A little story about Ki.
 

Once upon a time there was harmony. Then came quantity and trouble. During this time zero was wondering what the cause of all this disharmony was.

So zero one day saw the number one crying and asked the number one what it's problem was. Number one explained how it was depressed and felt small and that number two was always putting it down and showing how it will always be greater than one and such was the way of the universe.

On further inspection zero found the other numbers all had the same problem, always feeling less than the 'greater' number. Mmmmmm, but zero never had a problem. Zero felt good about everything. Alas now zero was trying to understand how comes they all had problems and because of that were all trying to use various methods of self improvement or joining together as groups to feel more powerful and 'safe' and yet had lost the way of harmony.

One day zero was passing by number one and number one called out to it. "How comes you're always happy?" it asked. Zero stopped and asked one as to who was the strongest, the greatest, the biggest individual number. "Number nine obviously" said one and added that it was always acting so superior and arrogant. "Is number nine happy and fulfilled?" asked zero. One got confused as it realized nine wasn't and indeed was never satisfied.

At that point one suddenly realized it was actually communicating to zero and realized there was some kind of connection. Zero smiled and recognized one was finally beginning to notice the truth.

"Whasssup?" said zero. "I don't know, it's something about you that seems to make all negativity disappear and me feel better" said one.

Zero explained. "But I am nothing. However all of you somethings came from me and I am always part of you. You cannot measure me as you do each other for I am not a quantity and yet I am truth and so quality. Do you realize that if you as one accept me fully and join with me we you will be one and zero and thus ten times stronger and stronger even than number nine but even then you will be a thousand times stronger than nine for you will be in harmony with yourself?"

Peace.G.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Here is a little story about a Walrus.

The time has come the Walrus said,
to talk of many of many things;
of shoes - and ships -and sealing wax
Of cabbages - and kings ,
And why the sea is boiling hot,
And whether pigs have wings.
To be cont.

Henry Ellis
Co-author `Positive Aikido`
http://aikido-stories.blogspot.com/

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Thanks A LOT. Now I have that song from Disney's Alice In Wonderland stuck in my head.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Let me know when you want the other 16 verses :D

Henry Ellis
Co-author `Positive Aikido`
http://aikido-stories.blogspot.com/

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

But maybe more congruent with the OP...

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Number one became enlightened and marveled at the world and the universe. One was now at one with zero and all was revealed.

In the modern world of computers and great numbers there was one and zero, the binary code and all else was illusion.

All those considering they were more than one, busy being special labels, bereft of truth, could only talk fairy tales for they were scared of nothing, scared of their-self.

But Ki flowed from zero and one became many but all were one and zero only despite their grandiose discernment's.

And zero produced light and love as soul and heart. Spirit and mind as kindness and stillness. And all was Aikido.

And one being at one with this could see and enjoy life.

It's all good.:)

Peace.G.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Quote:
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

Oh no! Another post about "aiki".

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

`I weep for you,` the Walrus said:
`I deeply sympathise,`
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Ranging from zero to nine
The Walrus said ` The oddball is mine `

Henry Ellis
Co-author `Positive Aikido`
http://aikido-stories.blogspot.com/

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

"The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head--
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster-bed."

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

And budo was love and love was natural. But all the numbers had gradually lost the truth and love had become a mysterious thing. Thus spiritual space beingness itself was lost and rather than being there was only becoming. Rather than heaven, a place of pure support and oneness there was only disconnection and discontent and untrustwothyness. And the connection itself, kokyu was lost.

And the stillness of mind was lost and with it intelligence and wisdom. Replaced by cleverness and intellect. And now being without oneness they individuated and lost spiritual views and became more and more physical even in thought and thus came about differences meaning superior or inferior, and all other dualities and duellistic think.

Being now disconnected from direct experience of Ki the cleverness and intellect was seen as the prime mover along with the emotions caused by the loss of love. All was upside down and intellect said that the now mysterious thing called Ki was led by mind.

And the light was lost also and thus with it the soul. The godlyness, the goodness. And the dark side was created and intellect replaced good with Right and of course wrong. Thus insanity was created for right meant right irrespective of wether it was good and any good which wasn't right was therefor considered wrong. Thus joined with cleverness and intellect war became right, superiority became right and madness became normal.

And the non resistive spirit of devine kindness had been lost. And spirit became a troubled violent thing and thus was abused and used for warring and dressed up as warrior spirit.

The downward spiral.

Numbers became blind and only able to see physically. Numbers became weak and needed armies and groups and unified costumes and identities to feel safe for inside they were fearful. And numbers became things only and so paranoid about their identity and social position for they were insecure. Happiness was gone and replaced by cynicism, sarcasm and at best glee.

Zero was gone and yet left the numbers with an inconsolable black hole, an inverted void and thus they craved. Craved power, craved ability to dominate or undermine, craved more and more things, craved recognition as special, craved rank and craved control. Became jealous and envious, avarice was born and greed, and them and us became the norm.

Aikido was merely a dream. Ki was seen as a fallacy or mystical force. Love was seen as a weakness. Kindness was now merely seen as some kind of pity. Meakness being non resistance was now seen as some kind of subservient weakness. And so it was, and so it is.

Yet truth is always there, waiting to be returned to, a place of peace and harmony, a place of Aikido.

Peace.G.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Second time a spiritual thread has been moved from the spiritual section. Mmmmmm. Bless.

Peace.G.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Dear Graham, ????????????? Joe.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Just a bit of wisdom Joe, nothing special. Zen, spiritual, given in good faith.

Peace.G.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Except that, in the world of computers, it's not actually one and zero. Those are just the labels we use for two values that are neither zero nor one.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Really? You may expand into various meanings but I am talking wisdom and base logic. Binary is 1 and 0 and that's it's fundamental principle.

You are therefor basically one and zero, something and nothing. All is based on 1 and 0.

Then of course and thereafter there are eight directions:)

Peace.G.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Binary is a reductionist model and a convenient way to describe a reality that is not binary. The voltages that are used in electronics systems where binary is used have values that are neither 1 nor 0. In fact, there's no hard and fast reason why binary has to be the basis of electronics - the possibility of ternary systems was explored as well, maybe more. Binary became the consensus model as a matter of convenience and ease of implementation, not because it embodies some inherent universal truth. It doesn't.

No, it isn't, and no, I'm not.

You frequently make admiring references to Buddhism, so I wonder how you reconcile your "All is based on 1 and 0" with the Buddhist teachings on equanimity.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

The 1 and the 0 are arbitrary.It is far more correct to say on and off for primitive computers or logic-high and logic-low for modern computers that use two-state logic. Three-state logic is also used, with the third state not actually being a logic level but an uncontrolled condition. Two and three-state logic systems are used because they are simple and easy, not because they are the way the world works. The world and the people in it are far more analog.

Why aren't concrete metaphors and analogies for spiritual things more precise? Why must we use metaphors and analogies to explain spiritual matters? Why are they so dang subjective? Why is spiritual wisdom so inconsistent between cultures, between individuals?

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Sorry, don't agree. All I can say is "You'll be surprised".

Buddhist teachings? They fit well and it also fits with yin and yang.

Peace.G.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

I love that word 'arbitrary'. Truth can be seen as arbitrary and yet if truth is actually concrete.

Indeed why aren't they as spiritual analogies and metaphors more precise? Because the receivers of them are not precise.

Why must we use analogies for spiritual matters? Ask O'Sensei, he pointed it out quite concretely. Physical matters science has a good handle on but spiritual it has hardly even started.

Subjective depends on what you call subjective. For those not used to seeing a reality it is subjective.

Why is spiritual wisdom so inconsistent between cultures and individuals? Is it? For those without it then it would seem so. For those with it then they see the similarities and consistencies.

Zen specialized in such analogies but actually were mainly designed for the one person the koan was given to based on the zen masters spiritual perception of what the particular student needed to contemplate and get to grips with. Quite an ability I would say, especially when it's purpose was by that one thing to lead the student to enlightenment.

So I say to you that I find the words of O'Sensei far from spiritual ramblings and the job for Aikidoka is to one day see the concreteness of them.

Peace.G.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Oh? Do you also "don't agree" that 2+2=4? My statement was every bit as factual as that.

Not unless you've got some more compelling arguments to bring forward than you ever have here. You assert, Graham. You make statements that bluntly contradict experience and observable fact. You offer nothing in support of these statements except the newage equivalent of a four-year-old insisting, "Is, is, is, is, IS!!!" You can probably find people somewhere who accept the Yoda act as a certificate of authority to pronounce on esoteric matters, but I'm not one of those people, and never will be.

Very well. Then explain, if you would, the Buddhist teachings on equanimity,a nd exactly how your dualistic view of the universe (this week) reconciles with them.

As an alternative, you could say something like, "You know what? I don't really know much about Buddhism, in fact I only know the vaguest things about it. It seems kinda cool, but when you come right down to it, I don't really know what it's about, or what the Buddhist view on dualism is." I certainly wouldn't look down on you for saying this. But if you're going to use references to a spiritual tradition, you should certainly be knowledgeable about its fundamental principles.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Mary, I make statements that contradict whose observations? Wisdom may seem contradictory to you as do many spiritual principles. My job is not to convince you so there is no argument to have.

If you see my view as dualistic then you don't see my view at all.

There have been many Buddha's and will be many more too. Different Buddha's have given different teachings. A basic principle is that you are asleep and thus not aware of the truth. There, that's basic to all of them.

Thus you are in a dream, an illusion. In dreams do you have your eyes open? Yes of course you do yet in dreams you are asleep.

My principles in Aikido are non dualistic and thus non duellistic.

Basic Buddhist principle is you are nothing. Zero. As O'Sensei said "Until you stand in the void you cannot understand Aikido".

On these things I have no argument for I leave that to those of dualistic reasoning.

Don't worry though, I have given many spiritual principles on the spiritual forum all in alignment with basic Buddhist precepts and any other enlightened ism. Spoon feeding is not an option only presenting them to be practiced.

Peace.G.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

"Spoon feeding is not an option", indeed, if you're simply regurgitating pop psychology rather than speaking from a sound understanding, and is even less of an option if you disclaim your earlier statements every time they're substantially refuted. You continue to reinforce rather than challenge my opinion, but then, as you've pointed out, it's not your job to convince me. I hope that one day you'll throw up your hands, ask yourself why you have this need to tie everything together into a nice neat perfect spiritually-correct package (and never mind the messy reality that contradicts it), drop the story line, and get on with it.

Re: A little story about Ki.
 

Maybe it is you who reinforce your own opinion.

I don't regurgitate any others 'psychology' as my own thanks. I say what is sound understanding, well practiced and demonstrated.

I wish one day many will throw up their hands and ask themselves why they don't know the spiritually-correct base.:)

Of course...if in doubt dismiss and miss the beauty.

Peace.G.