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THE GREATEST STORY NEVER TOLD

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ESOTERICAL DEGREES - THE TRILOGY YEARS
 What rank will you be?

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PREFATORIAL

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“When you see a worthy person, endeavour to emulate him…
when you see an unworthy person then examine your inner self.”

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When any beginner experiencing that first lesson eventually finds himself dressed in his brand new BJMA training uniform. And ‘someone’ has bothered to assist you with ‘that’ awkward wrap around jacket, what exactly ties with what and where? “And what do I do with this extremely long ‘white belt’? Does it actually go around my waist two or three times?” Was probably your first esoteric question to yourself? Here you are now, in position at the back of the pack, on your own but not alone on the basketball stadium battlefield with so many likeminded military (martial) devotees. With uncanny discipline everyone in the room is responding to every command from a daunting solitary voice constantly chanting in cadence from somewhere out the front of the class. “Push ups, sit ups now run from one side to side,” screams that voice. “Now bend and touch the floor on each side as you are running” was a deliberate demand as if it was meant directly for you. “Line up, quickly, double time now punch, kick… be punched, be kicked, knock one and other down, pick yourselves up. Don’t help anyone! Everyone gets up on their own steam”, held even more deliberation.

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Just as you was thinking, ‘Maybe I should not even be here?’ that daunting voice suddenly modified and became a caring, compassionate educational authority. Answering all of your ‘What ifs?’ Suddenly, when you least expected, ‘that cadence voice’ re-emerged “Push ups, sit ups now running from side to side… “Why?” You almost thought out loud. Then as you have observed all the differing ‘degrees’ of abilities from all of the black belts up the front, to the many coloured belts throughout the floor space. You suddenly realize why you arrived here in the first place. You had been told by several friends and now you have observed it for yourself! Everyone in this room could kick your butt, including and especially all these other white belts that you know have had less than ten lessons. And they are almost as good as those yellow belts.

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Now you get it, why you took up the challenge! “Bring it on”, you inwardly scream to yourself. Now you know it does not matter how many times these white belts knock you down, you will pick yourself up on your own steam. After only a few lessons as you have been observingthe instructors style and methodology of teaching these martial minded enthusiasts, you’ve noticed that before attaining the coveted black belt a student is merely learning self defence. And from observation of all the higher ranks it is obvious that after black belt the BJMA individual now becomes a student of a multitude of diversified martial arts, at least one art for each country of the world. The more you travel – the more you learn!

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“A true Black Belt following the path of the Warrior unwittingly changes their way of life…
for they can never be the same person again.”

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What is now even more obvious from your observations is that as martial artists they are introduced to a lifelong journey of self-improvement. The ladder of ones own life is laid out as a journey of ten steps (i.e. Ten Degrees), where each step must be observed and studied before making that next step ‘up’ the ladder and venturing onto the next level.

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“Limitations you thought you had… No longer exist.”

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Generally the amount of time in years you will spend on each degree is equivalent to the actual number of that next degree. Thus, a new first degree will really observe and evaluate themselves for approximately two years. This couple of years is generally just enough time to observe the difference within yourself as you changed your mind set from your journey as a prospect through the coloured belt divisions, to waking every morning, as a brand new Black Belt.

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After just two years of living you’re life as a black belt, constantly thinking, training preparing for that next level, second degree. The day of blood, sweat and tears finally arrived. And now having just graded to second degree, you observe this post grading entity is an entirely new you. Complete with the realisation you can never be that same person again (i.e. that first degree), you have not only entered the marathon, you have won your third major battle. Going through the brown belt grading ‘was’ tough’. Going through the fist degree grading thinking the alternative was death! At the second degree grading, well that was something really different. This was perhaps to some, thought as being something unachievable. We all experience this level as an extremely difficult and physically demanding endurance test, the absolute test of a lifetime.

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This is even titled the ‘MARTIAL ARTS MARATHON’ and it is here that the serious practitioner will spend the following three years comprehending where this personal journey is heading. You find now that communicating with coloured belts and sparring with ‘those’ first degrees is no longer any where near as challenging as it had previously been. Second degrees are identifiable to everyone due to the red embroidery on each end of their belt stating both names of the person and the style. This is symbolic from antiquity of giving of yourself to the system; the amount of sweat you left on the floor at your grading and now the red embroidery on the ends of your black belt are both a part of the metaphor representing the giving of your blood as a sign of your allegiants to the ‘Brotherhood’.

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In Japanese culture this is referred to as ‘Bushido’ – “The way of the warrior”, involving three elite warrior levels being Samurai, Yakuza and Ninjas (With separate mountain warrior priests known as Yamabushi), always armed with double swords, Katana (Long blade) and Wakisashi (Short blade). Physically identified with a top knot hair style and body markings (Tattoos) showing their rank status. In the much more ancient Celtic culture the reference here is ‘MacFinn’ – “The way of the Brotherhood”, Mac signifying brother and Finn being three elite warrior levels. Fionna, Fiai and Filhi (With separate mountain warrior priests known as Druids) always armed with double swords, Falcuta (Long blade) and Faca (Short blade). Physically identified as always wearing a torque (Symbol of freedom) around their necks with a crest (Mohawk hair style) and body markings (Tattoos) showing their rank status.

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Almost immediately, following your grading and the application of that ‘red’ embroidery you will become aware of a new found respect shown to you by third and fourth degrees, this new found respect is your ‘new challenge’. Although there is merely one and two degrees between you and them, you know they have all been training more than double the years you have. Learning, training and sparring with these higher degrees is a whole new dimension to be added to you journey. And they give you no choice… you have to be up for it!

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Up to this point in time the journey has been almost entirely presented to the practitioner as ‘physical’ with the focus almost entirely on ones personal power, self esteem awareness, peak conditioning, nutrition, muscle strengthening, correct stretching technique to elongate these stronger muscles, correct body fat content, due to correct food intake. All of this attention and direct focus aimed at you has had its purpose of developing ‘you’ as an individual martial artist with a base core as strong as could be developed for and by you.

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Now you and the system have three years to scope you ‘beyond’ this individualism. You will be inspired by the actions of others, you will enjoy passing on your current acquired knowledge to the brown belts and all of the new black belts coming through after you. Be prepared, these browns & blacks will flock to you seeking advice, they will have difficult questions! You will find many previous unexplored ‘mental’ pleasures from assisting others in their quest to achieve what you have just achieved, the MARATHON.

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From the fourth degrees you will learn much more about the ‘mental – psychological’ aspects of fighting than everything you have learned thus far. Many new experiences will unfold as you learn from the third degrees about compassion and the martial ‘ART’ discipline of the martial arts journey as a philosophy of ‘TRUTH’, the selflessness of sharing ‘all’ of your abilities with ‘all’.

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“As a third degree you are a mirror reflection of self through students.”

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Three years have passed before you know it; you have completed your grading. As a third degree wearing your red uniform you are recognised by your peers and the system as a teacher. You are no longer simply an individual looking out for # 1. Generally at this point the decision to open your own club has become an issue. TCB – Taking Care of Business, right location and rent and overheads coupled with right marketing and advertising, with a realisation you already were aware of… nothing is for free. Up until now you have been a student, you were an instructor as a second degree (You may have instructed for some time as a first degree – you probably served as an assistant instructor much earlier) and now you will officially ‘teach’ for the next four years.

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Now you have the added pressure of developing your own ‘white belts’ all the way through to ‘black belts’. Undoubtedly each of them will be a reflection of self, this is the reason third degree is the most self stressful and self demanding of all grades. They simply become total reflections of YOU, in effect you are actually seeing your own mistakes through them! When any white through black is solely under your direction, at first you see every minor detail. Every minor discrepancy is illuminated, setting off a chain reaction of mini neuron explosions between the brain cell activity of your conscious and sub conscious thoughts. Now you are so keen to share so much with so many, it can become a catastrophe.

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Four years later and the saviour has arrived, your next grading level of fourth degree, this is known as the ‘Lower Masters Level’. You are no longer a teacher, you have elevated to the status of ‘Guide’. You are now identified by wearing a plain (No badges or any other identification, this is a form of humility, you being happy with who you are) all white uniform with ‘equal’ red and white stripes added to your black belt around your waist with the white specifically on the top and the ‘red’ on the bottom. This Lower Masters Level is symbolic of knowing the black belt is the journey and the white stripe is the knowing where you have come from, your beginning. While the ‘red’ is intrigue, the unknown quantity of the journey and where you actually are going.

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Five years later and your next grading of fifth degree is the opposite of the MARATHON and known as the ‘Upper Masters Level’. This grading is titled the ‘SPRINT’ due to the actual timeframe of ‘physical activity’ is merely three minutes. Strangely though, everyone who has done this last of our gradings performed in view by the public – all agree the fifth degree SPRINT is by far the most demanding of all our gradings to this point. To transcend through these two MASTER levels while the emphasis is to remain within their duality, the practitioner kneels on their right knee. From here they meditate on the asceticism and the metaphoric zymology of the simplicity of slowly removing their belt and upon replacing it to their body, they have reversed the action which gives the red its new dimension – Worn On Top. Their duality is more than simply visual, besides looking so similar, after so many years training together they have bonded. They are definitely brothers and sisters by choice rather than by chance.

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After five years and on completion of the fifth degree grading in most BJMA Systems (Bob Jones Martial Arts) practitioners at these two ranks and everyone above all wear white uniforms. In Celtic culture this wearing of white is symbolic of the constant battle of light over dark (our known versus our unknown). Lower ranks wear black as they are searching, and higher ranks wear white as they are discovering. For many millenniums in our ancient mythology the bull being black was our unknown source, he had to be sacrificed to the mid afternoon Sun being bright white. As an offering to the Gods he would be defeated in battle by the Fiona Warrior (In the Gaelic language Fiona means one of the light, one of intellect). Our red and white belt represents the mid afternoon SUN and the Sun at dusk as it turns bright red. And as the crescent of the Moon appears within the darkness of night – we see the horns of the bull reappear, declaring yet another potential challenge of the future. Mythology warns Celtic warriors to be aware for three days prior and after the time when the moon is full, as a challenging paradox this is also a time for celebration.

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At BJMA seminars, gradings and functions all fourth and fifth degrees tend to congregate together more than any other ranks. You will notice them as they slowly role the hem of their sleeves three times reminding themselves of those three physically demanding gradings (Brown belt plus first degree black belt… and the second degree MARATHON. And also as a respect to our Anglo Celtic forefathers who built this nation, they rolled their sleeves three times to prepare for a hard days work!). After battling their way through those three physical levels and then that third degree Teaching dilemma, they now have this Twin-ship of Lower & Upper Master-ship, four and five years consecutively of slowly replacing themselves within their organisations. Through these nine years each of them will develop many of their own third degrees and of course much larger numbers of second & first degrees and one can only guess how many new ‘Prospects’ will evolve through their coloured belt systems, and so the paradox of our ‘ascetic cycle’ continues.

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This paradox, of on the one hand everyone is expected to be successful at building their own martial arts network while from another perspective… the purpose of self replacement is to once more have extra personal time for advancement. This being their original studies of the Physicality (Body), blended with the multiple sharing of the systems Psychological attributes (Mind). Now it is imperative to continue to build their organisations under their control so as to prosper, but all fourth and fifth degrees must individualise amongst themselves and work regularly together to progress in all areas of the Spiritual aspects (Soul). As these three simple words of Mind (Circle), Body (Square) & Spirit (Triangle) are in essence – ‘The’ Actual Journey, thus the personal logo of our Creator, Patron & Founder is a triangle within a circle protected by a square.

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These gradings from white belt beginners up to and including fifth degree, the Masters Level are always witnessed by all students of the organisation, the more advanced gradings of sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth & tenth degree are more personal between the individual and the organisation at the higher end of this degree structure. Every aspect of this of course, will be covered in explicit detail later in these writings, this is significant of the transparency attached to the name, “The Greatest Story Never Told” – Until Now. Whether or not you are an avid reader, to truly understand the Bob Jones Story – You must read this, “The Greatest Story Never Told”.

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PROSPECTIVE YEARS

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THE BEGINNING

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THE COLORED BELT JOURNEY

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The Bob Jones Story following on from what happened before “Let the Good Times Roll”… with this part two being titled, “The Greatest Story Never Told”, while also having the sub-title, ‘THE TEN ESOTERICAL DEGREES’.

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In 1963, I had several situations arise that had turned my entire lifestyle around. My marriage to my wife Pauline had fallen apart; the police had advised me it would be better if I simply closed down my illicit sly-grog shop (an illegal bottle shop due to our Government controlled 6 pm. closing of all licensed premises. For more on this, see part three in this series - The Violent Years). Both these situations, plus a riot set up by a rival dance promotion group, had local councils disqualify my permits and close down three separate successful rock and roll venues. Talk about being pissed off!

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Have you heard that expression about one door closing and another door opening? Just as I thought life was giving me the rawest deal ever, coincidentally on the same day as the assassination of Americas president John F Kennedy - Dave Milne and Bill Sabotka, a couple of good mates and ‘BOUNCER’ associates of mine made me an offer I could not refuse.

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They proposed that the three of us start up a security company to be called The ‘BJC - Trouble Shooters,’ specialising in venues heading out of control, allowing us to quote three times the normal rate of pay. From that point on I found myself in a completely new and exciting lifestyle, doing what I had always done best, using my fists, except this time the deal I had been offered, was to get paid exceptionally high pay for what had always come naturally.

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A couple of weeks after the 23rd of November, that fateful day that JFK had his life closed off from the rest of the world, that same day that my own world took on a new turn of events… I was having breakfast and while browsing through the morning paper, I came across an advertisement for a Martial Arts demonstration by renowned International author Mr Donn F. Draeger.

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He was an American who had spent the last twenty years living and working in Japan while also studying many of the ancient oriental arts. He had married into a local Japanese family and it wasn’t long before he spoke the language fluently. This gave him exceptional insight into his writing about the philosophy and the esoteric realms of this countries code of Bushido (the way of the Samurai or more literally, the way of the warrior). The actual demonstration was set for a few days later at 12.30pm at the Melbourne Sports Depot in Flinders St, Melbourne.

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For the past year or so during all of my dilemmas I had co-incidentally been intrigued with this whole cultural concept of these secretive fighting arts, our local media was affording a lot of exposure to a couple of colourful characters in Sydney. Fred Vella (Born in Malta) and Joe Meizner (Yugoslavian) were being promoted as two local Australians who had achieved these mysterious titles known to us, the general public, as Kara-te Black Belts.

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Mr Vella achieved national fame when he demolished a suburban house using only his bare fists and feet while wearing only a white Kara-te suit held together at the waist by his ‘mysterious’ Black Belt. That night on the evening news, we all witnessed this young man pulverise this house into a rubble of broken bricks, splintered timber and a cloud of lingering dust.

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Mr Meizner achieved national fame when he was approached by one of Sydney’s major property developers… this developer was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars each week, this was due to his property being invaded by squatters. Hundreds of back packers, unemployed street people and drug addicts had moved in and were calling his development home. Armed with only his bare fists and feet and all available television cameras, and wearing only a white Kara-te uniform held together at the waist by his ‘mysterious’ Black Belt. Joe Meizner had entered the building and made everyone an offer none could apparently refuse… on the evening news that night we saw all those squatters leaving that building by all available doors and windows, taking their worldly possessions with them – never to return. Rumour has it that Joe had the foresight to request some small percentage in the deal if he was to be successful, this over the next period of time would make young Joe, a very wealthy martial artist come celebrity around Sydney. Especially within the infamous downtown area known as Kings Cross, Joe will eventually become involved in NSW dirty politics and corrupt members of the NSW Police Force. And along the way of course Mr Fred Vella, Mr Joe Meizner and Mr Bob Jones will all become very good friends (See Bob Jones ‘The Violent Years’).

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Did I mention that every time I saw either Mr Fred Vella or Mr Joe Meisner on national television or in the press, without fail they were always in the presence of different representatives of Sydney’s most beautiful women? Somehow this image gave the distinct impression that this mysterious Black Belt phenomenon and Beauty were inter related. And for a single guy like myself at the time this simply doubled the intrigue, ‘mysticism and seemingly magical powers’ backed by a touch of ‘feminine sexuality’!

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The exposure of these two Kara-te ‘experts’ and their seemingly impossible exploits was my original introduction to this way of Bushido, this ‘way’ of the fighting arts…

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Perhaps you can comprehend my anticipation when I arrived at the MSD and amongst a apprehensive crowd of several hundred I found myself totally mesmerized. This man, the Martial Artist, was a man of intrigue. Mr Donn Draeger was a human being of quality and substance that I had never experienced before to this point in my search for a mentor… he talked of the sword (Katana) as being the Soul of the Samurai, the true path of Bushido (the way of the Warrior). He explained that this journey he had dedicated his life to, was an actual journey of self-discovery and self empowerment and that Black Belt tied around his waist and the esoteric Dans or Degrees that were to be achieved thereafter, were guidelines. Not much unlike a roadmap that could direct a man through the journey of life while gaining an impregnable strength of character. He discussed the philosophy of his training with the sword; this ancient mode of survival, this act of killing with the sword was actually the antithesis of our inhumanity towards others. He endeavoured to have us understand that the word martial represented the ‘fighting arts’, the word ‘art’ was the paradox. He further explained, “The distinction that will develop us as ‘artists’ was that the more knowledge we acquire, eventually the highest order of our belief system is to defend ourselves under any/all conditions without ever having to harm the perpetrator/s”.

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Mr Donn Draeger made this concept sound so exciting and so adventurous, that I even forgot that he was talking about the same race of people, the Japanese, that only twenty years earlier (1943) were responsible for the death and suffering of so many Australians, much later in life I will also learn that my own biological father’s death was a result of his time spent as a POW in Japanese prison camps. I will learn this during the time of a new awareness creation of ‘political correctness’ having us forgiving (although we will never forget, which you can only know and respect if you were there) all past atrocities, just in time for the next round of wars!

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After this almost spiritual experience, Donn Draeger’s demonstration would impact on my life much more than I was even conscientiously aware of. For the next two years (Until 1965) I will search diligently for any sign, any possibility that might eventuate whereby I may have the opportunity to pursue this seemingly belligerent lifestyle of this unusual man. On this day that would begin to completely change my life, I had purchased a copy of ‘Asian Fighting Arts’ the author’s latest book release. I had waited patiently in line for his signature and it was as if he could see I was not the average fan, he seemed to be aware of my potential as a protégé of his journey and asking my name, he added the following inscription;

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To Bob Jones - my new found friend,

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“When you see a worthy person, endeavour to emulate him…
when you see an unworthy person, then examine your inner self.”

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Signed: Captain Donn F. Draeger

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