Quatre questions par Stefan Marcec I/ D`où parles

Quatre questions par Stefan Marcec
I/ D'où parles-tu? Where do you speak from ?
As I see myself as „Constructivist“ – following the idea that each one of us creates his own version
of reality based on lifes experiences - I would say that I speak from the only position imaginable for
me: from the NOW and HERE created though my lifes experiences...
The old Naturlists at the end of the 19th century in France, like philosopher Hippolyte Taine saw
man determined by what they called „race, millieu and moment“ and today one of the popular
views is that instead of „race“ we use „social enviroment“ and we add another aspect called „DNA“
– et violà we have what we are. Even I agree that those factors play a role in forging our viewpoint
there is still one more in the equation what I would call „the personal choice“.
Ce choix personnel semble être le pivot, le « eureka », comme dirait Archimède, d'où découle toutes
nos actions. ..
Avoir passé les 35 dernières années à m’entraîner, à étudier, puis à enseigner diverses formes d'arts
martiaux japonais, chinois ou européens, est assurément un choix important que j'ai fait dans ma
vie.
This personal choice seems to bet the pivot point, the – talking with Archimedes – „heureka“ point
from which all our actions evolve...
Spending the last 35 years training, studying and later teaching various forms of japanese,
european and chinese martial arts for sure is a very important choice I made in my life.
Lorque j'étais enfant, jeune judoka et karateka, j'étais tombé sur un petit livre intitulé Ninja, le
guerrier de l'ombre. C'était en 182 ou 83, et j'ai été immédiatement accroc. Puis le boom des films
de ninja est arrivé et n'a fait que renforcer mon désir de devenir un ninja.
When I was a kid and a young Judoka and Karateka I found a little booklet with the title „Ninja –
the shadow warrior“. That was `82 or `83 and I was immediately hooked up. Later the Ninja movie
boom flourished and imprinted my desire to become a Ninja even more.
Quelques années plus tard, je me suis retrouvé au Japon, m’entraînant sous la direction du soitdisant « dernier ninja » et ses élèves. Aujourd'hui, j'ai arrêté la pratique de cet art et quitté cette
organisation pour des raisons personnelles il y a une dizaine d'années, mais j'aime repenser à ces
belles années et à l'impact qu'elles ont eues sur ma vie actuelle.
Few years later I found myself in Japan training with the allegedly „last Ninja grandmaster“ and
his students. Even I left the art and the organisation due personal reasons some ten years ago I still
like to think about those „old days“ and the impact they had on my life as such.
Ce que j'ai trouvé au Japon, en plus d'excellents enseignements en arts martiaux, c'est la conviction
que les arts martiaux et les arts de soin vont main dans la main...
Après avoir étudié différents modes de soin, un peu d'acupuncture, de thérapie cranio-sacrale, etc, je
me suis rendu compte que le champ de la psychologie énergétique correspondait à ma formation
académique (diplômé en philosophie, langue et littérature allemande, Histoire Moderne, de
l'université de Zurich, Suisse).
What I found in Japan beside some fine martial arts lessons was the insight how much fighting and
healing arts walk hand in hand...
After studying various healing modalities like some acupuncture, cranio sacral work, etc... I found
the field of energy psychology suiting my academic background ( having degrees in philosophy and
german literature/ language and modern history from the university of Zurich, Switzerland).
So these days EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and other modalities using the constructivistic
approach are part of my daily work.
Therefore I would call the pivot point of the NOW from where I am speaking a mixture of
constructivistic intellectual ideas mixed with phyiscal and spiritual insights derived from different
ancient wisdom schools, martial arts traditions and mainly modern holistic healing modalities...
II/ Connais-toi toi-même ? Know youself ?
„Gnothi seauton“ or in latin „Nosce te ipsum“ is largely considered to be the starting point of
western philosophy. It is said that „Know thyself“ was one of the inscriptions in the forecourt in the
Temple of Apollo at Delphi where the seekers had to wait until they could ask their questions to the
oracle Pythia.
Lets ignore the academic interpretation from different schools of philosophy for now and focus on
the obvious:
„Know yourself BEFORE you ask a question. Because you might be not ready fort the oracle`s
answer“ was probably the reason why it was written where every enquirer could see it.
And these days you can find „Nosce te ipsum“ everywhere; from Self help seminars and books to
job interviews and psycholgical assesments.
But I claim that „Nosce te ipsum“ is only the half of the truth:
Originally the demand was written in a temple that was sainted to Apollo the god of light, music
and ratio and the protector from evil in classical Greek.
Interestingly enough the most known and popular oracle was, as mentioned above „The Pythia“ –
the name derives from a monstrous Python that was slain by Apollo. As I like crosscultural research
a lot allow me a little side note: my current study the Gao Ba gua system as taught by Hung I Mien
to my teacher Allen Pittman is diveded in eight sections, called houses and the first house is „the
house of light“ and its totem ist the snake....
Back to Apollo; so following the „know thyself“ in an „apollinian way“ is for instance to reflect
upon one`s strenght and weaknesses.
Infamous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote about the „apollinian“ part and as antagonist
introduced Dionysos.
Dionysos is a fascinating study: In school books and mainstream books about mythology he is
simply the cheerful, half drunken patron of grape harvest and wine.
But there is a darker, more dangerous side to this god whom the greeks called „the forgein god“
because he was the last one who made it into the Olymp.
Dionysos stands for chaos, frenzy, prurience, blood lust and all the parts of human life that today is
mostyl labelled as „bad“ or „dangerous“ sometimes even „evil“ and that are largely banned from
our society and pushed in the darker, uncounscious realms.
Using C.G. Jungs terminology I would simply call those parts „the shadow“. And „know thyself“
for me means to do shadow work as well. I always had the feeling – until today that what I call
„real“ martial arts- study is shadow work as well; to face the hidden potential of violence and
madness that everybody has and to deal with it: in a controlled environment, under controlled
circumstances.
III/ Les ancêtres et les morts ? The deads and the ancestors
Having been involved for some years in different schools of thought, wisdom, therapy and martial
arts I consider some of the founders of those systems as „my spiritual ancestors“ so say.
But as I find more and more there is a big difference between the founders of intellectual based
schools who left sometimes whole libraries and „ancestors“ who transmitted an art hands on. And
this brings us to the the distinction between exoteric and esoteric schools and systems.
Today most schools and systems being esoteric dont put any weight anymore on a „living ancestral
tradition“ – you can simply buy a book or book a seminar or a training. And there is nothing wrong
with that; I consider myself immensly lucky to live in a time where so much knowledge is
available...but I see an immense difference in my relationship to C.G. Jung who lived and worked
just a cross the street (actually it`s a lake) where I live or the connection I feel when my teacher tells
me about his teachers behavior or even points out some important details in a technique that he
emphazised back in the day.
With C G Jung – even his work is very important to me - I have absolutely no relationship even I
studied depth psychology with some teachers meanwhile I can feel sometimes – and as an agnostic I
have to carefully choose my wording here – what it means to study „a living art“ hands on, one to
one with a lineage holder...
IV/ Forger ses propres outils ? To forge one's tools ?
I try to divide my time between spending it with my family, teaching at junior college philosophy
and literature, teaching energy psychology and studying martial arts.
As books play a major role in my life I try to level the intellectual study out with devoting some
time every day to my martial arts study and other disciplines like Qi Gong or Bodywork (Wisdom
of the Body). And it`s only ten minutes...