The balance

Harmony will make you a better martial artist and a nicer human being

You may not know it, but the ends of your belt are supposed to be of equal length. This is to represent the mental and the physical sides of karate: both even and balanced. Some people say that it represents a balance between using hands and feet. Whatever - the point is, the idea of harmony and balance is central to martial arts and Eastern philosophy.

The classic martial arts symbol for this is Yin and Yang, which depicts many concepts - a sense of duality, opposites, light and dark, eternity, perfection, and balance. If you do not achieve balance, or harmony, then your karate will not properly improve - you may get the next belt and defeat the odd person but you won't learn the true meaning of karate. As your powers grow, so too should your humbleness. Your confidence should be about inner power and peace of mind, rather than becoming arrogant and cocky, looking down on fellow students thinking you are better than them. Even if you are not strong at kata, or sparring, or whatever, if you show respect and determination, and you give 100% effort you can still grade. But as you work on your areas of strength, you will find that your weak areas grow in balance, with every skill affecting every other one.

Paraphrased from an email from Chris Pond.