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Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
Tom,
I just got my Oomoto kyo book in the mail today. I am excited about it. Regarding shamanism, as a deep ecologist, i am deeply moved by Apela Colorado's position that one must first tap into your own DNA's indigenous mind. For me, that is Celtic, andalusian and Amerindian. Our ancestry is in our DNA, we also have a tribal memory. This connection is like a silver chord to our "knowing". Thus, I am moved by the Hopi traditional elders like Dan Evehema as well as the Mayan Eagle Clan priests. Being from Texas (Father's side since 1820 and mother's side from Mexico and Spaniards, Teotijuacan, Yaqui curanderos and Comanche shamanism is like eating locally grown veggies. My Spanish (Andalusian) connection has all the emotive connection to mediterainian Sufism, and Christian Mysticism as it runs through me like hot blood. Then comes my Asian practices. It is foolish not to dabble in the tantra. My closest teachers right now are Will Taegel (Comanche/Lakota), Carlos Barrios (Mayan), and Andrew Harvey (Indian Raj and British). Each are well healed in mystic/Shamanistic practices as well as being highly educated. Andrew Harvey is a poet, novelist, translator, mystical scholar and lecturer. At the age of 21, he became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford University. England's highest academic honor. He has taught at Oxford, Cornell, Hobart and Smith Colleges, California Institute of Integral Studies, and UCS. Honors he has received include the Benjamin Franklin Award and the Mind Body Spirit Award and the Christmas Humphries Award. He is the author and editor of over 30 books including: The Return of the Mother and Son of Man: The Mystical Path to Christ, and The Direct Path. He is Founder and Director of the Institute of Sacred Activism, and his forthcoming book The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism is being published in Dr. Apela Colorado, a member of the Oneida tribe and traditional cultural practitioner, created the first doctoral program in traditional knowledge at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She also established the Spirit Camp cultural revitalization project at the University of Alaska and began the Native Social Work concentration at the University of Calgary. With assistance from the Canadian International Development Agency, Dr. Colorado founded the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network (WISN) in 1989. WISN brought together western scientists and indigenous practitioners of traditional knowledge in a series of international workshops, conferences, and overseas projects. The work created a forum and established a process to promote consensus, collaboration and cooperation between experts of western and indigenous knowledge in conservation and education programs and alternative resource development. Dr. Colorado is Director of Wisdom University's Indigenous Mind Program, which offers Masters and Ph.D. degrees. Will Taegel (website) Ph.D., Wisdom University D. Min, Graduate Theological Union M. Div., Emory University, Summa Cum Laude B. A., McMurry University, Summa Cum Laude Licensed Professional Counselor, State of Texas Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, State of Texas Will Taegel brings an integral approach to his work at Wisdom University as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Chair of the Academic Council. He weds his Native American background and traditional training in shamanic circles with his 30 year practice of psychotherapy, including a stint as Chair of the Texas State Board of Examiners in Psychotherapy. He balances his academic interest in evolution and trauma with the spiritual practice of rain water collection, solar and wind energy, and environmental restoration. He is the author of 8 books and numerous professional articles. He was among the first researchers to connect clinical and cultural disturbance with human estrangement from the sacred core of Nature and, in that regard, to build a number of ongoing eco-spiritual communities and is the co-founder, with Judith Yost, of an eco-spiritual, integral practice community called the Earthtribe. The above are my mentors at Wisdom university. At any given class, there are about 30 shamans from various traditions. Finally,Carlos Barrios was given permission by Wandering Wolf (Don Alejandro Perez Oxlaj) to conduct fire ceremonies for non Mayans. I was present at the first one (in Beliz) and follow their message closely. I hope to get closer to their practice some day. Puha Chris |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
If I were to recommend books, they would be less historical. They would be writings and stories designed to pull you into and through the veil itself.
Toltec: don Miguel Ruiz http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keyw...0Ruiz&p age=1 Mayan: Carlos Barrios http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keyw...Carlos+Barrios Will Taegel http://www.amazon.com/Many-Colored-B...William+Taegel Black Elk http://www.amazon.com/Black-Elk-Spea...ack+elk+speaks Andrew Harvey http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is...=Andrew+harvey David Abram http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is...ecoming+animal Happy journey Chris |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
I just slept on what I wrote:
You might want to begin with Abrams: becoming Animal Then Derrick Jensens' "A Language Older Than Words" http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1931498555 Then Peter Kingsley A Story Waiting to Pierce You: Mongolia, Tibet and the Destiny of the Western World http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1890350214 If you want to be shaken to the core. Chris |
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I like that idea of the teflon mind and think it's in the proper spirit for budo...what little I can be said to understand of it, anyway. Picking your battles; deciding which things to cling to and which to let go of can be very subtle and often are under-appreciated. Aikiweb often serves as a good reminder for me in this...even though I probably often forget it. Sincerely, Matthew |
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Like your Buddhist monk story. I wrote earlier how sympathy leaves you covered in others stuff whereas empathy allows you to be with them yet remain yourself clear and 'teflon. I follow this rule in Aikido and life and it's more like this: They come, they leave in a better condition. So I understand the story well for as soon as you are a good listener and willing to be with then people turn up non-stop to give you their problems. So I end up being in life counselor, healer and guide. To me it's all Aikido. In this world of 'should be's and must be's and "now I'm supposed to's" I find it's best to just carry on improving your own self and ability and staying on the path. Someone comes they are coming for a reason and to me that is all there is, it's not a problem, it's all good. Improve self, help others improve themselves, what better game is there? Thanks for the post. Peace.G. |
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You are one of the least guilty and I too am guilty. It's interesting how we can be led or even get carried away ourselves at times. I found it fascinating when asked to answer questions which are off topic and yet feeling it's rude not to but this also leads to more and more off topic. A very important part of Ki Aikido for example is leading Ki or leading the mind and so it is on here too. Good practice for staying centred and 'immovable mind' etc. I would say. Peace.G. |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
As for me, I apologize to you as well.
And as for this thread, I would like to know... Were you only intending to focus on your Spiritual Aikido or were you inviting others to share their experience of Spirit as well? Best Regards, Chris |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
This bears upon empathy and, I believe, aikido:
http://www.ted.com/talks/vs_ramachan...ilization.html |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
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Good question though. I would love to hear any spiritual perspectives especially in relation to Aikido and principles thereof. I'm not really into 'argument' but more into sharing so feel free. I use the principle of acceptance and relate it to centre as you may well have read before. Thus I see 'argument' more as a lazy mind activity rather than constructive communication or debate. Argument tends for the most part to lack acceptance and therefor those who continually do so lack centre. This is all part of my Aikido and way for example. Peace.G. |
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Tom |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
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Sounds like a good suggestion to me. Perhaps you should formulate some clear rules? I too would like to hear others spiritual perspective in relation to Aikido. But would prefer to see it without judgement and debate. Tom |
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Thank you very much for this booklist. I read Black Elk, but the other names are all new to me. I am intrigued by the idea of tribal memory. It fits in with my own experiences, but did not know that there were texts available on that subject. Ecology, living in and with nature is important to me, even more so since I moved to France. But the link with shamanism is harder too find here, I think. I think you have set me on a new track. Thanks! Gassho, Tom |
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Jim Garrison, Will Taegel and Andrew harvey will definitely be there. I have to miss it. https://www.wisdomuniversity.org/ChartresOverview.htm or Avebury, UK June 23-29. https://www.wisdomuniversity.org/AveburyOverview.htm Be Well, Chris |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
Heaven and earth
Earth There is so much talk these days about being grounded in the martial traditions. All the while, we wear shoes that most likely have rubber soles and walk on fabricated slabs of concrete suspended in office high rises. We sit in chairs with our feet barely touching the ground. We ride in cars that roll so fast upon the roads that we cannot sense the changes of micro-climate, texture or smell along the road. We fly in airplanes that shield us from any sense of grounding. And we sleep in beds elevated on four posts. It is very rare that we take the time to dig our toes into the earth and feel gravity do its thing. That gravitational force that holds us to the ground was once called “Eros”. Perhaps it is the natural desire of our body to caress the ground that inspired the Greek cosmologists to name it that way. And perhaps we all give assent to this model when we say we “fall in love” as if we cannot resist the force of gravity. But earth does not take without giving back. Neither I nor the earth is an object in this interplay. Feminist writers have often shown us how, even in our language, we have etched a fear-based objectification of all things animate and inanimate. Consider the sentence, “I make love to this woman”. “I” is the subject. “Make love” is the verb. “To this woman” is the object. This one sentence encompasses thousands of years of domination and patriarchy, as if someone is objectified as the “other” you can do violence to them. Not so with the earth. Once I learn and respect the nature of earth, she and I are subjects engaging in interplay. She is the greater force, but not one to be feared. We engage in Eros together, as partners. She returns her essence through me as I surrender my weight to her. And if I remain structurally sound, her gifts can move through me and can be directed by my intention. This kind of relationship cannot be reductionist. You cannot just quote Newton and say, “you push on the earth and the earth pushes back.” Hans Gadamer, perhaps, found the better metaphor. It is the interplay between two subjects. We make love together. I learn from her like she is my mother. When I sleep, I melt into her and receive healing. There is no need to push on her as would an impatient child clamoring to get a response from an adult. Her response comes naturally. And when it comes, if we are patient, the energies and momentums flow through us to perform work, to heal and to respond to aggression. Touching Heaven Earth is dwarfed by the heavens. And within the heavens, there are multitudes of planets and suns that, like the earth, pull upon me with Eros. They elongate me and massage my upper torso as they lift my frame. Indeed, I would be flung into the arms of heaven if it was not for the earth also caressing me. We develop the perfect ménage-a-trois. My breath fills the bellows of my lungs as I am lifted. My crown point naturally aligns directly over my perineum. My pelvic girdle relaxes and tucks. My belly button sinks towards my spine and as I exhale, my whole frontal centerline sinks along with it; deeper and deeper into my spine. The pressure feels like a balloon within a balloon as I breath again. As the heavens and I love, I find that they, too, are generous. Energy pours down into me as if I were an erect antenna and fuses with the energy of the earth. I constrict my muscles as heavenly, earthly and my own energy flows and moves as a forward rotating ball within my lower belly. The mixture moves into my limbs and presses it into my bones with each flexion as if I was bathing in a bath of elixir. The elixir streams down and through my organs, sometimes like a subtle effervescence. As I work, the process occurs naturally, my two lovers ever-present and never tiring. And as I give them my attention, they awaken my spine and limbs. My organs are filled with supple joy. Who would refuse such surrender as the ebb and flow of their tides cause the boundaries of my body to become nebulous. Where do I end and where do my lovers begin? I invite my human partner into this flow. It is tantric. We test the stability of each other’s antenna, toppling and somersaulting as we grin. There is no adversary. There are only molecules dancing. Clumps of molecules and atoms; cells, together, creating form. And forms moving, dancing, and at play and in harmony. I see an aggressor intruding into this flow. But he is pushing upon the earth and avoiding the heavens. His antenna is kinked at the base. Blending in this relationship is without contention. No fear, no emotion, no harm. I offer love, but as he presses, I offer weight to his unstable frame and the earth receives him. I whisper into his ear that he should remain there and be healed for a while. The earth wants to make love with him too. So do the heavens. Lovingly, Chris |
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Tom, I don't think I could make rules as such for the rules of the forum are enough I think and I don't want to control what people should or shouldn't say. However Chris's post above gave me an idea of writing kind of spiritually descriptive and even poetic about my experience of Aikido. Mmmm. Interesting. Peace.G. |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
Earth
Gravity, that all powerful attraction. I meet it by learning to let go of the body. All part of non-attatchment. The base of the spine opens like a doorway as I become one with mother nature and enter the void. Faith joins in. Faith like a great bowl below the earth and this I call Koshi. Koshi and the void from which mother nature gives all. I feel the river, I become the river, I feel the rocks, I become the rocks, I feel any part of mother nature I become that part, the body joins in. Infinite capacity. Feel the wind and flow. The home of the soul and as I go to bed and sink into the mattress Koshi opens and soul goes home to rest and I sink into koshi, the void. As I do Aikido the void of koshi receives any and everything any opponent offers into nothingness and gives back nothing, that nothing which joins them to gravity and returns them to mother nature. It is not a ton weight it is merely an opening to koshi, a meeting with mother nature, a reminder of part of their true self and the universe. Each move is a lesson. A reminder of their own potential and divinity. A wake up call. An invite. The energy of mother nature floods through the body for it comes from her and it returns to her and so it is I who am the borrower engaged in this this universal existence and the magic of life. Each day and each night is Aikido. Peace.G. |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
As I step on the mat...I take apart everyone who thinks like the above examples .......I thank good training, not mother earth, eros, father sky...or anything else that essentially does not one meaningful thing to help those followimg such paths.....
To remain vertical. Dan |
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o wait, thats not vertical, more .................... |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
Death Haiku for Spiritual Aikido Words, Just Empty Words No Depth, No Spirit, No Use Uncle Darwin Smiles Marc Abrams |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
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Surely they do at least one thing to help those following such paths. The question is what. Let's assume they don't undertsand how to use their mind-body as well as you, like just about everyone else you teach, does that invalidate the spirituality of their Aikido? Does a "lesser" understanding invalidate the spirituality? |
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Maybe we should look at your question from the opposite side. What is the validity of assumed spirituality in absence of consensual reality? In many respects, deep spirituality is integrally linked to the depth of reality of one's life (my opinion at least). Marc Abrams |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
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As for me, I have made survival my primary forcus. I will be 59 years old in one week. I believe myself to be successful at my goal as well. Since I began in Kenpo in 1974, I started protecting people and surviving. I survived being a drug and undocumented alien hunter while in the Border Patrol where I ecountered at least 40 "resistings" that were rather dangerous We often worked the King Ranch and Kennedy Ranches alone in the day and only with one partner at night. Back up could be a hour away. I survived every one of these fights without having to cause blood, bruises or broken bones on the perpetrators. That was my standard and I succeeded mainly due to Colonel Mark Mile's style of jujitsu and Russell Waddel's Tomiki Aikido. My kenpo would have just taken me to the opposite extreme and likely before the internal affairs board. Before the Border patrol, in1983, I surived the the streets of Managua, Estelli and a dozen other Nicaraguan towns as I wrote my Thesis for the Master of Divinity at Princeton Seminary. As a professional body guard for the last 21 years, I have gone unarmed in places most sane police would not go to in Mexico City, Tijuana, Mexicali, Juarez, Nuevo Laredo and Matamorros. In those places, you simply do not bring your "Boxer Rebellion" to the terrain in order to face down gangs with machine guns. Strategy became the greater tool. And with it, I survived. When I was 50 years old, a government subcontractor hired me and let me carry a Tabook (pistol grip AK 47) in Baghdad, Iraq in 2004. Still, in that environment, teamwork with fields of fire and team-centered driving skills became the best strategy to protect my team, my client and myself (a new military-style paradigm for me rather than a State Department/Secret Service model), My empty hand and sword skills were much less of a priority, though I trained with the guys there both in Aikido and Jujitsu. If I or anyone there overly touted their fighting skills, the team would have become rather nervous as if that person were a loose cannon. Everyone had fighting skills on that team, the Brits, the Americans, the South Africans the Poles, the Lebanese, Spaniards and the Iraqi's. Now, I am old. Like Sitting Bull, I would say, "Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strengh". That is my path. I do not judge anyone for having a different path. Neither does it mean I no longer want to perfect my martial skills. Best Wishes, Chris Attachment 1025 |
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In Aikido it is equally difficult in that we are willing to accept that the art is a mix of the spiritual and the technical. The question is... does great technique yield deep spirituality? I think it is apparent to all of us that this is not a necessary result. Or does spiritual insight yield great technique. I think we can readily see the disconnect there. If you look at someone like the Founder, he was rather other worldly in both respects. He had a very different world paradigm from that in which most folks function. He also had a technical level of ability that seemed other worldly to many. I do think that what makes Aikido truly Aikido is that if ones insight is valid, he or she can manifest that insight on the mat technically. That's the bottom line. Ones "other worldly" spirituality and technique needs to function with people whose reality is firmly anchored in the ordinary mundane world. O-Sensei could walk his talk. Most of the deshi could walk their talk on some level. Most of our contemporary Aikido folks cannot do so on the level that was once considered important. |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
Hi Everyone,
I apologize ahead of time for length of this. I have appreciated reading everyone's posts on this topic and have found them to be thought provoking. I continue to be fascinated by the levels of interest that Aikidoists sustain in the spiritual aspect of training and how difficult it is to talk about it. My own interest in Aikido was sparked when I learned that there was a martial art that was based on fostering harmony between people instead of conflict. This was influenced to some degree on fantasies generated by watching too many Kung Fu episodes as a kid, but even so I think my desire to face fear and open up to life was genuine. This was the hook for me - to become strong enough to manage a martial situation and at the same time to have the choice of sparing my enemies and fostering the common good. This is, actually, the ancient and noble archetype of the warrior-king and many people admire it. My own personality is such that this promise of becoming an effectively better person through practice remains deeply appealing. Actively engaging in the well-being of others is my "default setting", so to speak. Like most default settings, this has some major downsides. I will spare everyone an exposition of my own personal material, but for those interested in an insight into the craziness of do-gooders I suggest looking up the "The Proverbs of Hell" from "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" by William Blake. In any case, my own ideas about Spirituality and Aikido have evolved over the years. To provide some context, let me just say that I have become moderately proficient in conventional Aikido practice. I have become increasingly interested in what is happening inside Aikido techniques and between me and my partners. I have also had a brief introduction to IP through Dan Harden and came way believing that this material was extremely important to Aikido. This direction in my physical practice has informed my spiritual experiences in important ways. The essential point of a spiritual practice is that it changes one's consciousness. The daily circumstances of life can narrow our vision and disconnect us from what the soul needs in order to live out its potentialities. This is one reason why it is useful for dojos to be so beautiful in austere way. If Aikido was solely concerned with training fighting or self defense, one could practice in any gym. It might even be advantageous to train somewhere ugly. However, stepping onto the mat in a meticulous dojo that is beautifully designed invites a change of consciousness on the part of the practitioner. It draws one to a sense of nobility and larger purpose. This beginning of expanding one's mind is not fantasy but is a real and critical process that is at the core of human transformation. Aikido training, when striving for a high level, can transcend the physical and gives us an amazing sense of enlarging our life. Its forms echo the forms of nature and the larger world and demonstrate how the human sense of beauty is connected to strength of form. To take a set of movements whose genesis is the lowest forms of human behavior and transmute it into something life affirming is valuable sort of alchemy. By working through the predicaments and trials of an effective Aikido practice, a person comes away stronger and with an expanded capacity to live in the world. Underlying all of this is a fundamental perception of the mystery that is at the root of existence and is the heart of all great religions. I think Aikido has the capacity to enable the practitioner to experience all of this physically in the body and work with spiritual themes in ways that are very integrating. This approach to spirituality is not unique to Aikido. It can be found in traditional religions as well as art, poetry, storytelling, music and other great forms of human discipline and expression. This then brings me to the question of martial effectiveness. Each of the human disciplines has parameters that enables a person achieve the quality of experience that the path promises. For example, to be able to produce music that truly moves the human soul requires a huge amount of study, effort and practice. If a person ignores musical principles and just tries to "do their own thing", they often simply produce lousy music. It is clear to me that if I am not interested in really embodying the principles that Aikido is trying to get me to find, I will simply do lousy Aikido and in consequence also miss out on the authentic spiritual experience that would otherwise be available. The great thing about effective practice is that it exposes our shortcomings and provides feedback about our technique. A t the same time it exposes our spiritual condition, whether we are aware of it or not. This exposure is the key to growth. Aikido in the world has become a large landscape. On one hand, I think it is entirely possible to have a deep spiritual training without focusing on becoming an effective fighter or physically more powerful than other people. For example, I am probably not alone in recognizing that physical prowess has been of no use to me at all in dealing with the most wrenching dilemmas in my life so far. These have required me to call upon some other aspects of my character. I might even go so far as to say that having an internal access to a sense of mother earth has, in some cases, been way more useful. However, it is extremely important not to be deluded. If one wants to practice a highly rarified form of Aikido where all of the movements are symbolic, then this is fine. However confusing this type of practice with one that is creates martial effectiveness is not a good thing. Delusion is not a sign of spiritual clarity. Dan Harden likes to challenge Aikidoists to delve deeply and demand a higher level from their art. Even further, he is challenging us to put something back into the art that has been lost. I think he is doing a great service in doing so. At the same time, I don't think that martial effectiveness negates the spiritual evolution of someone who doesn't have this power. It's ironic to me how many of the highest level teachers have conducted lives that are a mess while there are many middling students that are true gems as human beings. I would like to challenge Aikido to deeply question its spiritual dimensions in the same way that Dan challenges it physically. It is not easy to sustain focus on just one dimension of the art, say IP, and succeed. It is even more difficult to sustain effort in multiple dimensions at the same time. But this is what make a "way " hold up over time - that it has the capacity of being ever deeper and wider the more one goes into it. The fact that the art is difficult is part of the spiritual path and the reason that Aikido give us the warrior archetype to sustain us. I stayed with Aikido practice all this time because it has proven to be deep enough and difficult enough to sustain my interest. Aikido has also given me rewarding network of friendships with people I would have been unlikely to meet any other way. We tend to be an odd cast of characters and I enjoy this tremendously. Best regards, Don Hebert |
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Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
Don Herbert,
I loved your piece. It reminded me of when I first heard of Tai Chi Master Cheng Man-Ching being called the Master of the Five Excellences. calligraphy painting poetry Tai Chi medicine. Such a worthy goal. regards, Chris |
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John 3:6 "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."
Can any physical discipline (flesh) really provide a gateway into the spiritual? Also, notice the first Spirit is capitalized, implying -- can a spirit really enlighten itself or must it be "sparked" from an external, Spiritual source? Are we sometimes confusing perception and consciousness with true awakening and enlightenment? Is there another way "in"? |
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Where is memory stored? I think I know how to download memory with my brain. But where is it stored????? Where does inspiration come from? Creativity? Bewildered, Chris |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
Nice posts. Nice to see most on topic.
I could never teach anyone if their only view was on physical application and effectiveness. That seems so selfish and insular to me and is like seeing a leaf and yet being blind to the tree. Students must use the principles and improve their relationships with their family and friends as par for the course. They must learn to apply the principles to life and living itself. I find it is very zen koan really. To really improve martially to such higher levels then the principles learned 'seem' un-martial. Herein lies the secret of all advanced, beyond the norm, martial arts. Without knowing or reality of this then the logical mind could never see it for logically it doesn't make sense, or rather within the framework of usual thinking. Me, I don't consider taking another apart or any such type of views on the mat or in life situations. I prefer the challenge of making that other comfortable even if he is trying to take me apart. This I see as Aikido and is a much greater challenge than merely damaging another and takes much, much more discipline. Peace.G. |
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The spirit comes into play when you don't see uke as the enemy but as another self. When you don't see that those that disagree with you as seperate or wrong. When you don't think that you are more or less human than others. Aikido shows us all that.
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Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
Graham,
Just to be clear - however much I admire the goal of being able to protect the attacker, I don't have the skill. If my life was in danger from a strong physical attack I would most likely have to become an animal to survive - so much for my training. During practice I don't think much about this. I spend a lot of my time in the feedback loop - discovering that something I am doing doesn't work and then trying to fix it. I am then often amazed at the counter-intuitve natue of the solution. Best regards, Don |
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I think that's a very fair question and one that fits with my own sense of spirituality. Despite being rather devoutly anti-organized religion, I've come to love Jinja Shinto (as I loosely understand it). Largely becaus of its emphasis on the natural world; on understanding the world around and within us through observation and intuition. The tough thing for me in conversations about spirituality is that it seems like anything goes...in other words, it regularly doesn't seem to seek consensus from the physical reality we seem to live in...per my perception of it, at any rate. I'm an agnostic precisely because I seek that agreement from my 5 (or 6?) senses. I don't think others have to do this...and more to the point I don't think it's possible to judge others' perceptions in this regard. Nao Deguchi sounds like a lot of people I've seen on the streets of Seattle and Everett, never mind the even more interesting world the internet gives us access to. And yet, here's a person who sparked a tremendous spiritual influence on a relatively large number of people. I think a lot of people would write her off as a kook and yet because she lived in the untouchable past, she's given more authority. I apply this example to the Abrahamic religions as well. Prophets tend to be...well..."interesting," to say the least, but because I think of spirituality as the relationship between individuals and the "meta," I cannot judge them very far. Where I start to judge is where it impacts others; where it seeks to interject between the relationship of other's private relationships with that "meta." Even in that case though, I feel I have to respect the fact that people are autonomous individuals who will do what they want anyway. All I can do where I think I see a problem is offer the most reasonable or otherwise virtuous observations I can muster. I used to talk to some very frightening groups of people (Joy of Satan, anyone?) trying to critically evaluate and demonstrate holes in their attempted logic, but it rarely worked. That it didn't seem to work only made me try harder and I think if anything I only served to further entrench them in their views. I think it was the perceived oppositional nature of my language. This is an extreme example, but I think the principle holds true in more benign cases too. That all said, despite my strong affinity for scientific methods, I'm very proud of my Celtic and Native American heritage and often look to their surviving concepts for an understanding of the Universe. It's just another lense I use for trying to make sense of something vastly too...er...vast, for me to comprehend. Mythology and the like doesn't have to be correct in order to serve a valid purpose. If someone wants to literally believe a Crow swallowed the sun I don't think it's necessarily invalid even though I think that's impossible in the conventional sense. ...A bit of a ramble, sorry, but I hope that answers your question. Take care, Matt |
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In my experience, there is nothing wrong with becoming animal. Most hunter animals do not kill just to kill. They kill to eat and to survive. They fight, not to win, but to survive. And in the act, they will look into each other's eye as one gives up the ghost. As a human animal, I choose to do one more thing. As we kill for food (most of us citified martial artists are very divorced from this practice), I try to honor the ritual of becoming a protector of the rest of the animal kingdom from which my food source came. This, too, seems to be a major disconnect in modern Budo. Few of us question our food source, how it is raised, brought to market, and placed on our tables. We have no idea if the salmon will be running in 10 years or if the tuna will be radio active and die as a species. And I suspect we will pay a very big price for maintaining such a disconnect. Soon, we will see horrific violence in our cities. Food wars, water wars, and terrirotial wars will be in our neighborhoods. And I beleve only great courage, creativity and compassion will help us navigate our way out of it. Fighting each other will only add fuel to the fire. Waging Peace, Chris |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
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Such an admirable goal I teach is never to be let go of in the practice on the mat of Aikido. Of course most people believe they don't have the skill to or even that it's possible but I can only say to you that it is not only an admirable goal but can be standard procedure through all levels. When someone finds what they are doing doesn't work I can usually remind them of why and 100% of the time it is because they have failed to apply one of the principles of that 'admirable goal'. This is my experience. Although people read spiritual and equate it with various things I give spiritual principles to apply directly. Whenever someone is stuck I remind them. They may go into all kinds of reasons and feedback and loops and even internal or whatever but I point them back once again to the basic given principles and say there is no other reason. It's a discipline, it's zen like, it's no detours or other reasons. It's not working because you are not applying the said principle and that's all. Thus the person has no escape, they carry on until they do apply it. The problem is most are not taught such principles as a discipline and therefor are completely unaware of their effectiveness. Spiritual principles given as a rule, a law, a must follow, take you to places your mind doesn't want to go to yet when you do apply them you learn something new and enlightening let alone effective. Then it starts making sense. Peace.G. |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
Graham,
I am not sure I understand what you are trying to say. For me, the Aikido invites me into a more vivid experience of being alive and the opportunity to confront myself. However, the pratice itself is firmly rooted in the mundane. I can't move my partner, I just got hit, my structure just collapsed. These "problems" are the places where I actually make any progress. The rest is comfort zone. Another example: It is easy for me to care for partner's well being when training. They are my friends, most of them are nice. I am a nice guy. What a recipe for collusion! I am better off with partners who give me a hard time. Training doesn't have to be grim but I better be working hard or I will never advance. The clearer I become about what doesn't work for me personally the more interested I become in things like IP that can really inform the basis for effective movement in Aikido without having to depart from its goals or forms. Such skills are hard to acheive (and ultimately may require more dedication than I am able to invest). Ikeda Sensei has shown me personally how to do certain things multiple times and I still can't do them well (yet), Best regards, Don |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
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I assume you must be versed in Buddhism and a part of Buddhism I haven't seen touched on in these threads is that of past lives, previous existences. A fundamental tenet of Buddhism. The whole karmic cycle of being trapped in this recycled living. As O'Sensei was also well versed in Buddhism I find this surprising. The reason I say this is that firstly it points to the spiritual continuous you rather than the body and secondly that the whole theory of such cycles is to do with acting against your own true nature, doing harmful things etc. No wonder the way out is love and true 'budo' is love. Finally I'll leave you with this question: Throughout time immemorial through all your past lives and getting less and less aware what happened to your power? Why did it get less? Peace.G. |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
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For me too it leads to the same, more vivid, more alive, more confronting of self. Student: "I can't move my partner" Me: "Well we know that's not true, you're not moving him, that's true." Student: "Thus I got hit and structure collapsed and, and, and......" Me: "Yes, it appears that way but following that logic is not Aikido." Student: "Then how do I move him?" Me: "First by having no intention or desire to move him. Your only lessen is how to harmonize with him and he will move himself. This is Aikido." So Don, this is how I talk and do. This doesn't mean your way is 'wrong' just explains mine. Keep going. Peace.G. |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
Well, even in Buddhism, they allow for the option of calling into question all "beliefs" including their own. But I do really love the song by the Johnny Cash called Highwayman.
I fly a starship across the Universe divide And when I reach the other side I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can Perhaps I may become a highwayman again Or I may simply be a single drop of rain But I will remain And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again.. If such is true, I guess I have that covered. I committed myself as a baby Bodhisatva. Coming back as less..... We shall see. One of my Taiist training partners thinks he's going to become an immortal. He's well on the way. He got so strong internally, his Silat buddies cannot train with him anymore. His licks and strikes are way to strong. Be well, Chris |
Re: My Spiritual Aikido.
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Peace.G. |
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