Probably both. You quoted Bruce Lee, which means that you most likely agree with his philosophies.
Bruce Lee felt that tradition and etiquette were worthless-that how well you could fight was the only indicator of your skill as a martial artist. The purpose of martial arts is not just to produce good technique, it is to produce good people as well. I admire his technique if not his approach.
Asking someone their rank is like asking someone their age. In this country, if you ask someone their age, they quite possibly will get offended, because they will feel their age is irrelevant. So we have a similar philosophy in this country. If you don't practice martial arts and ask my rank, I will tell you. If you are a junior student I will tell you. If you are a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, I will probably tell you, but I'm also thinking you don't understand Tae Kwon Do etiquette. A non-TKD black belt I might be willing to let slide if it is not part of your art's etiquette.
If a black belt asks my rank, I will probably just say I am an Instructor level black belt. If you really need to know, just look at the number on my belt.
For everyone who says rank is not important, there you go.
Sheesh. I should have given up a while ago. Maybe it's the new meds. The ability to focus is a two-edged sword. *oy*
You're putting a lot of words into the late Mr. Lee's mouth. One wonders how well you knew him. I don't agree with everything the man said, but you know, it's not a bad place to start. So here's a story. When my Silat teacher - who also doesn't have a belt or a rank - was a young teen he wanted to learn from someone other than his grandmother. And his uncle lived a long way away, so he couldn't train with him as often as he would have liked. He started looking for a guru. Whenever he came home and started talking about some new teacher his grandmother had one question. "Stevie, can he fight?" If the answer wasn't an emphatic "Yes!" she would say something like "No good. Find someone else." Once he found someone who could pug it was time for other questions. It may not be the only measure of someone's skill as a martial artist. But it's a damned important one. Comments about how thus-and-such is "just fighting, not real martial arts" will earn you a less polite rant.
Martial arts don't have an inherent purpose. They are tools or more properly technologies that can serve many different ends. Because most grown ups understand this it is considered polite not to project one's own desires and goals on those who may not share them. Being able to fight is a perfectly understandable and legitimate goal. I've been taking African and Middle Eastern drumming for a few years not because I want to be in a band but because it's important for my martial arts development and a part of certain religious practices in which I participate. Other people take it up for other reasons. Since I am not them I do not presume to tell them why their goals are wrong and they should be just like me.
Now as to the importance of tradition and etiquette, that could be another whole
megillah. I'll keep it shorter and over simplify. Keep in mind that I study a traditional martial art from a teacher who is pretty Old School. So...
Why should anyone care?
Tradition and manners can serve several ends. We will consider only a few: cultural conservation, role-playing, the maintenance of a harmonious social order and the avoidance of needless conflict or easy access to useful mental states.
One reason to engage in traditional practices is a desire to preserve something valuable which might otherwise be lost. If that's what you want to do, great. Practice away. Find a bunch of like-minded people and keep the flame alive. It's your thing, not mine, so don't expect me to participate.
Another reason is a desire to copy people whom one respects. Often this ties in with a usually unstated belief that that past time was better. In other words, a less-elaborate version of the SCA or Star Trek fandom combined with theater. Again, be like your heroes. Hang out with people who admire the same people whom you do. Admire in each other the ideals which you love. Don't expect everyone else to play by the script.
We are social animals. As practicing martial artists we are, at least in theory, capable of being dangerous. Formal etiquette gives us ways of working with one another without getting into a lot of fights. We tone down the aggression signals. We have formalized dominance and submission behaviors. We back down without being submissive, maintain a respectful distance and engage in ritualized displays so that we can get things done without constant jockeying for position or causing offense inadvertently. One definition of a gentleman is someone who never hurts another unintentionally. To the extent to which tradition and etiquette serve these ends they are useful. If they do not, they are ritualized behavior divorced from reality. In other words a possibly comforting neurosis.
Habitual and ritualized behavior can be associated with particular mental states. You ingrain the ritual so that your mind will react quickly to the stimulus and evoke the desired mental and emotional response. The rituals can be completely individual or rigidly institutionalized. It's all a matter of conditioning. When one loses sight of the goal and engages in the practice for the sake of going through the ritual there is a serious disconnect.
artyon: Keep us posted!
