Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
I believe in the collective even when I find it stressful and draining (I'm an Introvert). The collective is about certain human traits all geared toward survival. Now, as you probably already know survival is not just the life or death thing, it is about survival from the simple argument you may have with a loved one all the way to the board room fight to get things done.
Nothing in human nature, as you can imagine, really gets done by the lone wolf. Although the lone wolf has its benefits and even the lone wolf needs to associate with others all in the hidden name of survival.
Now, you can see how karate-ka and budo-ka and martial practitioners can naturally gravitate to first the dojo group then up and on to embrace all those others outside your dojo as a collective leading to the natural evolution of associations.
Where things tend to diverge is hard to peg down and yet one of them is first, "Control." Then we move on to how they maintain that control, i.e., through rules and through fees and so on because to run a large organization requires a lot of logistics of which is funding.
I once decided, since my dojo and membership over the years never exceeded about eight practitioners, that maybe it would benefit me and the dojo to associate myself with an association. Naturally, being an Isshinryu practitioner meant I would look to the collective groups of Isshinryu-ists. The two main ones were IWKA on Okinawa headed up by the founders first born son, Kichiro Sensei while the other was run by two individuals, Long and Wheeler, in the IIKA.
All I will say now, for me, that association didn't pan out like I had hoped and because of the proverbial political issues and the more business oriented efforts though the many requirements and fees (Note: I never did charge my practitioners except in the special services system on the military bases as a Marine and later as a civil servant).
Then, as time passed and my studies and practices matured I find that for many the associations meet and exceed their mandates and I also find, from a personal perception and perspective, that for many others the associations are more of an obstacle to evolutionary progressions in their studies and practices.
Needless to say, I let my membership lapse and never looked back. Many would say I had little success in my endeavors and others would say I had a lot of success that all depends on one's beliefs, perceptions and concepts as to their intent in training, practice and the application of their skills out there, in the world.
In short, when it comes to associations when I make suggestions compared to how I did it long ago, my answer to a practitioner who asks is this, “It depends!” What does it depend on? That is a topic for another article that may or may not come in the near future.
Example: What I find as a more beneficial collective of like-minded and like-practitioner collectives are those blogs, forums, and some social media forms where there are few rules and the goal of the system is to inform, exchange and analyze the many perspectives and perceptions and experiences of the many who join up. Seldom, except in rare cases does funding or fees or restrictive rules come into play except, in most cases, those rules of decorum, think reishiki, necessary to keep it civil and socially acceptable. It is the exchange of decent data that is important for that exchange is how we survive as martial artists and karate-ka!
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