Competition
What lies behind the desire to compete?
In every school we are taught to compete, are we not?
Competition is exemplified by the giving of marks, by comparing the dull boy
with the clever boy, by endlessly pointing out that the poor boy may become
the president or the head of General Motors - you know the whole business.
Why do we lay so much stress on competition?
What is the significance behind it?
(Krishnamurti)
What is competition?
Competition is a situation where more than one person
seeks to obtain a goal or resource and works against another person.
In modern culture, this mentality is considered to be healthy and
productive.
From birth we are conditioned to compete with others; it is utterly
ingrained in our consciousness.
Success/failure, acquisition/loss, expectation/disappointment are all part
of
competition.
Second rate
At the heart of competition is the notion that one person is better than
somebody else.
This has led to the creation of a callous society.
There is no harmony to be found in competition.
Comparison
Competition requires there to be comparison.
Freedom and happiness cannot exist when you are anxious about what somebody
else is thinking or doing.
Comparison necessitates self-consciousness.
Fear
At the root of competition is the desire to succeed.
Success requires judgement.
Why do you need approval?
Why do you want praise?
Relying upon others for emotional or psychological support is not healthy.
It is
insecure.
Giving somebody
authority over you places you in their
hands.
Sport
Sport seems to be a healthy social outlet until you
consider it a little deeper.
Rivalry, competition, taking sides and animosity are frequent factors in
sport.
People exert themselves in order to accomplish a goal and frequently injure
their bodies in the process.
Money, medals and fame motivate sports people to push harder and harder, in
order to prove something.
But prove what?
And why?
Will any of it result in a better world?
The money spent each year on sport is astounding.
It is a major industry fuelled by the desire to see one person
beat another.
Results
Sport is concerned with the
end result at the expense of the means.
When a person swims, how often do they pay attention to the
quality of their movement?
Are they interested in swimming with awareness, of accomplishing a
whole-body action?
Or are they counting lengths?
Liz Koch, author of
The Psoas Book wrote:
Swimming is an activity that can either create structural problems or release them depending upon the way it is taught and practiced. Professional swimmers are known to develop shoulder tendonitis and kyphosis. Overriding head/neck righting reflexes (as occurs when the head is repeatedly turned but the body does not follow) eventually result in overdeveloping shoulder muscles, pinching nerves and distorting the rib cage.
Tai chi competitions
Tai chi is not a sport.
It places emphasis upon working in harmony with everything else and does not
involve winning and losing.
When beginners desire to compete, they are missing the point entirely.
Contradiction
Some beginners are interested in performance art and competitions.
These approaches violate the taoist
precepts upon which tai chi was built.
If we are going to follow the taoist approach to softness, smoothness,
non-aggression and conflict, we cannot ignore their
condemnation of competition.
Competition involves resistance, contest, rivalry, struggle, force,
wilfulness and end-gaining.
If you want the art to work, you cannot seek to be soft on the one hand and then
compete on the other.
There is a contradiction in that approach.
How you are must permeate all aspects of your art and your life. You do not have
"one face for giving and one face for taking".
Pushing hands etc
If two students trained the 2 person form - and at the
end of the set one student claimed victory - it would be absurd.
Such an attitude entirely defeats the purpose of the exercise.
Tai chi partnered exercises (such as pushing hands) were not designed as a
means of competition.
They serve to improve practice by enabling both parties
to work on their own skills at the same time.
This is not a competitive venture.
Working with someone else provides valuable feedback about your own
practice.
It is not about them (the other person). It is about you.
You can determine whether there are any gaps & deficiencies in your
training, and improve accordingly.
You can also explore your attitude, emotions and ego. And this may prove
to be exceptionally insightful, if you care to pay attention to what is
occurring.
Are you angry? Emotional? Afraid? Do you want to one-up your partner?
Are you physically tense? Are you anticipating or going with the flow? Is
there something you are seeking to prove? Can you yield? Do you have peng?
Are you sticky? Are you using force or jing? Are you soft and pliable or
hard and brittle?
There is no winning or losing, no end conclusion.
Partnered exercise is a process, a way of exploring your tai chi, feeling
how your body responds.
The role of the other person is not to compete with you, but to assist you.
They are not cooperating, or making life easy for you. They are making you
work hard, and this can be very helpful indeed.
Non-contention
Once you stop competing, you see the world quite
differently.
You see that we are all in
relationship with one another.
You see that prizes, certificates, medals and praise all amount to nothing.
You may choose to cooperate with others, or to
help
them, or simply to leave them alone.
There are alternatives to competition.
Page created 12 June 1998