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Old 11-24-2011, 03:17 PM   #53
CorkyQ
Dojo: Kakushi Toride Aikido
Location: Los Angeles
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 111
United_States
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Re: Violence and Aikido

Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote: View Post
Thanks for the well thought out answer.

Agreed. At the moment of time, so does the solution.

However, of course I was driving at the hypocracy that is always present and that we all choose to ignore, but shouldn,t. I think we all, or at least most of us have a point when we say ENOUGH!

I find it very hyporactic to say that the AIKI solution is to always reason and show the bulliesanother way...and we will all join hands and walk on the path.

I agree with the philosophy of love for all beings and loving protection. However it doesn't,t come simply because we decide one day to join an Aikido dojo and then say that I follow the path and the profess a degree of evolvement that we mentally can process, yet have not explored to any great depth emotionally, physically, or spiritually. I see this all the time in aikidoka.

No, it require us to face stuff we don,t like, things that we are uncomfortable with, and have our buttons pushed. Pushed to the point that we snap and say enough. So we can recognize the hypocracy in ourselves and learn to deal with it. We must first take care of our own issues before we can take on others.

So i agree. There is no answer to the question thatoffers a good cut and dry solution from a fundamental, black and white aiki-dogmatic process.

However it is our duy to ponder such questions and attempt to answer. Fuuny thing is once you've boxed yourself into that corner of hypocracy saying Aikido is all about resolving situations peacefully, it is hard to come back and answer this question without exposing your own hypocracy, which is why it has only been answered most likely by you. Thanks for the response.
You make a good point. It is a crucial moment when we make a choice to abandon non-violence and it is that moment when we allow fear to override an expression of love. It is hypocritical, but it is also just a simple human failure to trust. Sound moral principle is only valuable when it is hardest to embody, but the power in turning the other cheek undeniable. It is the primary tool Gandhi used to shed the oppressive 200 year ruling by Great Britain. Many people profess to adhere to the Golden Rule but with qualifications. For instance, "I will always treat others as I would like to be treated as long as they don't try to hurt me." If the principle is to be abandoned at any point it is the same as not having it at all.

I'm not sure there is a peaceful solution to every problem expressed with physical assault, but I do believe there is a non-violent response. This is why in our dojo we do not use any kind of joint locks or pins. They wouldn't work anyway because we train as ukes to resist those things that would create discomfort or damage. Our only option is to move in such a way that our partner is supported as he completes the action (attack) that will lead himself to the ground. We practice this way because we know that our off-the-mat attackers will have a more reflexive response to the feeling of having pain compliance techniques applied to their weak parts than the kind of ukemi we learned when beginning in a traditional technique emulation training model.

I think you are asking the right questions, because if we really examine ourselves we might find that we cloak the violence we might do as aikidoka in some rationale disassociated from Aikido's highest goals. One will never each the highest peak if he sets his mind on the lower one.

Thanks for the discussion!
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