We're all guilty of this to varying degrees. We have a story about ourselves that we tell to ourselves and we are always the hero. We are always victorious. We suffer no consequences, and any wrong doing is justified through our own internal logic. This is a fantasy, obviously, but people try to protect this fantasy by insulating themselves from anything that can challenge it.
Dojo culture helps to protect people's fantasies. It's an insular self-fulfilling environment that can usually be more church than school. Even those that do question certain teachings or training practices still willingly go along with those unrealistic practices because it's part of the system, tradition or more importantly they want that next belt or grade. I've done this in the past myself.
I think the internal fantasy is what keeps people from progressing. They don't want to think that they will get hurt or beat up if the time came. They also don't really want to know if they've been wasting their time and money. They want to believe all the fairy tales they've been told and turn a blind eye to any opposing evidence or logic. They want their fantasy.
Dojo culture helps to protect people's fantasies. It's an insular self-fulfilling environment that can usually be more church than school. Even those that do question certain teachings or training practices still willingly go along with those unrealistic practices because it's part of the system, tradition or more importantly they want that next belt or grade. I've done this in the past myself.
I think the internal fantasy is what keeps people from progressing. They don't want to think that they will get hurt or beat up if the time came. They also don't really want to know if they've been wasting their time and money. They want to believe all the fairy tales they've been told and turn a blind eye to any opposing evidence or logic. They want their fantasy.
