The Complete Guide to GKR Karate

Home  |  About GKR  |  Useful Information  |  Articles  |  Photos  |  Fun Stuff  |  Guestbook  |  About the Author

HUMILITY vs PRIDE

The Paradox of Character Development

by Ben Greenfield

INTRODUCTION

We are taught that karate-do begins and ends with courtesy, that we should be humble in nature and act in a respectful manner. We are also taught that karate training should improve one's confidence, self-esteem, and that we should be proud of our achievements. At first glance, these can appear to be contradictory. After receiving encouragement and support before gradings or tournaments and then congratulations, certificates and medals afterwards, it can certainly seem strange to be told be humble and not proud. After all, they're opposites aren't they? In this article I will examine the four important doctrines that are relevant to modern Australian karate-ka: Traditional Christian Theology, Traditional Japanese culture, and secular philosophical teachings - both old (Nicomachean) and new (Objectivism). Naturally, I will finish with my own ideas, beliefs and suggestions.

CHRISTIANITY

Only 5% of Australians (Yearbook 2006, ABS) identify themselves with non-Christian faiths. A growing proportion of our youth are educated in Catholic schools. Therefore it is fair to say that mainstream Australian culture has been significantly influenced by Christian theology. So what does it teach?

Pride, "the excessive love of one's own excellence and the desire to be important or attractive to others", was regarded as the 'deadliest' of the seven cardinal sins, first by Pope Gregory in the year 604AD, and then again by St Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. Both men were as highly regarded for their intellect as for their service to the Church. Pride is seen to ultimately lead to complete love of self - and therefore contempt for God and one's neighbour.

Humility signifies lowliness or submissiveness, as it is derived from the Latin humilitas. It is where a man has a lowly opinion of himself and willingly submits himself to God and to others for God's sake. Humility is not to be confused with humiliation, which is the act of making someone else feel ashamed. The Church's teachings are best summarised by the words of St.Paul (RSV: Phil 2:3-8)

Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

JAPANESE CULTURE

Much of modern karate's etiquette-based rituals and character developing principles stem from the cultural indoctrination of Bushido, the way of the warrior. Bushido, an unwritten code of conduct, was developed by the Samurai warrior class around 800 years ago and as the Samurai class rose to the aristocratic level it became embedded in the wider national culture and was legislated in the early 17th Century. The ethics of Bushido were based partially on the teachings of Confucius and were strongly influenced later by Zen Buddhism, so while the Samurai class disappeared with the abolishment of the feudal system in 1868, the principles remained within the culture and in 1895, the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai was established, partly, to preserve and promote the traditions.

The seven virtues of Bushido were strictly adhered to by the Samurai just as modern Japanese matters of etiquette are very black & white. A Samurai would complete devote himself to following these virtues, and would commit or be forced to commit seppuku: Gi (rectitude/justice), Yu (courage), Jin (benevolence), Rei (respect/politeness), Makoto (honesty/accuracy), Meiyo (integrity), Chugi (loyalty).

The notions of pride and humility are not explicitly part of these virtues. However, Meiyo is often translated as Glory and is therefore related to pride, but the importance of politeness (Rei) and loyalty (Chugi) to one's master are similar to the Christian notion of a submissive humility. This is best summarised by the words of Master Gokurakuji in 1256:

When one is serving officially or in the master's court, he should not think of a hundred or a thousand people, but should consider only the importance of the master. Nor should he draw the line at his own life or anything else he considers valuable.

NICOMACHEAN ETHICS

Aristotle was one of the greatest men ever to have lived. His influence on human society is on par with Isaac Newton and the founders of the world's great religions. He was teacher to both Socrates and Alexander the Great. He was born in 384BC and studied and wrote books on subjects such as anatomy, astronomy, economics, politics, meteorology, physics, literature, psychology and theology. He developed what would later become known as "The Scientific Method".  Not only did his works virtually constitute an encyclopedia of all Greek knowledge, but medieval scholars, centuries later, regarded his work as eternal truths. Combined with Christian doctrine, his works on philosophy became the basis for the official philosophy of the Roman Catholic Church.

Aristotle describes pride as "the crown of the virtues; for it makes them greater". He made a clear distinction between what he called "the proud man", "the temperate man", "the unduly humble man", and "the vain man". The proud man thinks himself worthy of great things - and is worthy. One who is worthy of little and thinks himself worthy of little is temperate and not proud. Aristotle implies that for one to be considered proud, they must have some status of greatness. The man who thinks himself worthy of less than he is actually worthy of is unduly humble. The vain man is one who thinks himself worthy of great things, being unworthy.

Aristotle describes vain people as fools and ignorant, less likely to achieve "eudaimonia" (happiness/prosperity), which he describes as the highest human purpose. However, he considers undue humility as more opposed to pride that vanity and thus worse.

His reasoning is two-fold: that one cannot be proud unless one is first great; and that truth and accuracy is of value. To be proud is not be vain and not to be unduly humble - thus it is accurate, not falling short nor in excess. Thus the greatest man has both good virtue and good knowledge.

One of the modern philosophical systems, Objectivism, describes Pride as a basic human need - that without it, we would have no reason to trust ourselves or think ourselves worthy of living. It parallels pride with self-esteem, yet makes a clear distinction with arrogance. Pride is a rational evaluation of one's worth and arrogance, false pride, is not. Objectivism teaches that true pride has the secondary consequence of making a person want to improve themselves so as to feel greater pride. It describes humility as the state of being meek and submissive. Objectivism argues that this can ultimately lead to self-hatred and self-sacrifice instead of seeking to improve oneself.

SUMMARY

If you haven't already worked it out, I think its clear that its simply a matter of semantics. In the modern context, pride is sometimes confused with arrogance. Its also about balance.

We should not be vain nor arrogant and develop an inflated opinion of ourselves, for it will lead to problems with others and also eventually to a situation that is counter-productive to our own self-esteem, confidence and thus counter-productive to the ability to achieve prosperity, ultimate happiness and honour. While we should be polite, courteous and respectful, we should not actually think too lowly of ourselves, nor be overtly submissive and let our actions dictate our thoughts in this way, else we will also struggle to achieve our goals, happiness or honour.

I also think its clear there are dangers of taking any philosophical stance to the extreme. There is a saying, that sometimes one must go backward before they can go forward. Teachers often teach something incorrectly first, then re-teach a more accurate way second. Example #1: Chemistry, the original Rutherford model of the atom is taught first to explain particular concepts even though its not entirely true or accurate. Example #2: Karate, students are initially taught not to use their shoulders when punching, so as to learn how to use their hips properly first, later they are taught to use their shoulders in a punch. I suspect that this false/truth method of teaching is behind the teachings of many religious prophets - even today, politicians need to be at least somewhat controversial if they wish to be heard.

So, in summary, I believe the differences between the Catholic Church's teachings, Japanese Bushido and Aristotlean ethics are simply a matter of extreme teaching to get a point across to a particular audience. Therefore I conclude Pride and Humility are one and the same thing. Therefore, we should seek to be proud and humble - they are not mutually exclusive.