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Shaun Ravens wrote:
Given the host of current threads that discuss variations on the "what's missing in Aikido?" "Why is it hidden in plain sight?" and "How can I get it?" I don't think you starting a thread about Seagal Sensei was a bad idea. See, he pushed people to ask themselves those same questions more than 25 years ago.
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Shaun, sorry, but I don't see that at all. He put the "big jerk" back in aikido....(was it missing? did we really need it?) but I have never heard of anything he did related to "internal mechanics" whatsoever. I think he has badly misused aikido for his own glorification and has thereby sent very bad messages into the world, using the very great power of a great martial art to imbed them deeply in the common consciousness--the sick actions of a sick mind.
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Shaun Ravens wrote:
He managed to rattle many feathers back in the day with those questions. People who are now asking those same questions are rattling feathers, too.
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Sorry again: what questions? He did emphasize "combat effectiveness" of aikido, but the questions of today are more along the lines of "what internal mechanics powered O Sensei's ability to be immoveable and also unstoppable?" Seagal's only answer seems to be "Be waaaayyy bigger than anyone else, have generally sound aikido technique and execute it without spiritual, moral or ethical concern."
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Shaun Ravens wrote:
There was and still is a certain mandatory level of negative response that should be expected I guess. Of course, Seagal Sensei did it from within the art. Forces that have recently mobilized are from outside of the art. However, things have moved far forward from 25 years ago. As such, the results being achieved today have been more pervasive in terms of their effect. Of course, those same effects have been about as negative as what was attributed to Seagal Sensei, himself. So go figure...
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No way, Shaun. The current discussions centered around Mike Sigman, Dan Harden and Minouru Akuzawa/Rob John all concern internal mechanics far more than theoretical "combat effectiveness" (and Segal's "combat effectiveness" seems to include a lot of magical Schwarzenegger-like ability to be unhit by machine gun fire while taking out one-bad-guy-per-bullet-fired from his own pistol).
Aiki is, in large part, a method of communicating from one's own subconscious mind to a would-be attacker's unconscious mind and shutting down the would-be attacker's subconscious confidence and will to attack ("The art of aiki is to overcome the opponent mentally, at a glance, and win without fighting." --Sokaku Takeda).
Segal has used that subconscious communication to deeply imbed justifications for extreme violence into the subconscious mentality of everyone who has watched his movies. His "heroes" are always jerks and the violence is always lovingly glorified. His best work was in two movies: "The Challenge," starring Toshiro Mifune and Scott Glenn, which Segal choreographed; and "Above the Law". Everything after has been a downward spiral (which has been getting faster every year for about the past twenty years. I recently borrowed a few of his latest movies from the library and found them to have sullied my library card. These latest movies show his real character. His early stuff showed tremendous potential, but his latest stuff proves that his misuse of the power of aikido has really rotted his brain, his personality and his acting ability. What schlock.
David