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Old 12-23-2012, 05:08 PM   #23
Keith Larman
Dojo: AIA, Los Angeles, CA
Location: California
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,604
United_States
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Re: Multiple attackers, using their idea of what is happening against them

Quote:
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'
Words have meaning that can vary tremendously. So it is usually a good starting point to be more specific about what something means by pointing to examples. Chris does exactly that. Of course that just shows what Chris understands it to mean. That understanding can be spot on to what someone else may have meant when they used the word. I suppose the issue that most would be concerned with in context of Aikido is what Ueshiba Morihei meant when he used it. But that said, most of us are limited to understanding it in terms of our understandings of what our specific teachers meant. And so it goes, eh?

In the end we can use words to simplify, ignore, gloss over, or whatever we choose for that matter. So they can be liberating or they can shackle any chance of greater understanding with every other option in between.

Honestly that video contains aspects of what I was taught over the years. But just aspects and misses many more other meanings. So saying it is aiki or isn't aiki seems kind of silly to me since aiki has come to mean so many things to so many people. And so many things even within different contexts. But that said, I suppose I'm more interested in two things. One is what Ueshiba Morihei meant when he said it. The other is what I can understand and make work in my own practice hoping to instantiate what I suspect the first one was all about... Or at least my understanding of it.

Tis a pleasant puzzle, neh? But then again I find myself suffering from physical disability that prevents me from exploring as much as I'd like. I might have to find a way to take a long drive in a few weeks to work on things more...

Please carry on...