View Single Post
Old 11-25-2011, 12:52 PM   #67
graham christian
Dojo: golden center aikido-highgate
Location: london
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,697
England
Offline
Re: Violence and Aikido

Quote:
Keith Gates wrote: View Post
Firstly I want to say I think you are great.
Secondly I want to say what is this nonsense you babble?

I hear what you are saying but I struggling to follow. I don't see it as being about validation,I think it is about understanding. Understanding that violence is to the long end of a stick, what peace is to the short end.

That is to say that they are dipoles, each implies and even necessitates the existence of the other. You can't have a one ended stick. Just as there cannot be a crest of a wave without a trough, or light without darkness. Without an opening there can be nothing to close. Without a start there can be no finish, without death there can be no life. Without 'Violence' there can be no 'peace', Without Uke there can be no Nage.

Compassion stems from wisdom. To see and understand violence within oneself you can see and sympathise with another persons emotional state more readily, with less judgement.

Graham, I labour the point.
It is not about validation as you seem to suggest. It is about understanding. One example: Incidents of head trauma can cause dramatic personality changes and cause perfectly 'normal' people to completely lose control of their temper, resulting in terrible consequences. (damage to the emotional control centre of the brain)

You say "violence is harmful, it's not natural to harm". I think this kind of rhetoric neither leads to greater understanding, wisdom or compassion. It is an idealistic and somewhat blinkered view of the total human condition.

Keith
Well may I say that if I am great and what I say is nonsense then it must be great nonsense.

So let's see now, you like great nonsense but struggle to follow it. Mmmmm. Not surprising. Ha, ha.

O.K. Wisdom is a component of compassion along with other qualities. From compassion one can see clearly yes. Thus you can understand better. Yes. So I agree it is a matter of understanding. (However I wouldn't use the word sympathy myself, empathy yes.) So we are in agreement so far, yes?

Now for the difference. There are different levels of understanding. You have your understanding and I have mine.

So now validation. It looks like we are using the word in different ways or else I apply a datum you are unaware of so I should explain.

That which you validate lives. That's a rule I follow. If you validate bad behaviour then you get more bad behaviour. If you validate something you are giving it life, more existence, more power.

In this way I see that the validation of violence creates more violence.

Thus you can understand something negative or untoward but validating it makes it worse. Acknowledge it as real yes, validate it no.

I can acknowledge violence and handle it but validate it , nah. I'll leave that to others.

Regards.G.
  Reply With Quote