It’s just done that way

By Wayne Hanley

The famous “3 wise monkeys” of Nikko, Japan.
What they represent is not “hear no truth, speak no question, see no alternative”.

Apparently some time ago a group of Scientists decided to carry out an experiment in behavioral modification using a group of monkeys. As we know there is nothing new about that, but the result is what we are interested in here.

The experiment went something like this:

A large enclosure was built with a central climbing pole, then ten monkeys were placed in this enclosure with appropriate bedding, food and water; they had a good life and freely played on the pole. After they had settled in the researchers began the study. Firstly they placed fresh bunches of bananas at the top of the pole on a regular basis. Once the monkeys had became aware of the bananas they would climb the pole after them. Then began the second phase of the experiment.

Every time a monkey climbed the pole, all the others were sprayed with ice cold water, but not the one on the pole. This was repeated for quite some time, it didn’t matter which one climbed the pole the rest were always sprayed. This brought about a change in the monkeys behavior: they started by realising the connection and then they began doing something about it - they would mob any monkey that went near the pole.

Once this became the behavioral norm the scientists stopped spraying them with the water, letting them basically self police the situation: they would still attack any individual that went for the pole. At this point the final phase of the experiment commenced. It began by removing one of the monkeys and replacing it with a new one, the new one not being familiar with the off limit pole would of course make a try for the bananas only to be swamped by the original monkeys as they still feared the repercussions. Once the new monkey worked out that the pole was taboo and was not in it’s best interest to go anywhere near it, the scientist would repeat the whole process; remove an original monkey, replace it with a new one and wait for the new behavior patterns to be installed by the monkeys themselves. In turn the new monkeys would become a part of the pole watch, enforcing the no go zone.

This process was continued until finally all of the original monkeys had been replaced with new ones. The enclosure was still the same, the bedding, food and water was the same, the pole was still the same and the bananas were still the same, yet no monkeys went anywhere near the pole. None of the monkeys that inhabited the enclosure now had ever been sprayed by the water, none of them knew the reason why they shouldn’t go near the pole, they just knew you didn’t!

How many of us in our working careers have gone to do something at a new job only to be told that “we don’t do it like that here” or conversely “we do it this way” and most people just blindly accept this. More intriguing is that generally when I’ve asked why, I’ve been told “I don’t know, we just don’t” or the other side “that’s the way it’s always been done”.
How does this relate to martial arts training? In many arts the “Bunkai” or the level of “deeper understanding”, the principles behind the actions in the Kata, the forms or the techniques has been lost: students and Instructors alike just “practice” their art the way they were taught because that’s the way it’s always been done.

As Instructors we should not blindly accept what we have been taught, but look beyond our own knowledge and train to a level of true understanding: we should have climbed the pole for ourselves. As for our students, we should encourage them to ask questions of us, to seek their own knowledge and encourage their mental and spiritual growth as well as their physical development, we should not be the one to spray water on them.

As a student we should not just accept that which is taught to us, we should strive for the deeper meaning of what we have learnt, ask questions of our Instructors. After all, if they are true teachers they should have the answers, or at least be able to guide us to where we can discover them.

I am by no means advocating taking short cuts, we must first have a full grasp of the “Kihon” or the basics of any art, style, kata, form or technique if we expect to fully understand it’s true value, but we must climb our own pole, struggling against the obstacles that hold us back, we must seek our own understanding and not just “do it” because “it’s just done that way”.