Quote:
Erick Mead wrote:
A conception which can meaningfully capture more of those aspects of the traditional recognition of the Ki concept is more likely to be applicable and usefully understood, and more likely a basis from which to extend those observations into areas the tradition does not address or never conceived of in those terms. The latter is the true task of our age, IMO.
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As I've said a number of times, I'm interested in watching what Aikido as a whole does with the current slight entre' into things ki. I don't have a dog in this hunt (except with some of the more serious players), so I tend to be an observer.
One of the things that I notice most is that few people in "Aikido" are really interested in these things, even though there are plenty of indications that this was a critical part of Aikido. Of the people that are interested, everyone I've seen (outside of the QiJin forum mainly, but even some of them are guilty, too) so far has a limited grasp of the whole, but the idea seems to generally be that if a few jin/kokyu tricks can be grasped they have learned "aiki" or "Internal Strength". No. Internal strength is more than basic jin skills.
"Epiphanies" are good, but there is an implication of unraveling a secret, like a card trick for instance. It's actually a lot more complicated than that. I mentioned a couple of times that most people seem to be hanging around basic jin skills and calling it "internal strength". Even grabbing buzzwords like "reverse breathing", "dantien", "suit", and so on isn't going to get someone into the part that they're completely missing without backing up and getting an understanding of the whole.
In my opinion, the idea of little kingdoms and fiefdoms, now with access to "this stuff", is going to kill any forward progress in actual Aikido. "Epiphanies" alone isn't going to do it... there's no simple trick to it. However, of the positive things someone can do, talking openly among the members of the Aikido community will move the art as a whole forward nicely. So I'm basically suggesting that people, even the current groups that think they're part of the cognoscenti, openly discuss more of the how-to's and share their information among the wider community. At least the basics. If someone's knowledge is so slight that talking about basics would give away most of the 'edge' they have over others... then trust me, a more open discussion will actually be beneficial to you, too.
Keep on with those epiphanies, David, and keep sharing them. It's a viable start.
FWIW
Mike Sigman