Talisman Thinking

Caveat: This article is mine and mine alone. I the author of this article assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and/or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this article. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding.)

Just finished reading a small section in the book by Marc MacYoung on, “Talisman Thinking.” It goes something like this, “The belief that the item is what does the work. It’s having the item (or form) but lacking what makes it work. These are the people who have a weapon for self-protection and who believe that simply waving it around will make the other person back off.” - Marc MacYoung, “In the Name of Self-Defense.” Chapter 14, page 341, end first paragraph.

Now, I am going to spin off into “Never-never land” here because what follows actually has noting to do with what Mr. MacYoung is presenting in his book on talisman thinking. I am going off into a view about karate, kumite, competitions, self-defense and most of all the coveted “black belt.” Are these things a manifestation of talisman thinking? If so, is it the fault of the practitioner or that of the teacher? Or, does it just depend?

Granted there are many aspects of karate training that are beneficial toward self-defense, the ability to handle violence in a legal way. I will say, my view, that the principles taught in karate and other martial arts are awesome toward teaching such physiokinetic principles, i.e., structure, alignment, and centeredness, etc. but what about actually application in self-defense?

Is it possible through all the hoopla, advertisement and claims of “The most deadly self-defense course known to man,” that the essence of the meaning of black belt and those other training forms is lost in actual application toward self-defense? 

When I began seriously studying karate I was led to believe that it would carry the weight for my ability to fight. I didn’t even think of or equate my karate training as a self-defense system even tho parts were taught under the heading of self-defense. I attribute a lot of this thinking to my active duty status as a Marine at the time along with the combat and civil fighting experience of my instructor, also a Marine with combat experience, etc.

As I came to understand both my karate system and self-defense I can see now that my karate was missing a lot of the necessary needs for a self-defense system. Those seven requirements for a self-defense system are available for learning in my references/sources listed below. 

We kumite’d a lot in my early days. We trained every evening for a couple of years, five nights a week, and we spent at least thirty percent of that time, “Fighting,” but as you might understand now, with certain rules for safety and our protection. Granted, as Marines we tended to get aggressive and applied a lot more force than many today will except for those systems that promote such events as UFC or MMA type competitions. Here again, many of the requirements for self-defense were just missing. All of this can be said and more about competitions, martial arts self-defense training and the coveted black belt.

Lets look at the black belt. When I was first promoted to sho-dan I was led to believe that it signified my ability to fight first and perform the black belt requirements of the system. Now, that mind set created what could be considered talisman thinking because we assumed that what we thought black belt meant actually meant it was a complete fighting ability let alone self-defense.

I can’t tell you how often I heard someone say, “I have a black belt,” while doing the monkey dance trying to get someone else to back down. Now, in those early days it actually worked, most of the time. It was not often that someone tested the statement. Today, tho, with the enlightenment toward what black belts mean or meant along with the loss of requirements toward a black belt that talisman type thinking gets challenged more and more making it less than or not even in contention as a possible talisman. Yet, some still try it. 

Now, we have black belts in several styles and system along with thinking one holds a title or has won a lot of trophies coming across as talismans of ability and proficiency in fighting and self-defense. Take the current UFC and MMA belief system. How many of those practitioners speak up quickly as to their prowess in fighting conveying the thought and feelings that it is connected with self-defense as well. Isn’t this a bit of talisman thinking, waving around your ability in that field of competition to get your adversary to “back down” before it goes violent? 

Granted, I may be stretching the truth a bit but consider this in those ads promoting a system as a self-defense system, are they really waving around a flag as if that were a talisman toward safety and confidence toward handling conflict and violence named as self-defense? Isn’t that promoting a false sense of safety, security and ability to handle violent situations? Isn’t that another talisman one might wave around to discourage an attacker and isn’t that also a danger if the attacker turns out to be a predator process/resource adversary? 

Wouldn’t this be another good reason to consider what your goals are if your martial arts are for self-defense? Isn’t this about the type of thinking that is NOT talisman oriented and more reality based? In addition, as “Reality Based Training” becomes more prominent are we not going to need to make sure that we are not just waving around another version of the talisman oriented thinking process? 

Talisman thinking,.what do you think? Do you want to bet your life, your health or your limbs on a possible bluff? What if you don’t realize it is a bluff, waving around a talisman and hoping it will deter violence, and jump in the deep end of the violence pool? 

Note: I do believe due to the efforts of some professionals that the talisman like thinking in martial arts is on the move toward true reality based training and practice, it just ain’t the majority yet. 

Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.

Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
Ayoob, Massad. “Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self-Defense”Gun Digest Books. Krouse Publications. Wisconsin. 2014.
Goleman, Daniel. "Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition [Kindle Edition]." Bantam. January 11, 2012.
Miller, Rory. "ConCom: Conflict Communications A New Paradigm in Conscious Communication." Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 2014. 
Miller, Rory and Kane, Lawrence A. "Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-making under Threat of Violence." YMAA Publisher. New Hampshire. 2012
Miller, Rory. "Force Decisions: A Citizen's Guide." YMAA Publications. NH. 2012.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.
Elgin, Suzette Haden, Ph.D. "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense." Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 1983.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1995
Morris, Desmond. “Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior.” Harry N. Abrams. April 1979.
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #1: Getting Shot.” NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2014.
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #2: Getting Stabbed.”  NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2015.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1993.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Written Self-Defense" MJF Books. 1997.
Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000
Strong, Sanford. “Strong on Defense_ Survival Rules to Protect you and your Family from Crime.” Pocket Books. New York. 1996.
and more … see blog bibliography.
Jahn, C. R. “FTW Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2012
Jahn, C. R. “Hardcore Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2002.

My Blog Bibliography
Cornered Cat (Scratching Post): http://www.corneredcat.com/scratching-post/
Kodokan Boston: http://kodokanboston.org
Mario McKenna (Kowakan): http://www.kowakan.com
Wim Demeere’s Blog: http://www.wimsblog.com

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