Musashi's Dokkodo (The Way of Walking Alone)

Conclusion
“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be
fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-
lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You
know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this,
so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of
the climb.” — Sir Winston Churchill
Most of life is dead reckoning. “Dead reckoning” is a nautical term
that refers to a way of measuring a vessel’s path through the open
ocean without the use of landmarks, global positioning satellites, the
horizon, or even the stars to aid in navigation. For all intents and
purposes the captain is blind, but still has a pretty good chance at
reaching his or her destination anyway. You see, dead reckoning
uses a “fix,” that is the ship’s last known position, and then calculates
where in the world we are based on speed, either estimated or
quantified, and the amount of time that has elapsed since the last
known measurement was taken. Look at it this way, “We know that
an hour ago we left this position traveling due north at a consistent
speed of four knots, so looking at the map we should be right
about… here.”
You can imagine how calculating where we are in the middle of the
open ocean via dead reckoning would be very difficult if the speed of
the vessel varied from say two knots to maybe seven knots over the
course of our journey, a common enough occurrence. Ocean
currents impact the process of course, as they speed or slow the
vessel, and inclement weather complicates the task even further as
wind or waves might divert us from our course and rain, darkness, or
the like keep us from validating our assumptions by sighting stars,
landmasses, lighthouses, or even other ships. This form of

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navigation is far from exact, requiring hard-learned skill, attention to
detail, and confidence in the sailor’s abilities to have any chance for
success.
Not so different from navigating our own existence is it? There’s no
owner’s manual for the human body, no navigation chart for the
human life, so in many ways this analogy is apt. Life is, in fact, dead
reckoning. Much like a sailor’s ability to navigate the open sea
without instrumentation, our framework of life is based on our
experience. Our first set of experiences helps us determine how we
see the seas of life. This is based around our family and the impact
is undeniable. If our upbringing was healthy and loving we tend to
see the world one way, yet if our childhood was violent and
unsupportive our worldview would be radically different.
While not as impactful as our parents or siblings, our community
plays an important role too, both our public community and our
private community. Our public community is constructed from the
places we go—school, work, sporting events, restaurants,
nightclubs, and the like. All the public places we frequent come with
certain codes of conduct, modes of acceptable behaviors for those
who attend the venue and interact with others therein. The same
thing occurs in private communities. These are comprised of the
people we associate with on our own accord, inside or outside public
places or organizations. These private communities have rules and
methods that are not necessary bad or good, but are not always
understood or accepted by the larger public communities.
An example of one of these private communities might be the
Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), a group of people who
recreate medieval life, tradecraft, and combat techniques.
[40]
They
are generally accepted as they don’t threaten the larger public
community, but let’s face it “normal” society doesn’t really understand
folks who dress up in period costumes, speak “forsoothly,” and bash
each other with wooden sticks for fun despite any educational value
or personal growth members might gain from these events. Similarly,
those of us who dress up in a dogi, kung fu uniform, hakama, or

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ninja outfit and practice martial skills that originated during feudal
times in some far off land can seem a little odd to folks who have
never walked into a dojo, dojang, or kwoon. Throw in a little
Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Philippines, or wherever our art
originated from language and culture and we can seem just as
strange as folks who dress up like knights and dames and carry
swords and halberds to their events. Nevertheless, we learn about
hard work, perseverance, and an appropriate code of conduct in the
training hall.
Communities, both public and private, these are the elements the
give us our “fix” for the dead reckoning of our lives, the basis on
which we chart our course. From there we adjust our “speed” and
look at the “map” of our moral and ethical convictions for
confirmation that we are on the trajectory that we believe to be in our
best interests for achieving our expectations in life.
What about Musashi? In this volume we have gained insight into the
path he chose, the teachings he stood for, and how we might
interpret them in contemporary times depending on the role we have
set for ourselves in life, be it that of the monk, the warrior, the
teacher, the businessperson, or whatever fits... Musashi’s way was
clearly one of stoicism and the use of violence was a means to his
end. His stoicism is to be admired, yet his violence when seen from
our modern perspective was savage. Judged by his times and
values, maybe not…
Allegiance to a path without taking the time to give it thought is as if
a person hands over the map and the compass of his or her life to
another. That rarely ends well. While we certainly do respect
Musashi for the construction of his path in life, for the clarity he
brought to it, and for how well it served him and his disciples, we
submit that his path is ill-suited to the world in which the majority of
us live today. To strictly adhere to his path is intellectually weak, a
mismatched framework, and at best a hodgepodge of methods shot
through the prism of what we have constructed Musashi to be and
not what and who he truly was.

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Our starting point on the journey of life has already been fixed by our
socialization, yet how we choose to move from that point forward is,
of course, our choice. Copying the way of a long-dead man who
killed for social advancement and came from a far less than
favorable home life is problematic, but much of what he wrote
warrants some deep consideration. Obviously there is wisdom in
much of what Musashi preached, even when the totality of his
teachings are clearly his path and not our own. Finding a path that
makes sense for us, that suits our individual needs, and then making
it our own is essential to becoming who we truly are.
Scott Ginsberg once said, “There are no cover bands in the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame.” Similarly, there were thousands upon
thousands of swordsmen who blazed a bloody path to glory in feudal
Japan, yet we remember Musashi because he took what had been
taught to the masses and made it his own. We all should do as
Musashi did, albeit with less dysfunction and a whole lot less
bloodshed. We all should question our heroes, our icons. We should
choose wisely and with as much awareness as possible in the dead
reckoning of our lives. And if, upon reflection, we want to adopt the
way of Musashi, well then we need to chart a course that goes
beyond his teachings, one that captures the essence of his wisdom,
assures it is relevant to contemporary times, yet makes it our own.
We sincerely hope that our interpretations of the Dokkodo were
illuminating, that we helped you find modern meaning and relevance
in Musashi’s ancient wisdom. Think deeply on what you’ve read,
judiciously extract those gems that resonate, and then make them
your own. Dead reckoning is an inexact science, but those who chart
an intentional course, even an imprecise one, can stand head and
shoulders above those who aimless drift upon the seas of life. We
wish you good journey.
Be safe… and be well.

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