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Old 06-24-2012, 12:42 PM   #139
DH
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,394
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Re: My Spiritual Aikido.

Quote:
Don Hebert wrote: View Post
Hi Dan,

Your comment on non-duality makes sense to me only if I enlarge it to encompass a wide range of external expressions. In other words, it could inspire an Aiki response in a martial situation if the person had the skill or it might manifest in some other way entirely. In any case it should have a quality of impeccability. For example it might move the person to offer themselves as a sacrifice.

Isn't it possible that a person who is very able to an effective martial response is simply able to be a skilled brute with a spiritual poverty? One doesn't seem to guarantee the other.

I have known extremely effective warriors whose skills employed in war in very nasty ways. They remain quite scary as individuals and I admire their apparent lack of fear. But they also suffer tremendously and seem damaged beyond cure.

On the other hand, some of the very best people I have known were not versed in Budo. They have been tested by life and have responded time and again with heart and incredible integrity. They weren't interested in impressing anybody.

I wonder if the spiritual side of your art if something you brought to it and in doing so found a great compatibility that strengthened both. Or did the study of budo draw you into the spiritual side?

Thanks for being provocative.

Don Hebert
Hi Don
I essentially agree with the points above. I am on the run so I will have to post tonight. I have some answers as to how I see them meshing and influencing each other.
Dan