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Old 08-18-2008, 08:11 AM   #132
Erick Mead
 
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Dojo: Big Green Drum (W. Florida Aikikai)
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Re: "Aiki" in Russian Video Clips

Quote:
Mark Chiappetta wrote: View Post
In fact, even if they are technically correct in jargon and even in principal they are too complex to be understood and thus instructional to such a varied audience. This is a paradox.
They are not intended to instruct a varied audience. They are intended for me to instruct me, and for whoever wishes to engage them with me. I simply teach what I have been taught, with some additional insights into physical action at practical junctures that I can point out as they crop up. When I am done or least more satisfied with the progress of the thought, it can be simplified into something more digestible for a general audience. The advantage of it is that the simplification (unlike some ad hoc system) will actually lead to deeper description in the same terms -- which more importantly, are independent, and not of my making.

Quote:
Mark Chiappetta wrote: View Post
if a scientist went up to Takeda after a display of aiki and said "I know how you did that" and then proceeded to describe it in perfectly accurate scientific terms, would he have been able to comprehend? What about Ueshiba or Sagawa? I know you can't say definitively but hazard a guess. Mine is that they'd be clueless (and then they'd probably toss the scientist on their ass)? LOL
Sagawa might be laughing, but at whom is the question:

Quote:
Sagawa from "Clear Power" wrote:
Many people would say back in the day that all you had to do is practice, and more practice! But after I became able to think for myself I found that this wasn't so....
Indeed, most important is that you keep on thinking. If you don't, you cease to have any <good> thoughts. If you continue to think, then a new thought will pop into your head! And then you must write this thought down immediately so that you may try it out, otherwise you will forget it later. Writing this down is key.
... The secret is in always thinking about it. The reason no one progresses or gets any better, stronger is because no one thinks. They forget about what they do in between practices. It has to become a part of your life.

See! This is why you are no good. You don't do something simply because so and so said so. If you simply go through life by simply thinking you can copy people you'll never get anywhere. The only person that can do this is you. You must create your own understanding for yourself. ... In the end its about accumulating your thoughts and having them act as the foundation for other thoughts.
"If the only tool you have is a hammer ..."

All I am discussing is more precise and varied tools for observing and thinking. It may not be to your taste, and I claim no exclusivity of the truth in that regard. Non-western systems are valid if carefully understood in their own terms, although they are less accessible as such. But if you think that such effort, by whatever means, is not important, then you aren't thinking carefully.

And good luck with that.

Cordially,

Erick Mead
一隻狗可久里馬房但他也不是馬的.