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Thread: Third Wave

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    Default Third Wave


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    Gassho (hope you're saluting)
    Hi Dirk,
    Very interesting and worth reading. Whether it's specific or relevant to Branch Masters will depend on the Branch Master, and their kenshi.
    Over the years I've met kenshi who placed their Branch Masters on pedestals and hung on their every word and thought. I've met a few ( Thankfully very few) Branch Masters that encouraged this. Most of them had the kind of personality where if it wasn't Shorinji Kempo it would be something else, maybe something more sinister. By and large i think most kenshi have a balanced view of the Howa, not that I think any of us are immune to the pressures of the 'big organisation' (Nazis, Red Guard, Kim Il Jong appreciation society etc) since the only real antidote is age, experience and independance and those types tend to get topped first.
    Could write more but i'm off to arrange a New World Order with my Illuminatii Chapter.
    Regards
    Paul
    Kesshu

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    Well, even if the BM is not thinking of establishing their own Nazi superstate I think there are some lessons there for inspiring and recruiting Kenshi. As to what they are, I'll post my selection later. So in the meantime anyone interested should do their own thinking in case I missed something.

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    Interesting...

    The theme for sure is a real phenomenon, although the style and details of that particular piece of writing seem to me more like a fictional short story piece. The classic factual case is the Stanford Prison experiment. Again, an interesting read for those who wonder how the crowd mentality works.

    Daniel Dennett's book Breaking The Spell offers an alternative perspective on the same mechanism; here the rise of religion as a social organiser.

    My initial response is to feel uncomfortable about using techniques to exploit this characteristic intentionally. Dirk - are you suggesting that BMs study and use these techniques, or that they become aware of them in order to self-diagnose whether they themselves use them and might be better not to?

    Clearly if you subscribe to the idea that SK is a means of developing a good human being (rounded individual, independently thinking, with the abilities to act for the good of people around him/her, etc.), then indoctrinating a class of automatons* isn't compatible with your philosophy.

    That said, of course it's not a black and white issue. Dojo etiquette, the first gakka one learns, includes conformist behaviour like kesshu, gassho rei, spoken dokun (that reminds me of Lynyrd Skynyrd; incondite asides aside). Nominally this enforces an orderly class, and induces common ways of thinking: respect your fellow students; pay attention to the instructor... But the methods employed are uncomfortably similar to the various experiments we've seen above.

    So I suppose the conclusion is to be aware of what you're doing when you're teaching/leading a group. Obviously things could only get out of hand if the leader knowingly allows it, as in all of the examples we've seen. Hopefully SK BMs' good characters preclude such an outcome.



    * OK, not literal automatons, but effective ones in that they subordinate (or even abnegate) their own opinions about a matter of ethics to another person's opinion, and behave accordingly.
    John Ryan
    Shorinji Kempo
    Imperial Dojo

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    Let's just take the basic slogans and run with them:
    Strength through discipline
    Strength through Community
    Strength through action
    Strength through pride

    I suppose we might as well add in the last one for good measure:
    Strength through understanding

    It all sounds rather SK. And very Japanese. In fact, most of what went on in that class mirrors almost every SK class. Where do you see the major divergences?

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    Quote Originally Posted by dirk.bruere View Post
    Let's just take the basic slogans and run with them:
    Strength through discipline
    Strength through Community
    Strength through action
    Strength through pride

    I suppose we might as well add in the last one for good measure:
    Strength through understanding

    It all sounds rather SK. And very Japanese. In fact, most of what went on in that class mirrors almost every SK class. Where do you see the major divergences?
    Dirk
    I think that you raise a very good point and it is good to think about this. However I am convinced that Shorinji Kempo is safe from the flip side of this sort of disciplinarian ethos due to its strong basis in Buddhist philosophy.

    Firstly in Buddhism we know that the underlying principle is to put aside one's ego and to tame one's mind for the benefit of all beings. To be in a training environment where one puts aside one's ego it is necessary to have rigid discipline and no time or inclination to fill one's head with discursive thoughts.

    Not surprisingly there is a direct parallel to a Zen meditation hall in which there is a proper way to act, to enter the hall, when to bow, what to say prior to starting the silent meditation, what to do when the bell is rung etc. Other Buddhist traditions are equally disciplinarian and ordered. I recently undertook a six day retreat in a Tibetan monastery and believe me there was not much time to 'think'. It was brilliant!

    So strength through discipline makes sense to me and need not be viewed as sinister if there is a positive philosophical basis to it.

    I see 'strength through community' as the reinforcing of the Bodhisattva ideal - ie that Buddhist practice is carried out not for personal advancement but for the benefit of all beings. In mahayana and vajrayana traditions the bodhisattva vow, or 'dedicating the merit' is carried out each time meditation is done. In kempo I see this in the Seigan - 'We pledge never to perform this art for selfish reasons but for the benefit of all mankind' and also in Shinjo 'We strive to master the art, discipline the body and soul, we love our comrades and respect each other, and together we strive to create an ideal world.'

    'Strength through action' is obvious, we are developing body and mind through some pretty strenuous action in the dojo, but also I would see this in terms of positive actions for the benefit of others both inside and outside the dojo.

    'Strength through pride' - hmmm this one is slightly more tricky. Self respect and respect for others would seem more 'kempo' to me. You could say one needs 'pride in one's appearance' etc but I would prefer to put this under respect for oneself, respect for one's training equipment, respect for one's gi and so on. I do see pride as having rather negative connotations.

    'Strength through understanding' - yes we need to understand why we are practicing the art, why we have the discipline in the dojo, what attitude we should cultivate and so on. This is why in kempo I think that proper instruction in philosophy is critical - but that is a soap box I have been on before!
    Lucy Jones

    Poole Dojo UK

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    As a short story, I loved it. I always like it when there are questions echoing in your head after you read something. I looked it up on Wiki and was surprised to find the story itself isn't just fiction. Wiki can give some background to the article and its author. Apparently the events really took place as he described, in Cubberly High School, California, in April 1967. He wrote the article some six years later and it has prompted some further literary and dramatic follow-ons. As explained on the Wiki page, it was made into a German film "Die Welle" (The Wave), turned into a musical in 2010, performed on stage in San Francisco. This artice from the San Francisco Chronicle describes that and the original experiment.

    I was reminded of the social experiment of "Blue Eyes - Brown Eyes", which I was taught about in Social Studies at college. In that set-up, a teacher helped to explore prejudice and institutional racism by dividing the class according to eye colour and then proceeded to stir up all sorts of group-mentality bigotry and enlightened the pupils into how easily things can be manipulated. I just followed up that on Wiki and read about Jane Elliot, who devised that experiment. It too is a fascinating story, I had forgotten that the first time she did the experiment it was with a class of 8-year-olds. When I saw the TV documentary, she was doing it with adults to the same effect.


    The Slogans that Ron Jones chose were based on Nazi terminology. He missed out Strength through Joy, which was a Nazi organisation that became "the world's largest tourism operator of the 1930s".


    Derren Brown has done some great stuff on the psychological tricks that the unscrupulous can/do use to manipulate people and build up a group of followers.

    It does pose a problem for those with a conscience. How to use the proven methods of education and development, without becoming an involuntary messiah to a group of followers. "Life of Brian" returns to mind.
    Brian: "You're all individuals"
    Crowd (shouts in unison): "YES. WE ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS"
    Brian: "You're all different"
    Crowd (shouts in unison): "YES. WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT"
    Lone voice in crowd: I'm not.
    David Noble
    Shorinji Kempo (1983 - 1988)
    I'll think of a proper sig when I get a minute...

    For now, I'm just waiting for the smack of the Bo against a hard wooden floor....

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    Gassho,

    Quote Originally Posted by dirk.bruere View Post
    Let's just take the basic slogans and run with them:
    Strength through discipline
    Strength through Community
    Strength through action
    Strength through pride

    I suppose we might as well add in the last one for good measure:
    Strength through understanding

    It all sounds rather SK. And very Japanese. In fact, most of what went on in that class mirrors almost every SK class. Where do you see the major divergences?
    The major divergences? The negativity towards those not 'in' the group, the encouragement to denounce those percieved as 'heretics', the locked door policy preventng outsiders from seeing what was done.
    Except for a superficial similarity I saw little that matched classes I've been in (and some of those are the same classes as you were in so I suppose it's a matter of perspective).
    I have always regarded Shorinji Kempo's encouragement of youth as more like Baden Powell's Scout movement than Mao's Red Guard, encouraging free thinking, practical, confident, questioning, educated young adults rather than conforming automatons able to qoute dogma.
    I'm afraid I saw the passage qouted in the manner that it was written, as a cautionary tale against the deliberate or inadvertant manipulation of young maleable minds, rather than as an instruction guide as to how to gain such control.
    Regards
    Paul

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    Here are the main positive features I extracted from the description of the experiment:

    Elitism - The members must feel that they are special, and superior to “outsiders”.

    Discipline - There must be a (self) disciplined participation to both maximize efficiency and create the feeling that the “elite” tag is deserved.

    Repeated Drills - Or in our context ceremonies, social events, repetitive rote learning. The more time and energy someone invests in something, the more valuable it becomes to them and the less likely they are to drop it.

    Body Language - Something often overlooked in modern public schooling is the importance of body language – how to stand, sit, walk, speak, make eye contact and so forth in order to convey an air of authority, power and command. Notably, this is not overlooked by the military.

    Participation - All members of the group must be encouraged to participate – they must all have a job or function of some kind. This leads to communal commitment.

    Community - It must be emphasized that they are members of a community that will leave nobody behind. One for all, all for one, to quote from the Three Musketeers. Mutual aid.

    Clear Goals - Backed by short sound-bites, slogans or mantras. Why we are here, what we are doing, what we want to achieve.

    Insignia - Membership cards, badges, flags, “secret” methods of identification ranging from jewelery to distinctive body language, salutes, handshakes etc.

    Recruitment - If you want your organization to expand, make recruitment a member's priority.
    _______

    A lot of this occurs by default in SK, however I think a lot more could be done along several of the lines above. I won't bother to list my beliefs as to what, since they are already on record here on e-budo

    For those evil kenshi who watch pirated video, here is the movie of the essay:

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...6544338309782#

    Not very good quality, but it gets over the main points.

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    Gassho
    Quote Originally Posted by dirk.bruere View Post
    Here are the main positive features I extracted from the description of the experiment:

    Elitism - The members must feel that they are special, and superior to “outsiders”.

    Discipline - There must be a (self) disciplined participation to both maximize efficiency and create the feeling that the “elite” tag is deserved.

    Repeated Drills - Or in our context ceremonies, social events, repetitive rote learning. The more time and energy someone invests in something, the more valuable it becomes to them and the less likely they are to drop it.

    Body Language - Something often overlooked in modern public schooling is the importance of body language – how to stand, sit, walk, speak, make eye contact and so forth in order to convey an air of authority, power and command. Notably, this is not overlooked by the military.

    Participation - All members of the group must be encouraged to participate – they must all have a job or function of some kind. This leads to communal commitment.

    Community - It must be emphasized that they are members of a community that will leave nobody behind. One for all, all for one, to quote from the Three Musketeers. Mutual aid.

    Clear Goals - Backed by short sound-bites, slogans or mantras. Why we are here, what we are doing, what we want to achieve.

    Insignia - Membership cards, badges, flags, “secret” methods of identification ranging from jewelery to distinctive body language, salutes, handshakes etc.

    Recruitment - If you want your organization to expand, make recruitment a member's priority.
    _______

    A lot of this occurs by default in SK, however I think a lot more could be done along several of the lines above. I won't bother to list my beliefs as to what, since they are already on record here on e-budo

    For those evil kenshi who watch pirated video, here is the movie of the essay:

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...6544338309782#

    Not very good quality, but it gets over the main points.
    All of the above are intrinsic to martial arts training, not specific to Shorinji Kempo.
    Kesshu

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    Quote Originally Posted by paul browne View Post
    Gassho


    All of the above are intrinsic to martial arts training, not specific to Shorinji Kempo.
    Kesshu
    I disagree.
    Specifically, the elitism, participation, community and recruitment aspects vary wildly from full-on to non-existent.

    In SK there is actually very little emphasis on recruitment. For example, grading does not depend on signing up a friend. Nor does every student actually have a job to do in the dojo that is specific to them. As for community, a lot of that depends on the development of the social side of the org. In SK that is actually outside the usual remit of the Branch unless the BM makes a point to hold special social events regularly.

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    Gassho,

    Quote Originally Posted by dirk.bruere View Post
    I disagree.
    Specifically, the elitism, participation, community and recruitment aspects vary wildly from full-on to non-existent.

    In SK there is actually very little emphasis on recruitment. For example, grading does not depend on signing up a friend. Nor does every student actually have a job to do in the dojo that is specific to them. As for community, a lot of that depends on the development of the social side of the org. In SK that is actually outside the usual remit of the Branch unless the BM makes a point to hold special social events regularly.
    I would be very uncomfortable with the idea that grading was dependant on 'pyramid selling' the branch. As for jobs in the Dojo, Samu, assisting lower grades, club captain etc are jobs people can do with varying levels of commitment. Every Branch I've been in has had some social element.
    The thing is these are not the strictly the things described in the passage, at least not in the same sense. Likewise 'elitism' of itself is not wrong, but within SK it is supposed to be about helping the individual be the most elite 'them' they can be rather than producing an elite and exclusive cadre.
    This of course is all just my opinion, other views will differ.
    Regards
    Paul
    Kesshu
    Last edited by paul browne; 3rd June 2010 at 20:03. Reason: forgot to kesshu :)

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