Indomitable Spirit (Baekjool Boolgool)

The fourth tenet of Tae Kwon Do that we will look at is Indomitable Spirit (Baekjool Boolgool).

An indomitable spirit is one that cannot be subdued or dominated, even when faced with seemingly impossible situations. Indomitable spirit is bravery and courageousness. Some people have this quality in abundance; others have to work a little bit harder to achieve it. Some people don’t realise they have it until the time comes when they need to step up and act; others might believe they have it, but be overcome with fear and unable to act when faced with certain challenges.

Inside the dojang

The best example that I can give to illustrate the idea of indomitable spirit is a true story. It happened this year, in fact, at an Open Championship in Bristol. There were only a few TKDSOE students competing at this event and none of us had competed there before. There was just one junior black belt TKDSOE student that competed that day and he entered the sparring category all on his own. The sparring didn’t start until late afternoon, so he was waiting around a long time for his event to come up. In that time he had been checking out his potential opponents and had come to realise that, as well as being a couple of years younger than the others competitors (he was 13 and they were 16), he was also considerably smaller than they were. In fact, one of his opponents turned out to be over 6’ tall! As you can imagine, he was very nervous about competing and I’m sure it crossed his mind that he could have pulled out of the competition. However, he didn’t pull out. His Instructor and his Dad gave him encouragement to compete and he did indeed end up fighting some tall, leggy opponents. He fought incredibly well and beat one of the tallest opponents with his quick hands and effective kicking. He came second in his category and received a big trophy prize. He really demonstrated his own Indomitable Spirit that day by not giving in to fear; he refused to be beaten before he stepped onto the mats to compete.

“It is not so much the size of the dog in the fight, as the size of the fight in the dog." Mark Twain

Outside the dojang

Outside of the training hall the same courage may be required. You could be walking along the street one day and see one or more attackers picking on someone vulnerable. You have a choice to make when you see this and may only have a split second in which to make this decision. I don’t think we ever really know how we will behave when confronted by a dangerous situation, as adrenalin can cause extreme reactions in our bodies, but I think we’d all like to believe that we wouldn’t just walk on by and pretend it has nothing to do with us.

It might not always be a “someone” that you might have to take on; it could be a challenge of a different kind, such as public speaking, sky diving, overcoming a fear of heights, learning to drive etc. Whatever your own personal challenges, with an Indomitable Spirit you can alter how you approach a challenge and maybe even overcome your fears!