Human beings have within themselves an animalistic nature, as well as a higher nature. They have within themselves a shadow and a true image of the same reality. The animalistic, lower nature, refers to mans instinctive energies and drives in their raw form. These are powerful and necessary for survival, and can be used in a variety of ways, such as to fend off enemies for instance. However, these instinctive energies can also be transformed into something greater. Every form of energy comes from a universal source, which can be referred to as the masculine principle.
In the case of Martial arts, any energy can be utilised to achieve a high ideal. This is energy harnessed in the best possible way. To the Master of Martial arts, energies represent a rich source of power, which can be forged into creations. The forge itself can be seen as the body, which gives expression to energy. Depending on the expression of these inner energies, the form they take, the body can be used to produce powerful or even sub optimal creations. If left merely to the lower nature, such energies end up being wasted in the end or used to meet purely superficial bodily desires almost exclusively. In this way, if an individual relates merely to his lower nature, he becomes a shadow of what they could be in their fully realised form.
The psychologist Carl Jung referred to the shadow as “the dark part of the psyche”. This refers to the instinctive tendencies and personality that lies deep within, at the subconscious level. Here lie powerful forces which can be exploited. The urge to act aggressively towards someone who has wronged you is a characteristic of the lower nature. However, the scriptures say that out of darkness came light. This simply implies that when the dense and inert matter has been heated by fire It ignites a reaction. Fire is the invisible energy which brings life to form. The higher nature, which is rather silent, urges you to freeze, to stop and think a bit. This stillness and silence causes an individual to internalise energy in an invisible way. As a result, both aspects of man, his higher and lower nature, are called to action by the same process. This process is an expression of fire. The true master must learn to become both visible and invisible.
Many business leaders have managed to harness powerful energy to outfox and crush their rivals. Instead of striking competitors to the floor, they work on the hearts and minds of the consumers to win their favour, or simply produce better products than their rivals. This is done with the same relentless advancement as when a predator hunts its prey. Therefore, aggression and power have taken on a new dimension in the modern world. It is no longer necessary to swell the ranks of training centres to practice martial arts. The modern warrior can chose to fight in everyday situations. Like the business leader, the martial artist can crush his rivals, or he can silently develop and idea which will one day bring harmony to others, even to his or her rival, forcing them to capitulate.
When trained to support purposeful action, the same energy which can undermine an individual can instead be weaponised. This demonstrates how instinctive drives and energies from our ancestral past can be used to fuel powerful behaviour of one kind or another, according to what needs to be done. However, In its untrained form, the aggressive drive can be counterproductive, and can even turn on its user. The energy an individual transmits can be like a stern father who scolds his child if they behave badly. This may sound like an odd way of putting it, but the non visible energy represents the masculine principle, the father figure, whilst the form of expression represents this energy takes represents the feminine principle, which is to say the visible form. An individual follows both a visible and non visible form. Together they form a unified whole, the offspring of which are represented by our thoughts, deeds, and other creations.
Just as many species intuitively recognise the mother figure when born, we have in us a psychological imprint of the archetypal man. Just picture the ducklings who recognise that it is their mother who they must follow around. They recognise the care giver form, whether it is their biological mother or not. The mother can take many forms, not necessarily restricted to the female biology.
Rooted in the human psyche is also the capacity to recognise the father figure. Unlike the Mother figure, the father figure is can be seen as an inner reality, or an ideal inner being which we seek to become. Symbolically this may take the form of gods, statues, or whatever else. However, the energy which this form represents is not yet a visible reality within. It is said that the voice of God is silent, and that silence is the highest expression of the divine. Therefore, it is possible to internalise this quality. Obviously there is also a physical father figure too, but what I am talking about here is the masculine energy, the inner fire of life energy, which is a felt intensity and perceived with the inner senses.
The inner experience of energy is thought to underlie the basis of the father figure, which has also been called the God image. The true image of the father is therefore not an expression or form of energy, because the form it takes is considered to be an aspect of the feminine principle. The father figure then is the full experience of life energy itself. Therefore it is a perception, it is not a creation. However, together, the father and mother create the child, which can also take form an inner reality as well as an outer one. The Martial Artist who works relentlessly at the inner level takes responsibility for their own own creation, for their very birth.
Like the duckling which ends up following the wrong species around from time to time, humans can end up serving a father which isn’t actually of the same nature as they really are. Or, they end up becoming what they relate to, which becomes their reality. This reality may be monstrous, or good. However, energy when perceived as it truly is in its full blown potential, and harnessed towards a high ideal, has been called the path of the inner master or guru. This inner guru can be expressed in many forms, but its true nature is a formless pure energy. Of course, energy must take a form of expression to be perceived, and this is known as unification of the masculine and feminine principles through the senses. Emptiness is needed before a form can be filled by energy. This is a true reflection of the human being, who must achieve emptiness before being filled.The shadow is simply a darkness waiting to be lit up, or an accumulation of energy which has condensed and solidified. It is related to the physical body. The task of the disciple is to vaporise this matter, by becoming like air. The defining quality of air is that it doesn’t stop moving imperceptibly.
The shadow form of the inner fire are the instincts, which are a form of energy. In this way, they are not the fully realised form of fire, but operate according to the same principles. The intervening link is intelligence, feeling, and will power according to a high ideal to be realised. This high ideal stops an individual acting purely selfishly, which would isolate him from others. Therefore, the instincts have a subjective expression which is higher than the base form. This requires work. This higher expression has to be created. The task of the disciple is to identify with this work, the masculine principle, to become like the Father.
According to the spiritual teachings, the higher subjective expression of energy is achieved by meditation as a method. Meditation involves becoming receptive to certain energies which guide and revitalise an individual so that these forces flow through him like water. In other words, the energy of the masculine principle is expressed by the feminine principle of an individual becoming receptive. Such an individual is then able to receive new knowledge and life by containing the two principles within.
So, we have within us instinctive tendencies which if left to their own devices can lead to negative consequences. Everybody finds this out the hard way. Therefore, to bring energy to its fullest expression, an individual must act with their mind, their heart, and their will. In other words, thoughts, feelings, and behaviour must be harnessed consciously and intelligently if they are express life in its fullest form. These three aspects must be unified, rather than acting in opposition. If the senses act in opposition, then there can be no wholeness. If there is no wholeness, then that means there is no total absorbtion and commitment to the task.
The serpent or snake has been repeatedly used to symbolise evil throughout history, and recent evidence suggests that the brain instinctively knows to avoid snakes. More accurately, it knows to react to snakes, to switch on fully. Once again this is thought to be a heritage left from our ancestral past, an ancient wisdom of the body. This heritage is by no means primitive, or even obsolete. The immediate expression of an instinctive response can be adapted to suit various needs. The immediate reaction to a stimulus does not define the true expression of behaviour.
Masters of the past have contemplated the snake to take on its energy and express this through their own form of martial arts. They did not see this as an inconvenience. The snake was seen as a total active being, which was able neutralise the neutralise the poison within. They took on the snakes influence, so that the energy it possessed moulded and impregnated their being. The same force is said to reside in the human being. In this way, the masculine energy fused with certain forms created by the user. These forms represented the feminine aspect of energy expression, which is always a duality of polar opposites. Form and formlessness therefore make up a whole being.
Although fixed, there is a certain flexability about instinctive responses to various stimuli. Once again, we see the masculine and feminine principles at work, a fixed supply of energy, and a flexible form of activity which can take place. This leaves room for evolution. Our innate instincts are a starting point, not an end in themselves. Or at least they can be. At the same time, the instincts represent deep seeded mental phenomenon that work to move dense physical matter. This is why the instincts are so important, they work with tenacity to move the body, which may otherwise buckle or crumble under its own weight. This provides power behind movement, and allows an anti gravity to take place against gravity, which pulls and condenses matter. This is the work of the psychic entity known as the shadow, which is not yet a fully fledged life and is just content to move around mindlessly. But at least its moving, so its good.
The snake, says Jung, “symbolises the instinctual side of the unconscious”. The unconscious energies can be used as raw material to serve the higher principle in man, his higher nature, which resembles the masculine. In fact, the higher nature feeds off of the lower nature. At the same time, it provides increased impetus. As such, the intelligence and the instinctive energies work as one to fulfil the mission of the high ideal. Importantly, the two polarities, the higher and lower aspects of the individual, make up a unified whole, each pulling in opposite directions to cause the other to respond. This movement creates fire, which the Hindu systems refer to as Agni. If the exchange of energy between the two polar aspects of man were to stop, there would be inertia and no movement would be possible. This arrangement is therefore like a battery. Importantly, inertia is often mistaken for peace, but peace is an intense form of dynamic energy powered by a battery.
Conrad Lorenz, the famous behavioural scientist, said that aggression is synonymous with motivation. This demonstrates the unity between the Archetypal man and the Shadow, the higher nature and the lower nature. Once again, aggression if unwisely directed can lead to problems, such as pointless disputes and unnecessary stress. This is a waste of energy unless there is nothing better to do. This shows that an intense attention towards a high ideal is needed to channel the forces which the shadow represents, if such energy is to be used productively and wisely. Importantly, the high ideal is never truly realised, it is in a process of being realised, which is why it becomes the life’s work for some who dare to reach for this summit.
Some have suggested that the ideal of the higher and lower nature working together symbolises Heaven and Earth, with the Angels and Satan working together to bring Heaven to earth. For example, the Bible states that God called his servants before him, and Satan was among them. Symbolically, this represents how the archetypal man, the expression of energy, uses the materials represented by the shadow, the lower self. In other words, the raw material instinctive energies can feed the higher faculties and expressions which man creates from this fuel. This fuel is necessarily pungent and unpleasant, like the devil, because it acts as manure on the field, which some dimensions of life and energy can make use of.
In Martial arts, this process of unification of the higher and lower nature represents an eternal battle between two opposing forces on the battlefield. It symbolises an infinate interaction which is beyond good and evil. In other words, if an individual engages in the process of working ceaselessly at fully harnessing life energy, he need not worry about the outcome or goal. Nor do they need to be ashamed of so called lower states of being. This is because when one works authentically on the process of their own evolution, this requires maximum involvement and and intensity of effort. All aspects of life are present here, from high to low there is a collective effort. This is known as working at the deep causative level, rather than the superficial level of effects. When one works to become the very cause of his own evolution, the effects are taken care of automatically.
