View Single Post
Old 12-20-2008, 12:02 PM   #424
Aikibu
Dojo: West Wind Dojo Santa Monica California
Location: Malibu, California
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,295
United_States
Offline
Re: The continued Evolution of Aikido

Quote:
Joe McParland wrote: View Post
But, if you find yourself rooted in Form rather than the Formless (budo), you're lost.
True enough I "suppose". However perhaps you should contemplate that one cannot know Budo unless one expresses a "form" of Budo and that maybe that is the meaning of "hiding in plain sight."

Being rooted in "form" Bu is a natural stage of progression on the journey Do

Bashing (or not bashing for that matter) someone over the head with a rock is no more Budo than never practicing a Budo "form" at all if one is not aware they are on the "path". However it can still be an expression of Budo that much is true. This would not make the person Budoka unless they became aware of it in the moment they expressed it.

The only illusion here (for lack of a better metaphor) is believing your form is the only path up the mountain.

So IMHO Clarence's questioning of form is a natural stage of his development towards realizing Budo.

Our "role" is to help him along his journey.

William Hazen