The Warrior Archetype
Robert Moore, a psychologist and theologian, emphasized that for men the warrior spirit was “hard wired.” Our hunter-gatherer ancestors were warriors. As warriors they were required to defend themselves, their family, and their tribe in order to survive. This was crucial for the succession of family to carry on.
While most of us in the Western world no longer traverse the plains of Africa, the primitive responses of our hunter-gatherer counterparts have not left us. The problem today is that most people have lost the ability to express their fight-or-flight response in appropriate ways. Martial arts are an excellent conduit for the positive expression of the warrior archetype. Martial arts are an opportunity to create a tribe of warriors who are once again able to be reunited, metaphorically expressing "the hunt" through public displays of courage, tenacity, and grit. Through the symbolic enactment of the martial process, people are able to sublimate their destructive energies and impulses, allowing them to work through conflict creatively as well as changing their perceptions of the issue itself.
Martial arts training with an emphasis on playfulness, challenge, connection, and brotherhood are not too dissimilar to the rough and tumble play most kids experienced with their friends and siblings growing up. The National Institute of Play, for example, points to scientific research showing that rough and tumble play in animals and humans “has been shown to be necessary for the development and maintenance of social awareness, cooperation, fairness, and altruism.” As further outlined by the National Institute of Play, kids with “a lack of experience with this pattern of play hampers the normal give and take necessary for social mastery, and has been linked to poor control of violent impulses in later life.” So if you missed out on rough and tumble play growing up, martial arts are a great way to recapture that essential time of emotional growth.
To perform at a high level in martial arts you have to embrace, accept, and ride the wave of anger. In so doing, you become intimately acquainted with fear, frustration, anxiety, and loss of focus. Unlike in life, in martial arts you have a way to learn from those experiences and you have the opportunity to accept them as a natural part of discovery and learning.
While most of us in the Western world no longer traverse the plains of Africa, the primitive responses of our hunter-gatherer counterparts have not left us. The problem today is that most people have lost the ability to express their fight-or-flight response in appropriate ways. Martial arts are an excellent conduit for the positive expression of the warrior archetype. Martial arts are an opportunity to create a tribe of warriors who are once again able to be reunited, metaphorically expressing "the hunt" through public displays of courage, tenacity, and grit. Through the symbolic enactment of the martial process, people are able to sublimate their destructive energies and impulses, allowing them to work through conflict creatively as well as changing their perceptions of the issue itself.
Martial arts training with an emphasis on playfulness, challenge, connection, and brotherhood are not too dissimilar to the rough and tumble play most kids experienced with their friends and siblings growing up. The National Institute of Play, for example, points to scientific research showing that rough and tumble play in animals and humans “has been shown to be necessary for the development and maintenance of social awareness, cooperation, fairness, and altruism.” As further outlined by the National Institute of Play, kids with “a lack of experience with this pattern of play hampers the normal give and take necessary for social mastery, and has been linked to poor control of violent impulses in later life.” So if you missed out on rough and tumble play growing up, martial arts are a great way to recapture that essential time of emotional growth.
To perform at a high level in martial arts you have to embrace, accept, and ride the wave of anger. In so doing, you become intimately acquainted with fear, frustration, anxiety, and loss of focus. Unlike in life, in martial arts you have a way to learn from those experiences and you have the opportunity to accept them as a natural part of discovery and learning.
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