Many people, including many who practise a martial art, seem to hold the view that martial arts are exclusively about physical fighting skills. There may be some acknowledgement that there are non-physical aspects (such as tactics or determination), but for them, martial arts are ultimately about fighting, about winning the fight, about being the last one standing, and other similar views of success. If there are non-physical aspects, then they serve merely to enhance the physical aspect.
On one hand, it is difficult to argue against such a viewpoint. We live in a physical world, with very real physical consequences for our decisions and actions. At any given point in time, it is possible to pit one person against another in physical combat, and it is almost certain that one is going to prevail over the other. In my experience, this tends to lead to the belief that ‘might makes right.’ If I have the power to do something, and no one can resist, then my word reigns over that of others, and my judgement overrules that of others. As one maxim goes, ‘history is written by the victors.’ If a nation or an individual has defeated another in war (at whatever scale), there is no one left who is able to contradict the victor’s proclaimed account of what happened; of who had just cause, and who did not.
This does not mean, of course, that every victorious party necessarily has a malevolent motive or that its actions are unjust … but as human beings, we all have an inherent desire to want to justify our own actions. There is conscience, but conscience can be swayed or silenced. That is why a key principle of any credible human justice system has impartiality, rigour, and consistency built into it.
When we think about martial arts, it is all too easy for some practitioners to start thinking that because they have physical prowess and can physically defeat everyone else, they are in the moral right. In science, it is well known that it is far easier to disprove something than it is to prove something—all we need is a single valid counter-example. If we need a counter-example to the belief that ‘might makes right,’ all we need to do is look into the history of human conflict, and we do not need to look long before we find examples of those with military superiority inflicting injustice on others.
Historically, in many martial arts traditions, there was great emphasis on practitioners conducting themselves honourably; on being people of integrity and people who fought on the side of justice. That was the ideal, and of course, many did not follow those ideals and misused the skills they learned and the military strength they had to serve their own interests. It underlines, to me, the importance of teaching sound moral principles and insisting on a high standard of conduct as part of teaching a martial art.
Might does not make right. We must not practise martial arts without morality.