Duality — Discovering the Self Trapped on One Side

[진영]

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양면성 — 한 면에 갇힌 자신을 발견하다

Duality — Discovering the Self Trapped on One Side

The Ability to Rise and the Discipline of Descending to the Source

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A bird that has lived in a cage for a long time does not necessarily see the cage only as a prison.

Because it has received food and protection there, it may come to believe that the cage is the only place where it can survive.

Even when the door is opened, the bird may not readily fly away.

Beyond the cage lies a wider world and the possibility of freedom. Yet a world it has never experienced may feel more like a threat than an opportunity. Fearing that it might die outside, the bird remains inside the familiar cage even while the door stands open.

The human mind is not so different.

Without realizing it, we inherit countless patterns of thought and behavior in our daily lives. We often follow standards learned from our parents, schools, society, and those who came before us without ever questioning them deeply.

From minor everyday superstitions to the traditions of different countries and families, many ideas that we have accepted without examining their foundations become deeply embedded in our subconscious.

At first, these ideas may have come from others. But after years of repetition, we begin to regard them as truths we discovered and judged for ourselves.

Such beliefs may provide standards that guide and protect us. At the same time, however, they can become a cage that prevents us from seeing a larger world.

The problem is not simply that we are inside the cage.

The deeper problem is that we may not even realize we are confined, believing that the inside of the cage is the whole world.

The Dual Nature of As Above, So Below

When we encounter the phrase As Above, So Below and are told that it contains profound philosophical meaning, most of us accept it without much question.

As it is in heaven, so it is on earth.

The phrase contains a deep insight: the macrocosm and the microcosm, nature and humanity, are connected through one underlying principle and cycle.

It reflects the understanding that the cycles of the heavens and the cycles of human life, the changing seasons and the course of birth, aging, illness, and death, and the rhythms of the sun and moon and those of the human body and mind are not separate from one another.

But is that the whole truth?

Those who observed and interpreted the movements of the heavens also used the sun, moon, stars, and other celestial phenomena to connect royal authority with the divine and justify political rule.

Philosophies that once explained the principles of nature became myths. Those myths were then used to sanctify royal bloodlines and, at times, to govern, manipulate, or mislead the people.

As Above, So Below could therefore serve both as wisdom that awakened people to the relationship between nature and humanity and as a means of ruling human beings by borrowing the authority of heaven.

This is duality.

A coin is one object, but it necessarily has two sides.

If we see only one side and believe it to be the whole coin, we remain confined to that side. Sometimes, even when we know the other side exists, we ignore its reality to protect the beliefs and standards to which we have become attached.

This is also why it is so difficult for human beings to escape their own wells.

A machine can be repaired and put back into service. Human beings, however, often return to familiar patterns of thought and behavior even after they have been corrected. Beliefs and habits repeated over many years pull us back toward our original position from deep within the subconscious.

To recognize duality, therefore, is not merely to learn one more opposing opinion.

Where did the things I believe to be true come from?

Am I seeing the whole, or only the familiar side?

Duality gives us an opportunity to ask these questions and reflect upon ourselves.

One Side of Martial Arts and the Source of Muye

The same principle applies to martial arts training.

If one is taught that martial arts exist only to subdue an opponent or to learn how to kill in order to survive, the practitioner will understand only the most superficial side of martial arts.

A person may spend an entire lifetime developing physical techniques and abilities. Only when the body—the physical machine—begins to reach the end of its useful life may that person finally recognize the limitations of such training.

Our ancestors, however, originally called it Muye—the martial art and discipline.

When Muye is examined more deeply through the structure of Triadic Philosophy, we come to understand that physical technique is merely the entrance to the whole study.

If a person pursues technique alone throughout life, that person may remain at the first stage despite a lifetime of training. From that position, advancing to the next stage is extremely difficult. It may even be impossible.

I have divided the study of human development and Muye into nine stages.

I do not claim that this system is an absolute or infallible standard. It can, however, serve as a reference and a mirror through which we may examine where we currently stand.

When I describe Jinyoung Ssangkum Ryu as a martial art that pursues the deepest foundation, I do not mean that it is superior to every other martial art or that it should be proclaimed the greatest.

Rather, it seeks to descend to the lowest and deepest ground accessible to the human being—the most fundamental truths underlying martial arts and human existence.

The Ability to Rise and the Discipline of Descending

Depending on their abilities, people may rise to heights beyond imagination.

Yet when people rise through ability alone while losing touch with the source, they may become like Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, merely displaying their extraordinary powers.

No matter how high they rise, they ultimately remain confined within a world of their own creation—and one day, they will inevitably fall.

That, too, is a truth and a principle.

It is simply how the world works.

Their actions begin by causing hardship for those closest to them, but in the end, they inevitably bring about their own downfall.

The higher people rise, the more certain they are to create a world of their own.

Follow me.

I alone am the greatest.

In order to gather followers and build their own side, manipulation, political scheming, and endless disputes over who is right and who is wrong begin to dominate everything.

As their falsehood and cult-like self-deception reach their peak, they may become consumed by boundless greed while acquiring fame and wealth—only to disappear one day.

That, too, is part of the natural order.

I call this process self-ization—the construction of a self-contained world.

Such a person may possess extraordinary ability.

But what that ability serves, and whether it is guided by a greater purpose for a righteous human life and for the good of others, are entirely separate questions.

In the end, each person must walk the path he or she has chosen.

If we can come to understand through life itself why so many wise teachers have urged us to lower ourselves and remain humble, then perhaps we have begun to learn something.

Descending does not mean abandoning our abilities or making ourselves insignificant.

It means lowering the ego, recognizing our limitations, acknowledging the existence and value of others, and approaching the common source of life.

The purpose of awakening, therefore, is not merely to make ourselves stronger or greater.

Why must human consciousness change?

Why should we not regard another person simply as an opponent to be defeated?

And beyond that, why should we love others?

To understand the answers not merely as intellectual knowledge, but through direct experience in life and training—and to guide people through martial arts training toward the ultimate purpose of human life—is what I believe to be the right path of Muye and the right way to live.

Alpha and Omega

This is the Alpha and the Omega.

It is the most basic and fundamental truth, remaining unchanged from beginning to end.

This is also why Jinyoung Ssangkum Ryu places such importance on what is practical, factual, and grounded in reality.

No matter how profound or impressive a philosophy may sound, if it cannot be confirmed and practiced in real life, it may remain nothing more than an empty idea.

When we live against the principles of life, everything becomes difficult, painful, and exhausting.

When we are on the right path, however, health and happiness are not goals that must be chased or forced. They follow naturally as the results of living in harmony with that path.

Of course, to claim that a human being can be perfect would itself be another falsehood or distortion.

What we can do is not become perfect, but continue moving endlessly along the right path.

In other words, until the final moment of life, we continue drawing closer to the one truth and the one underlying principle.

No one can walk this path in our place. Because even we ourselves have never taken the next step before, every step is always new.

That is why we must do our best at the very moment we take it.

We should not wait for some future version of ourselves to become complete. Moment by moment, as each situation arises, we must immediately make the right choice and put it into practice.

To recognize duality is not to reject everything we have believed, nor is it merely to search for the opposite side of the world.

It is the beginning of reflection and practice: discovering the self that has been trapped on one familiar side, continually looking back upon oneself, and taking the next step toward the deepest source of martial arts and life.

The first step toward leaving the cage is not to move the wings.

It is to recognize that we are inside the cage.

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August 27, 2026 · Thursday
Written at Hotel Marinela
Sofia, Bulgaria 🇧🇬

Grandmaster J.S. Kim
Founder of Jinyoung Ssangkum Ryu Haedong Kumdo
President of the United World Haedong Kumdo Federation

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