Teaching Thread

[Tai Chi Fighter]

Eugue Ryu Karate

Eugue Ryu Karate is a little known style of Karate with only three schools that I know of in the United States, and one in England. The founder of the style was O Sensei Kensenzu Yamaegue, a japanese jujutsu man who eventually traveled to, and made his home in Korea. The system was brought back to the United States following the Korean War by a man named Ray Flowers. Today, Eugue Ryu is an eclectic (everchanging) martial art. While our main systems are karate and jujutsu, we incorporate techniques from a wide variety of martial arts including aikido, judo, hapkido, kobudo, kyushojutsu, tuitejutsu, jeet kune do, wing chun, and of course all styles of karate and jujutsu. In short, if a technique is effective it is worth learning, regardless of its origins. Eugue Ryu has characteristics of both jutsu and do arts. We approach training with a warriors mindset, meaning that we focus on the practical aspects of our art and self defense (jutsu), and yet at the higher levels the ultimate goal is still refinement of character and spirit (do). Karate and Jujutsu are taught together as one art. Progress and ranking are made in both karate and jujutsu at the same time. This creates a very well rounded martial artist, able to handle situations regardless of the range. Our Kata from beginner through advanced go as follows: for the beginner we use Ichi-kyu, Ni-kyu, and Pinan Shodan, for the intermediates we use San-kyu, Naihanchi Shodan, Pinan Nidan, Naihanchi Nidan, Pinan Sandan, and Sanchin, and for the advanced we use Pinan Yondan, Naihanchi Sandan, Pinan Godan, Seiunchin, and Kusanku.

[Garland]

Karl Jung

Karl Jung, although a contemporary and one-time friend of Sigmund Freud, had a very different theory about the workings of a person’s unconscious mind. Jung’s theory was based primarily on the innate growth and development of a personal unconscious coupled with an a priori and universal collective unconsciousness. This varies greatly from Freud’s more simplistic notion of the id floating in the void of the unconsciousness with forgotten data and repressed memories, the id comprised of instinctual desires and the rest of the constellation, by things taken from experiences and relationships with others.
Jung agreed with Freud on a few points, namely that all humans are driven in their actions by innate urges which are “inborn and uniform mental activities caused by psychic energy. (i.e. the libido)”. Along with the notion of libido, Jung adopted the idea of the ego, but altered both concepts significantly to fit his own theories about the topography and inner workings of the mind. Instead of regarding sex or pleasure, Jung’s concept of libido relates to undifferentiated and internal life energy which is the fuel source for the psyche. The devotion of this libidinal energy to particular ideas or themes formulated inside of the mind he dubbed a complex or rather “splinter psyches”, which can exist either entirely or partially in the conscious or unconscious. Jung’s ego, instead residing in the conscious and preconscious and being in charge of perception and cognitive skills like Freud’s, is the point of reference for the total field of consciousness, and hence is the manifestation of the conscious personality, and the only part of us that is consciously aware.
According to Jung, everything that cannot creep into the consciousness, at least in an explicit manifestation, resides within the personal unconscious. This includes repressions, everything that has been forgotten by an individual. Even things experienced subliminally, such as things caught out of the corner of our eyes, or heard but not consciously recognized, reside within the personal unconscious. This is essentially the same design as Sigmund Freud’s concept of the preconscious.
Perhaps the most obscure theoretical contribution of Jung to psychology is the idea of a collective unconscious. The collective unconsciousness is the deepest and least accessible recess of the mind, which gives birth to a vast array of universal and generational our archetypes, the unlearned tendencies we have to interpret and apprehend things the way we do. These could be explained, according to Jung, by the inherited structure of the brain itself, which creates the innate possibility of particular ideas and fantasies, i.e. the archetypes. These distinct but shapeless constructs are later given form through our experiences with the external corporeal world, which can be likened to breathing life into a golem. The existence of this suprapersonal unconsciousness which extends far beyond the personal unconsciousness is defended by Jung through the common motifs and themes catholically evidenced throughout mythology and fiction. I think the analogy from class best describes the suprapersonal nature of the collective unconsciousness; “our egos are like islands in the sea, we look out to see each other and think we are separate, but we are connected under the water (oddly enough, Jung likened the unconscious to water) by the ocean floor.”
The main archetypes that dwell within the collective unconscious are the persona, the shadow, the anima/animus, and the hero. The persona is the masque exhibited by one’s personality, the way we present ourselves to others differently from whom we actually are. Often times, if not all of the time, this is the facade created within the unconscious that is falsely interpreted as the self. The shadow is comprised of the parts of ourselves we would rather deny existed. Although the shadow is devoid of morality, an amoral entity without the ability to ascribe the distinction of “good” or “bad” to an action, it is often described as our capacity to commit evil. If one were to make the comparison between Freud’s id and the shadow archetype, I believe they would share many similarities, namely the hidden and perhaps animalistic drives that are associated, to some degree, with survival. The anima is the archetype within a male that gives him his psychic feminine qualities, which Jung describes as being linked to a deep emotionality, whereas he said the animus is the archetype within a female that gives her male psychic qualities such as cold and concrete rationality. Perhaps the hero archetype may be a bit similar to Freud’s concept of the ego and super ego in the roles they play in intrapsychic conflict. Jung’s hero archetype is the representation of the ego, which is constantly at odds with the shadow archetype in a battle of intrapsychic supremacy, sort of like the intrapsychic conflicts that pit the ego and superego against the id.

[Little Apple]

How are you?

I am well, how are you?

[Little Apple]

Do you like Tim Mousel?

Yes I do. I also like kittens.