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In 1982 Kris Poole and I attended the 3rd International Championships held in Atlantic City, New Jersey as visitors. Our personal instructor had passed away several years earlier and we had been searching for a "Moo Duk Kwan" instructor to continue our training. We had met many claiming to be "Moo Duk Kwan," but their forms and techniques were always different and their energy never felt quite authentic to us. Our repeated disappointments had made us wonder if we were the only "Moo Duk Kwan" practitioners in the U.S. It was a lonely feeling.
In the past when we had queried our instructor about why our sparring style and forms were always different than those of the other students at tournaments, he would only reply, "Just remember that the Moo Duk Kwan is special."
So on this fall day in New Jersey we had come to "check out" the U.S. Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation and this person called "Grandmaster Hwang Kee" whom we had discovered. We were skeptical and anticipated another disappointment because we had never learned of the Kwan Jang Nim or the history of the Moo Duk Kwan. When we entered the Grand Ballroom of the International Resorts Hotel and witnessed hundreds of students demonstrating techniques as we had learned them, there was only one description for the feeling that washed over us... finally, we were home.
For most of us, thoughts of "Home" evoke fond memories of safety, security, order, stability, warmth, affection, acceptance and belonging. The fortunate among us experienced these feelings in a place provided by our parents where we were nurtured and protected as we grew from dependent children into independent adults. From this early nurturing, environment we formed indelible memories about "home" which we carry with us throughout our life. Even children who lacked such an environment most likely spent their childhood longing for the comfortable feelings of "home" because those feelings are an intrinsic part of our human nature and indicate our most basic human needs.
The concept of Um Yang is scientifically confirmed by the fact that every system naturally seeks a state of balance, harmony, stability, homeostasis. As surely as being deprived of water and food creates thirst and hunger, so does being deprived of the feelings of "home" create a void in our life that will long to be filled. Evidence of this "longing" can be seen in the great number of children seeking martial arts training today. Many are experiencing instability in their lives and their expressed desire to train is merly an instinctive attempt to create the stable, orderly, feelings of "Home."
In the Manual for Gups on page seven is the statement. "Action and thought are inseparable" and we can see its truth in how our thoughts about "home" compel us as adults to recreate--or create for the first time-an environment conducive to the feelings we associate with our concept of "home." When we leave the home provided by our parents, some of us choose a favorable geographical location and climate to settle in and call it "home." Others add detail to our vision of "home" by constructing a house to decorate and furnish in a manner that evokes feelings of "home." Most of us seek out a partner and have children in the "home" which we construct. Fortunate children are provided with stability, security, warmth, acceptance and belonging in an environment that encourages them to grow into healthy, self sufficient adults who can later contribute a positive energy to our society. These grown children can then recreate this model of "home" in their lives and their children's lives.
When a group of people create homes together, a community is born. When a group of communities are constructed, a state or a country is formed and a group of countries comprises the global community we call the world. The desire for "home" is universal and supersedes all geographical and cultural boundaries. People seeking to claim property or land as their "home" will fight and die for their vision of "home." Sports teams perform at their best when on their "home" territory. We will all defend our "home" more vigorously than anything else. Human nature compels us to maintain and protect that which we call "home." Yes, "home" is a powerful concept that is essential to our survival from one generation to the next and constructing a home for our next generation gives meaning and purpose to our actions.
The Federation's Concept of Unity
"The Federation's purpose is to prepare a home in the United States for a unified Moo Duk KwanTM assembly. It must earn the right and the privilege of having many Master's Dans and Gups, who study Tang Soo Do (Soo Bahk DoTM), as it's membership. As a vehicle that promulgates the Korean Martial Art of Tang Soo Do (Soo Bahk DoTM), it must keep developing the environment, atmosphere and respectability that will encourage many individuals to join in this unification effort and process. The home that is being built must be a warm, comfortable and peaceful place that can be respected by all the Moo Duk KwanTM stylists. It should have the ability to understand and serve each member's needs. The present Federation members are the carpenters of this home. If the job is well done, tenants will surely move in and the Moo Duk KwanTM assembly will finally have a home in the United States other than in their minds and hearts."
In 1982 Kris Poole and I had the opportunity to chose the U.S. Federation as our home because the founders had built it on this universal concept so that it would exist when those who need it happen by.
Interestingly, when we are taught the Pyong Ahn Hyungs as instructed by Kwan Jang Nim Hwang Kee, we learn that "home" really only exists within each of us. The very concept of "Pyong Ahn" (peaceful confidence) exemplifies the feeling of "home." Even the Chinese pictographs for "Pyong Ahn contain the symbol of a home and the turtle, which represents the character of the hyungs offers us an insightful lesson about "home." Think of how safe and secure a turtle must feel inside its shell. How could a turtle possibly "belong" anywhere else than in its shell --its home? If we try to imagine a turtle without a shell, or leaving its home, we realize that it is impossible because a turtle's "home "is an inseparable part of the turtle. Without its home it would not be a turtle. In humans our "need" for peaceful confidence, to feel "at home," is as much a part of our nature as the shell is a part of the turtle. However, until we understand the turtle's lesson, we may attribute the feelings of home to an external construct rather than seeking to create them within ourselves.
Our personal representation of "home" can take on any form we chose --even that of another person-- and the feelings evoked in us will be warmth, safety, security, acceptance, affection and a sense of belonging. "Home" is more than just a physical "place" or a "house." It is a set of inner feelings that signify "home" to each of us. At any given moment in our life, our feelings are influenced by our own personal needs, the people in our environment, how we interact with them, the specific circumstances we are exposed to and many other factors. All these ingredients can contribute toward --or detract from-- our feelings of Pyong Ahn, of being "at home," of being safe, secure, accepted... of belonging.
As members of the U.S. Federation each of us has chosen an environment which encourages our feelings of "home"; feelings of peaceful confidence, feelings of belonging. Today, just as the Federation has come to represent "Home" to thousands of Moo Duk Kwan practitioners, likewise have we collectively given Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan a "Home" in the U.S. within our minds and hearts. Kwan Jang Nim Hwang Kee's Mission 2000 statements clearly indicate that we are the carpenters of this home and should continue building harmony within ourselves, among all U.S. practitioners and throughout the World.
So today in 1998, sixteen years after first coming to New Jersey in the fall, I once again find myself thousands of miles from family and childhood friends working on a construction project within myself called "Home."
Phil Duncan
1998
