top
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HUMAN SYNERGY AND KARATE Page 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Synergy denotes harmonious concurrence of several components of a sys-
tem. In Economy it is considered as the optimal state of Management and
Organisation. In Science it became a specific branch, the Synergetics.
One of its practical achievements is the creation of laser, theoretical-
ly prepared by Einstein and practically realized by Hacken, the founder
of Synergetics. Now, in case of a human individual Synergy is equivalent
to what appears to other people as wisdom. Real wisdom does not limit
itself to the Intellect, but encompasses the whole personality. A per-
fect exemple thereof is Socrates, on one hand a great thinker, an abso-
lutely honest, righteous and unselfish man, on the other hand a symbol
of courage, self-control, endurance and mastery of martial skills. How
can a man achieve it? In order to answer this question, we shall briefly
discuss the concepts of polarity and order.
The contemporary Western ideology based upon Heidegger, Sartre and
Einstein sees the human reality as a polar phenomenon.
The concept of polarity may be very simply illustrated with the example
of magnetism. A magnetic pole, say the positive one, is a concrete
entity with specific physical properties: it attracts or pushes away
other poles, respectively negative and positive, it generates, when
moved, electric field, etc. Nevertheless, it is not autonomous and
exists only in connection with a negative pole. A magnetic bar with a
positive and a negative extremity, when cut in the middle does not
produce a negative and a positive half-bar, but two smaller magnetic
bars, each provided with both opposite poles.
With help of this allegory we can imagine the human being as a polar
structure, having spirit and matter as the opposite poles. Opposite, but
at the same time complementary and never autonomous. By "Spirit" and
"Matter" we do not mean any metaphysical, mysterious beings, but
concrete concepts of practical reason: the respective observation
domains of Psychology and of Physics.
Where does the difference between a neutral and a magnetic bar come
from? The internal bar's structure consists of innumerable elementary
micro-magnets. In the neutral bar they have accidental, arbitrary
orientations, so that their respective actions annihilate one another
and the resulting effect disappears. In the magnetic bar, on the
contrary, all micro-magnets point in the same direction and their
individual actions cumulate into a considerable composite effect.
A neutral bar can be magnetized by being immersed for a moment in
a magnetic field. Within the field the micro-magnets behave as compass
needles and turn all in the same direction. The field brings order to
the originally chaotic distribution of the micro-magnets, it changes
chaos to order. In Synergetic terms the field acts as an orderer.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HUMAN SYNERGY AND KARATE Page 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
We may note that:
1.the resulting order is stable, i.e. the bar stays magnetised when
the orderer (the magnetising field) disapears,
2.The order's effect surpasses by far the force of the orderer: a bar
magnetised by a relatively week field can lift up iron objects
weighing hundreds of kilos.
The human being may be analogically considered as a set of polar
elements, with spirit and matter acting as the poles. A non-polar
element is not human: a finger cut off my hand becomes pure matter and
ceases to be a part of me. After the final separation, the dead body is
no more human.
Under the influence of our civilisation the original, genetically
determined order of the elements gave way to disorder and chaos, so
that the cumulative polar effect nearly vanished: we became both
physically and spiritually weak and inefficient.
Let us consider a simple example: While traversing a steep slope I
perceive the depth as danger and the wall as security. My reason tells
me to incline my upper body away from the depth and closest possible to
the wall. As result my weight passes on my upper foot, my stability
declines and, at the limit, I skid and fall into the precipice. My
reason, or, rather my pseudo-reason has assessed the situation wrongly
and dangerously.
This example does not hold, of course, for an experienced mountaineer.
Indeed, the first thing that one learns about skiing is to supress
this pseudo-reasonable reaction and to restore the true reflex, which is
nothing else, but the original animal instinct. A monkey takes on
a slope instinctively the same position as an experienced skier:
the knees towards the wall, the upper body inclined towards the valley,
the weight upon the lower foot.
The human being needs a lot of training to free himself from the
pseudo-reason and to rediscover the truth, the veracity and the
sincerity. Sincerity, which he had had as a child, but which got
supressed by the education and by the social praxis.
This sincerity is the essence of the human Synergy. The skier descending
steep slopes in series of graceful, relaxed and efficient evolutions
expresses his internal Synergy. A domain of his being is well ordered.
The polar elements point in the same direction and the cumulative effect
demonstrates itself in both poles:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HUMAN SYNERGY AND KARATE Page 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bodily, he is capable of performances unthinkable for "normal" people.
Spiritually, his behaviour does not follow the pseudo-reason, but
the real intelligence which interprets correctly complex, dynamic
situations.
And, just as in the case of the magnetism, the effect of the ordering
surpasses by far the orderer, which had consisted of a few weeks of
pleasant and relaxed exercises.
At this point one may ask, what is the use of Karate? If such current
activities as sport arrange everything so nicely, why should we turn
towards unusual, exotic ideas?
Well, the objection is not quite fair, or rather only partially true:
sport arranges indeed something, but certainly not everything.
And, while it arranges a limited local domain, it makes usually the
global disorder still worse. A beautiful curve perfectly executed in
the deep snow is one side of the coin and each sort of sport has similar
sincere components. But the opposite side consists of merciless rivalry,
hero worship, arrogant conceit, stress, agression, dangerous
exageration in training and, in the social domain, of monstrous commer-
cialisation alienating the public and ruining the environment.
In Art and Science the situation is no better. Art tends to be reduced
to formal virtuosity and to snobery. In Science the sincere creativity
has to struggle against academic dogmatism and bureaucracy.
Other social domains invariably involve stress, constraints, alienataion
and often moral doubts, thus contradicting sincerity.
The best entry for somebody seeking Synergy seems to be offered by
the Budo-Arts. Unfortunately, even they have been contaminated with
the Western-Syndrom and, as other Arts, tend towards an empty, formal
virtuosity.
Therefore Synergetic Karate. Its objective is to build a synergetic base
upon which Budo-Arts may be developed harmoniously as Synergy of form
and content.
Karate extends over a very vast area. Indeed, any sort of standing,
walking, running, jumping, pulling, pushing, hitting, kicking, throwing,
etc. appears in its repertoire. And our pseudo-reason forbids us to
perform ANY of these actions correctly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HUMAN SYNERGY AND KARATE Page 4
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A simple example: a man standing in a relaxed position is asked to
transfer his weight upon the right foot. He pushes "logically" with his
right foot against the floor. As result his weight passes to the LEFT
foot. Actually he should have LIFTED UP his right foot, but his pseudo-
reason would never admit it.
Due to the richness of the involved actions and attitudes Karate
appears as the optimal initiation of Synergy. Every sincere beginner
will notice after a relatively short period a substantial improvement of
his spiritual and physical faculties and become capable of exerting this
improvement in all essential areas of his life.