Open Mind (versus Empty Head)

According to Winston Churchill, “A fanatic is a person who cannot change his mind and won’t change the subject”. They are words worth taking on board when we explore the Clubb Chimera Martial Arts tenet of “Open Mind”. Having an open mind is vital for anyone who truly wishes to be progressive in their learning and with their teaching. It’s an essential ingredient if you are to be aware of new data, information and changing times. From a self defence/self protection perspective I use the term “Open Mind” to describe the attitude of adaptability and flexibility. Times don’t just change, situations change and environments change.

However, while this article serves as a means to discuss the importance of being flexible and to have a broad view of everything, it will also put across the importance of having a solid critical view shaped by rationality. It is a common logical fallacy to give a concept support just because it is brand new, very old or made by someone who holds a lot of respect. The true open mind is backed up by the four previous tenets of respect, awareness, courage and discipline. By having these in place we can accept change and a need to adapt or even shift our way of thinking, but not without a strong enough justification supported by a stronger body of facts and evidence.

Intuition is a fascinating subject and a good example of the whole “Open Mind” subject in relation to self protection.  There is no solid scientific evidence to support the concept of “gut instinct” or the “inner tutor” and yet we know that animals rely on instinct for their very survival. Anyone who lives their life close to the edge of survival will tell you that often they don’t have time to think or rationalize, they just respond and react. However, it is also worth bearing in mind that communities that live in more dangerous conditions - such as volatile climates and hostile environments – are also more superstitious. This is something I can vouch for from experience. I come from a strong family background of wild animal trainers and performers who put their lives at risk nearly every day, and they often travelled around places that put them and their community at risk – in short, I grew up in a travelling circus family! And I can tell you that you would be hard pressed to find a community that wasn’t more in tune with their primal instincts or one that was more superstitious!

There is an idea that particularly appeals to me regarding intuition. It is one propounded by the threat assessment expert and highly regarded self defence “soft skills” author Gavin De Becker in his most famous book “The Gift of Fear”. De Becker argues that intuition is when the brain quickly assesses a threat based on past experience and knowledge and then signals the rest of the body to act, bypassing the thinking process. This is why there is often a conflict and why we describe “supernatural” feelings. Having an open mind allows us to be more in tune with these instinctive feelings.

This is De Becker's concept and one that divides the more academic end of science with “hands on” work. There seems little doubt that being overly thoughtful can often endanger man when he is faced with a dangerous situation, particularly one where he has no experience. In self defence terms, you rarely have time to make decisions. It is a time for action, where time is of the essence and decisions often equal wasted time equals hesitation equals more danger and possibly death. The old expression “Don’t think, feel!” Is never more appropriate when the brown smelly stuff hits the big mechanical whirly thing and you are reliant on your trained behaviours to get you out of trouble rather than your ability to debate and rationalize. So self defence training needs to have some appreciation for understanding instinct as well as training instinctive behaviours.

However, there is a danger when we try too hard to make sense of chaotic situations that our instincts have got us through. We naturally seek patterns in order to take advantage of situations. This has helped us throughout history from hunting animals to harvesting crops. Fighters do this too in order to predict another fighter’s strategy and, in self defence, we are aware that human predators do this as well in order to take advantage of their human prey. Unfortunately we sometimes find the wrong pattern or find patterns where none exist. This can give birth to superstition and a whole range of irrational beliefs and ideas. Once the pattern has been decided it becomes very difficult to shift. This is where thinking can really go wrong and the trouble is evidence suggests that it is a flaw deeply imbedded in us. In 1948 a scientific paper was produced by B.F. Skinner entitled “Superstition in the Pigeon”. The experiment described an experiment where pigeons changed their behaviour when faced with an unpredictable situation.

These pigeons figured out how to obtain food from a food hopper when timed regular feeding was in place. However, when timing was changed to random intervals six out of eight pigeons adopted illogical but regular actions between feeds. One pigeon kept turning counter-clockwise several times between feeds. Another kept thrusting its head into one of the upper corners of the cage. Neither of these responses aided them in acquiring the food, but it became a “superstitious” response.

When someone is critical of an unusual idea they are often accused of not having an open mind by the believer. Having an open mind does not mean that you just jump on whatever idea comes your way. Often it is the believer who actually doesn’t possess a very open mind. They have disregarded all the data and evidence in the face of something they want to believe in or scared not to believe in. It was an open mind that drove all the great figures in history to challenge the ideas of their day, but those who really made a difference and showed that they were right were those who could convince the majority through hard factual evidence. Drawing apparent coincidences into a supposed conspiracy theory does not prove an historical fact and providing anecdotal evidence that a certain practice works does not prove a scientific fact. The same goes with self defence and the martial arts. Our training methods need to be guided by evidence taken from experience and hard facts.

At Clubb Chimera Martial Arts we regularly set up tests to disprove concepts, old and new. Disproving is a method taken by all those interested in verifying facts. If something is valid it will stand up to pressure. Our open mind tenet means that virtually anything is allowed into the training hall, although I admit it is usually the stuff that seems to be gathering the largest weight of evidence and has a logical principle behind it that gets the most time. You have to be sensible about what you bring in as there is some seriously odd stuff in the world of martial arts. We do our best not to be prejudiced, but I cannot imagine an astronomer spending much time with someone who believes that the earth is flat or the moon is made out of cheese! Likewise you are always more than welcome to demonstrate in clinical conditions how your invisible chi blast works, but you have to appreciate you are taking on a massive burden of proof and arguing against hard physics.

We also have little time for arguments like “In real life I would do this”. Of course, you can never replicate exactly what will happen in a real life situation, but if you cannot get close in your training then how can you truly prepare? Surely the methods that you can practice the most under pressure will be the most likely to use as opposed to methods you can only apply hypothetically.

My training changes constantly in marital arts and self defence training, although I am quite secure in my core principles. It is these core principles that help me see a convergence of good ideas and practices. However, I never accept absolutes. Absolutes replace investigation and freethinking with dogma. I feel that the world of martial arts, including a lot of what passes as “realistic self defence”, is stuck in dogma. This needs to change. If there ever was a piece of sage advice that should be in the mind of every progressive martial artist it is the words of the great Japanese poet, Basho, “Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought”.

To give you an idea of how a sceptical mind can also be an open mind please see the following quote from the great scientific sceptic, Michael Shermer. It is my view that the word “science” can easily be replaced with “martial arts”:

“What separates science from all other human activities (and morality has never been successfully placed on a scientific basis) is its commitment to the tentative nature of all its conclusions. There are no final answers in science, only varying degrees of probability. Even scientific ‘facts’ are just conclusions confirmed to such an extent that it would be reasonable to offer temporary agreement, but that assent is never final. Science is not the affirmation of a set of beliefs but a process of inquiry aimed at building a testable body of knowledge constantly open to rejection or confirmation. In science, knowledge is fluid and certainly fleeting. That is at the heart of its limitations. It is also its greatest strength”

With an open mind the martial arts student will never stagnate and yet will be able to choose wisely what he allows to change him.

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