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Forum Member
 
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Last Login: 3/13/2008 1:10:38 PM
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| | I heard something interesting and wanted to share because it helped me put aikido as a martial art into perspective. We have always been taught that WWII was a clash of idealogies. The extreme right (fascism) collided with the extreme left (communism). We are taught that these two forces are opposites. However, when two forces are identified by the same qualities and use the same means, they are not truly opposites at all - they are the same. Both ideologies believed in centralized control, exploitation, military dictatorship, and concentration camps. They are really identical in mindset, only differing in minor details. The mindset which believes that violence, wars, or conflict is an option (much less an obvious one) is the true opposite to the mindset that violence, wars and conflict are never an option because violence does not solve anything. The light bulb came on to me because this describes the unique nature of aikido among the other martial arts. It is the one that embraces peace and understanding rather than the adminstering of greater or more efficient violence. I also believe that this common belief that "Violence can only be overcome by greater violence" is a fundamental one to all combat and fighting. I've read that it is for this reason that O'sensei was adamantly against competitions of aikido because they lead to embracing this belief. It makes sense to me, then, why people have trouble understanding the philosophy of aikido. Further, this lack of proper mindset is an impediment to learning aikido. If you are lured by the idea of embracing conflict or using force, your technique will be poor (at best), and more that likely it won't work at all. If your mindset is wrong, your technique will suffer and you won't learn. Aikido is not combat nor is it fighting. Although my ears have heard these things many times in the dojo, it finally made it through my thick skull. |
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Junior Member
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Last Login: 9/22/2006 2:18:39 PM
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| Fascism and communism are two political ideologies... when you consider the political spectrum to be circular rather than flatly linear the extreme left and extreme right converge rather than diverge. -- Fascism and communism are found at the same points of the spectrum. Had a couple of world leaders taken a step back and spent some time understanding and empathizing with each other, its highly possible the world we know would be vastly different.
"Violence can only be overcome by greater violence" is more of a result of a deeper world reality -- much of our peace in the world comes through fear rather than mutual understanding. Since it is fear, fear can and has been easily established by superiority (in the US' case, it'd be our remarkable ability to bomb brown people.) The quote itself, more or less illustrates a common fearmongering tactic, used to force peace.
A peace that is forced through fear, rather than something that is achieved through respect and mutual understanding can never bring about a true inner peace. Without inner peace I cannot see how aikido would flow.
No worries Tristan, my skull is considerably more thick.
In Ki we trust. |
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Forum Guru
Group: Administrators
Last Login: 8/27/2008 12:13:41 AM
Posts: 139, Visits: 701 |
| Be careful with your wide-sweeping generalizations. I don't see either of you, or anyone else in Aikido Bukou, that fits these stereotypes, which is, of course, desirable. This demonstrates my point that things are mostly shades of gray. Hang on for a second...
In the course of dealing with extremes, one often makes an extreme statement him-/herself. Fascism = extreme right, communism = extreme left. Is it always so? Is a communist always purely leftist? Don't tell me "Okay, the person might not, be but the idea is." An idea is only as good as its implementation by an individual or group of them.
That's something I see in aikido. Everyone talks, everyone has great thoughts, but those things are not always purely represented when they take form in action.
My only reason for butting in, and I have to, is to offer caution on the slippery precipice you're on. In my training, I've witnessed Aikido isn't about "peace", it's about harmony, equilibrium. Peace is either mandated or a personal choice, but you have to look for the truth as hard as you can before most anything else. Usually, you'll find an answer there. As Carl said, I don't see aikido truly happening without "inner peace", or to paraphrase, "balance".
Personal experience has shown me a number of reasons why people don't warm up to something like aikido. Undeniably, they all have had the same cause: the inability to let go. Add your own noun at the end of the sentence. If we can't let go of prejudices, stereotypes, experiences, egos, et al, how can we control ourselves at all? "Mushin" is a great word.
*Phil
Enso Aikido Dojo
Burnsville, MN
"Q: If you're rolling along the ocean on a jet ski and the wheels fall off, do you still have enough pancakes to cover a doghouse?
A: Purple, because ice cream has no bones." |
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