver anymore what it is supposed to do if you reflect about what the Founder had planned for it to accomplish. We have changed judo with our filter of laziness and commerce. We have changed it from the perspective of individual interests often so vulgar as "money". Is judo to blame for that? Hack no.

We take our moral standards into the dojo as we start our training. We take care of partners. We have understandings in place on standards that we will not intentionally harm our partners with our techniques. We will honor our Founder and we will remain true to our Sensei as he teaches us on our path of judo. Our personality gets confronted with hard work in other to achieve progress and understanding. We gain control over our bodies as we study techniques in relation to our partners in judo. Whilst doing so, we keep them safe and they keep us safe. If our partner suffers a hard time we offer support and help. We correct the partner if he does something wrong in his technique, hence helping him learn and grow. We learn to sacrifice our own ego when we take the fall for our partner. Not because it is inevitable due to the strength of his technique, but because we chose to. Because we accept that the partner has something to learn as well. In order to do and manage all of this, to grow not only physically but also mentally, we maintain a form of discipline which hardens our character. We learn how we can win, but we also learn how to do this in a respectful way towards the partner that lost. Hence, this all together, helps building the character of the individual and makes us grow. It helps forming friendships and it helps making the right decisions in life, based upon some added value to the system of Morality in which our judo education has added value on the one side, and is influenced by on the other side.

However, things have changed. Not the fault of the Founder, but caused by his failing to control judo from beyond the grave, and our more important failing to make the right decisions while making the necessary adaptations to our judo. We have simply screwed up things like we humans often do.

We have made judo from the system that "adds" to a system that "takes". We have cut out the pieces we did not like. Because they were too hard for us, they took to much effort and were to difficult to understand. We do not want to walk the long road to get the ice-cream. We want it NOW. We want instant gratification. We want to show off to others and hence we wear our Kohaku obi even when it is not called for. Hack I have even seen people not even standing on the mat hanging their kohaku obi into plain sight so everybody could see it, right behind their desk hanging down from 2 meters high.
We go to shiai not to learn about our selves but to WIN. We want the medal. The instant gratification. We want our egos to be patted and recognized. We want.... we want... but we do not GIVE anymore!

Judo is a reflection of society, since we take our moral system with us when we walk into the dojo. And that very moral system has changed over the decades. A lot. As anyone can see. Some things are obvious, others not so much. Simple things like being polite are not cool anymore. When I walk out of the supermarket people coming in are trying to walk right through me, not interested in the person who needs to come out. Whilst in past times you learned from your father and mother that people coming out get to go first. Less people seem to be interested in good forms and good behavior. Education nowadays is concentrated on skills and knowledge and less on the morality of things in most areas of basic education. Forms in which people interact are changing as well. No longer is the teacher addressed as "Sir Johnson", but now as "Bill". It all reflect changes, and not all changes are for the best of society.

We all know that the hunt for the easy thing has brought many civilizations down. Doing the easy thing in stead of the proper thing is what we do in current times as well more then we should be. And we are in a state of mind where this becomes more and more accepted and "understandable". Nevertheless, taking the easy route out WILL bring us down.

It has taken down our judo already.