Learning to Climb
by Mark
McNutt
Halfway
up the mountain. But this is only the
first mountain in a vast chain where every mountain is higher than the one
previous. In that sense Blue Belt,
hardly seems like a midpoint. At Chosun
Taekwondo Academy, achieving 1st Dan black belt is described as ‘the
beginning’, so
The
personal history of my climb started as an indecisive white belt. I entered reluctantly through the gift of an
introductory pack to Chosun Academy and spent a few months training with one
foot in and one foot out of the school.
Despite this lukewarm state of mind, I managed to learn some valuable
lessons, like how to move about on the dojang floor, how to interact with other
students in simulated confrontations, and how to listen properly to
teachers. I also learned the five
tenants of taekwondo, which began to point to the spiritual side of the art.
I graduated to yellow belt
without having made a concrete decision to stay. But here I had a brush with bit enlightenment
that helped settle my mind. I became
intrigued with the Korean warrior known as the Hwarang whose distinct martial
attitude had a major effect upon taekwondo.
It was their diversity that appealed to me: the fact that they sought to
develop themselves in spiritual, artistic, and social ways that went beyond
their study of pure martial arts. Here
was an idea that I could lock into, that of being a multifaceted martial
artist, where all facets come together to create one life as a whole. When I attempted to put this into practice, I
quickly discovered that, yes, I could live a lifestyle that was multifaceted
and balanced, but only if I set my own pace and resisted the influenced of
those around me who had a more singular focus.
When dealing with martial arts, I told myself that taekwondo was a
lifestyle and not a race. Therefore, it
didn’t matter when I got to any particular place, as long as I got there. My only obligation was to keep moving forward
and not to retreat. That changed
everything for me. It was a way of life
I could live with. Belt tests come up
every three months – but I spent six months as a yellow belt before testing for
orange; the advantage of that was that at no point did I feel like leaving.
Orange
belt was the cementing of the lifestyle I had forged as a yellow belt. I took it leisurely, though that’s not saying
that I took it lightly. The slower pace
helped me keep up with business outside of taekwondo, while at the same time
giving me a deeper appreciation of the art form. I took more time to read, finishing up and
even taking some notes from Master Cook’s A Pathway to Excellence. I signed up for the annual TKD awards
dinner. In other words, I had time to
take in the whole picture of Chosun Taekwondo Academy rather than just the
pieces that would get me through the next belt test. The slower pace allowed my spiritual side to
grow on par with my physical abilities.
I spent six months as an orange belt and graduated to green belt with
little difficulty. At green my patterns
of training evolved as my abilities grew and my tendency to be intimidated by
tasks this particular martial art set before me hardened; my attendance
increased. Suddenly six months seemed
too long and with a slight push I successfully tested at three months to
achieve blue belt.
Now,
something close to three months later, I find myself with a purple stripe on my
blue belt and a mind set for testing. I
am midway on the mountain between white belt and black belt; I can clearly see
my destination from here and am already starting to feel like I belong up
there. I know that as a blue belt I am
not yet up to ‘warrior’ caliber; nevertheless, I feel like a martial artist. From where does that feeling come? Well, perhaps it comes from the knowledge
that no martial art, no matter how formidable, can ever scare me away again,
because no martial art can ever again challenge me as a pure novice. Going halfway up the mountain has taught me
how to climb and has gotten me used to being a ‘climber’. Once a person learns to climb, all mountains
become accessible.
