Viewing Human Conflict Through the Martial Arts.

An Interview with Dr. Terrence Webster-Doyle.

Introduction

Responsible marital arts instructors attempt in some way to teach students that ther skills are to be used only for self-defense. However, Dr. Terrence Webster-Doyle, sixth dan in Take-Nami-do karate, is unique in his use of the martial arts as a focus for the exploration of the actual nature of conflict itself. From his study of conflict, Webster-Doyle has developed and published an extensive Martial Arts for Peace curriculum designed to stimulate the instructor’s and student’s inquiries into the nature of conflict and the possibilities for peaceful conflict resolution through role playing, games, and a variety of other structured activities that can be integrated into marital artrs classes for young people. Integration of the physical skills of the martial artist combined with an understanding of conflict create what Webster-Doyle terms integrative martial arts.

Webster-Doyle believes that the purpose of the martial arts, historically, when they incorporated the “Do” or “the Way,” was to help students do what he is attempting in the martial arts school today, that is, explore the roots of conflict that lie in conditioned thinking and action. It is his view that this was the intent of the martial arts, especially karate, with its emphasis on “empty self.” Webster-Doyle’s integrated, holistic approach views martial arts instruction as an educational endeavor that goes beyond just a sport or physical self-defense in an effort to shed light on the causes of conflict in all of its forms throughout the world and to find a solution to modern day violence. Giving visual testimony to Webster-Doyle’s more than thirty-five years of dedication to the cause of peace is a photo taped to the wall of his Middlebury, Vermont, office. The photograph shows a young Bosnian boy inside a bus, his hands pressed against the window, tears rolling down his face as he looks out at a pair of hands, most likely his mother’s, pressing toward him from the other side of the glass. The photo caption reads, “Reaching Out to the Children of Bosnia.” Webster-Doyle has written “world” in place of Bosnia and beneath the photo has penned in and circled the words, “promises to keep.” HE explained his use of the phrase form the popular Robert Frost poem, “stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening,” that ends with the lines “I have promises to keep/And miles to go before I sleep.” For Webster-Doyle, the poem serves as a reminder that he has made a promise to the children of the world to do all that he can to help people understand how to resolve conflict peacefully.

The following interview was conducted in Middlebury, Vermont.

Interview

What are you attempting to do with the work that you term “Martial Arts For Peace”?

I’m emphasizing the whole of karate, not just doing the physical karate alone.

Could you elaborate a bit on what you mean by “The whole of Karate?”

Yes. An educated human being like Funakoshi Gichin, for example, who founded Shotokan karate, looked at the art as a whole. He, for example, studied it as a complete way of life. Ninety-eight percent of what is done in the martial arts today is physical, and perhaps only two percent is understanding the philosophical concepts tat are behind the art.

The history of tying a sash (obi) has little practical application to the tremendous problem of violence in the wolrd. What is needed is to really study conflict as one studies with tremendous effort the things that you really want to know, such as curing caner or ending hunger. I’m taking seriously the charge I have as a martial artist, as I’ve been doing for the past thirty-five years.

What do you mean when you say that you are taking your charge as a martial artist seriously?

The charge of the meartial artist is to understand conflict–individual and global–which is created by the destructive conditioned of the brain. That’s the essence–kara-te as empty-self. That’s the crux, to be free of, empty of, this negative conditioning in the human brain. This understanding is already there historically in the martial arts literature, and I’m making it more available in a modern way. I’m examining the structure of psychological conditioning that creates the isolated ego or fragmented self and putting it in a context that our young people can understand so they can begin to comprehend what effects this conditioning has in creating not only on the playground but also in what we call war. As it existed, it was hard for them to understand; it was intellectual and esoteric.

What do you believe was the intention of the early martial artists in regard to violence and resolving conflict?

The founders of the martial arts were important figures pointing the way to understanding the nature and structure of human conflict, but now we have to look into the matter of conflict scientifically, objectively. It’s a real study. I should say, though, that not all of the founders agreed. I think Funakoshi, as an educator, looked at the martial arts more as a whole endeavor toward a way of life that encompassed the realationship of human beings to each other, a way of life that was intelligent, that allowed people to bring an intelligent approach to dealing with conflict. Remember, Funakoshi studied, wrote poetry, appreciated the arts. He didn’t consider karate a sport at all.

What, specifically, do you attempt to teach children so that they can use their martial art to resolve conflict without violence?

I teach them to A.R.M. themselves. That is, to Avoid conflict by preventing it; to Resolve conflict through what I call “mental self-defense,” that is, nonviolent alternatives; and to Manage conflict by the humane application of physical skills if need be. But one hopes that the first two “lines of defense,” so to speak, will allow the individual to stop conflict before it becomes physical.

Are there exercises, games or activities that you use to teach these concepts to children?

Yes, there are martial arts “games” I do, for instance, when I teach conflict avoidance or prevention. First, I talk to the students about the energy that is around them that they can’t see, taste or touch. Then I walk toward them until they tell me to stop because they are uncomfortable. I ask them how it feels when I violate their space.

In the second activity, I put someone in the center of a circle with his or her eyes closed. Another student who is part of the circle walks toward the one in the center. With a heightened sensitivity to a threat, the student in the center, who cannot see, responds to the approach by pointing to the invader. Then we discuss the activity so that the students can understand the importance of being aware.

In a third game, called “Friend or Foe,” we are reading body language. Some police departments use a form of this game with a big screen and a laser gun. When we play the game, on individual walks up to a student with the intention of either shaking hands or punching. The student must attempt to tell from body language what the intent is, because he or she must either block or shake hands .This activity teaches students to respond correctly to either a friendly or threatening situation.

So you begin with prevention and build the student’s ability to increase and develop awareness?

Yes. It involves a layering of skills. The next part is to learn to resolve conflict mentally. This is the secondary level in which we do bully/victim roles. I help students develop soliloquies that are mental katas. For any threatening situation they should have at least three alternatives in case on doesn’t work. The parallel in the martial arts is to be able to do multiple blocks and moves in order to avoid injury. The instructor is ther to ask the students what would work and what wouldn’t’ work. I give suggestions. The instructor has to be flexible in this role.

And what does the third level, managing conflict, involve?

There are self-defense skills one would need for protection, but there is more than just hose skills. The physical level of managing conflict is not just self-defense. Students have to integrate the physical and mental at this point, too. Remember, one of th terms I use to describe what I’m attempting to teach is “integrative martial arts.” A narrow focus, for instance, on repetitions of too many self-defense patters makes the body rigid. This why I use Shu-ha-ri.

Shu-ha-ri is a traditional martial arts concept. It literally means: Shu–learning from tradition; Ha–insight; Ri–transcendence or going beyond. It signifies the learning process. In the physical art it means learning basic, traditional forms, which is Shu. I teach basic forms to give the student a foundation. Then I devlop with each student his or her own unique form or kata. This is Ha, which gives the students insight into themselves. Then we do the Ri forms, which are the most difficult yet the most exciting. This is when a student does a spontaneous free form. He or she stands, bows and then performs a form, a kata that is totally improvisational, free, unlike the prescribed forms of Shu. The kata can last a brief minute or last for a good length of time. It is up to each student. This form is only done once, then it is gone.

Learning all levels of Shu-ha-ri gives the student no only the traditional foundation, which is necessary, b ut also a personalized form tailored for him or her, and then the freedom of spontaneous, unprescribed movement. IN this way, we are not a victim or rote conditioning, physically or mentally. We have the breaking up of the traditional with Ha and Ri but at the same time we don’t “throw the baby out with the bath water,” as the saying goes.

Even if you do not want to over-emphasize repetition of patterns, I know that you believe that attaining the physical skills o a martial art is of great value in helping the individual to react to conflict in a manner that allows alternative to the fight or flight reaction. Would you explain how this works?

You see, we seem to have an either/or society. Either fight or un. The conventional approaches to resolving conflict don’t work because of this fight or flight reaction, which is a conditioned response, which may be appropriate in certain situations, but is generally an inappropriate reaction. The body is conditioned to react unnecessarily to a situation. This type of conditioned pervades the whole education of the child–to react habitually, mentally or physically, to a situation.

Where the martial arts come in is that if I know I have the ability to fight, then I don’t have to use flight. If I’m untrained, the message to my brain is, “I gotta get out of here.” But to the martial artist, the message is that, “This is a trheat, but I can deal with it.” Then you can be taught verbal, nonviolent alternatives like the “Twelve Ways To Walk Away With Confidence” that I use in my curriculum and in my books to get out of the situation. My father was a firefighter, and my father wasn’t afraid to go in to fight fire because he was trained. It’s the same thing with the martial artist and conflict.

You use “The Twelve Ways To Walk Away With Confidence” in your classes. What are some other mental activities you use?

To show young people how individual conflict escalates into global conflict, I take a two –sided map into the martial arts class. On one side is the physical representation of the Earth. There’s no writing on it. The children know what it is. I ask them what they see, and they see just what is there. The other side, the political side, is broken up into countries, tribal territories. From outer space the Earth is not broken up when you look at it. The mind breaks it up. That’s the ethnocentric tribal mode of thinking. The children understand this. To them it is simple, uncomplicated. Yet they, at their age, don’t understand all the implications of this.

Everything I do in a martial arts class is to demonstrate the conditioned mind, and I always tell the children to question what I say. Everything in the dojo or school can be used to create tools to educating about conditioning. I make a child a black belt for the day. Then I ask, “How did you feel with a black belt?” The students say, “awesome,” “powerful.” Then I hold the belt up. What do you see? The children say, “power,” “strength.” Then someone says, “It’s just cloth.” That’s a lesson about conditioned thinking, that there is just what something is and there is what we believe it to be.

Students often say that a martial art is just physical self-defense and an art form. But it should also be a vehicle for self-understanding. I ask, for example, if students are aware of tension in their bodies. They have a rigid posture. They’re uptight, but they’ll ask me what I mean. They may take it as a judgment. That’s a defense mechanism. However, if I ask, “What is your body telling you,” they’ll be able to tell me because I am asking what they are feeling, which is not taken as a judgment of them or of their behavior. It is the judgment that creates the defenses and the conditioning.

Would you reject all conditioned response?

The concept of Shu-ha-ri is very important here. You need a questioning mind, but this doesn’t mean that you reject something on its face value. Some conditioned is necessary. We are conditioned to put the foot on the brake to stop the car. That’s a correct reaction. We are conditioned to block and punch. That’s good, to a point. few use only traditional forms, however, we can be out guessed by our opponents and lose in free-style because they have figured out our methods. On the other hand, thousands of years of ethnocentric tribal conditioning have been handed down to us and with it the physical/psychological reactions that worked then for survival. That was good then, but now it’s working against us. The psychological identity with the group or tribe is creating physical conflict today. AT one time, identifying with a group or tribe was necessary for insuring physical survival, so the individual identity became a group or tribal identity and vice-versa. At this point, psychological identification became the means to insure physical survival. The “me,” or “self” or ego became the identity associated with the group. “I” am “us.” And “us” is “me.” This identification as the isolated ethnocentric identity “me/we” now creates conflict and prevents physical security, whereas at one time it insured it. Bosnia is an example.

Obviously, you believe that people can be taught to overcome conditioned reactions that create conflict or prevent the peaceful resolution of conflict.

Yes. In martial arts, we’re trying to open the child’s mind to looking into this form of conditioning. Children learn to hate and fear. Watch children being raised to heat each other in Northern Ireland, the Middle East or wherever. If I am told something over and over for a period of time and I believed or acted without questioning, then I was conditioned. Tell a Serb over a period of time that a Muslim is an enemy, and he believes it. This is where martial art becomes very important. Let’s look at how the brain reacts to a potentially hostile situation.

In the case of ethnocentric identification, a person form one faction sees the other as a potential enemy. At the root of the problem, the brain is reacting to a basic instinctual threat to its physical well being even though the thereat is only psychological.

Now how do the martial arts help? If there is a threat or a supposed threat, it goes into the brain, and the child doesn’t have the physical skills to right or urn away with confidence, he will react in a fight/flight manner. With physical skills, however, the message goes into the brain, and the child things, “Oh, I can deal with this.” The fight or flight instincts just needs assurance that it can fight, it has the martial art training, if it need sto fight. Then the child can deal more rationally with the situation then without the physical martial art skill. It’s like tricking the brain, the fight/flight reaction. Then there is an opportunity for an intelligent response instead of an inappropriate reaction.

Now with this biologically conditioned reaction in a state of abeyance, one can act from understanding, from intelligence.

Human Conflict continues...

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