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Old 07-18-2012, 01:56 PM   #21
graham christian
Dojo: golden center aikido-highgate
Location: london
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,697
England
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Re: Masakatsu Agatsu

Quote:
Matthew Gano wrote: View Post
Hi Graham,
Thanks for the reply!
I'm a fan of the idea that the processes of perception are illusory. So when we perceive the world around us it is almost, if not entirely so, necessarily an illusion. The question I have then has to do with the things those illusions cause. When we view victory in terms of control/dominance over another, we lose focus on the quality of our own operations. When I focus on self-improvement/"victory," I focus more on the quality of how I'm operating; what's happening to me and how I adjust accordingly (learn/adapt)...which seems to work better, at any rate.
I first encountered this kind of thinking in sports. When I was more concerned with stopping the other guy in soccer, for example, I found myself more likely to trip them or pull on them. When I was more concerned with playing my best, I actually played better because after a period of time I was conditioned better and tended to not need cheap tricks to "compete" so much.
So I wonder if it would be perhaps correct to say that understanding Masakatsu Agatsu doesn't so much teach us how to understand Aikido so much as how to understand the proper mindset needed to learn Aikido...perhaps the slogan can be said to encapsulate the mind aspect of the Body-Mind dichotomy...or perhaps of the Mind-Body-Spirit...er...trichotomy...?
I don't know...and ignorance is bliss.
Take care!
I like it, yes. That's the direction I would say.

I would say and do say to every student I ever meet and teach or show or explain to that Masakatsu Agatsu is the only mindset that will lead to understanding Aikido. So I would say it itself should be used as a mindset or maybe you could say as the guiding principle to any relevant mindset if that's a better way of putting it.

Therefor it's never anyone elses fault.

With the statement of no against in Aikido may I give you something I say about this as well in order to change illusory perspective:

Let's find something you are against and in this world and life we go into believing we are against many things. It's quite funny when I hear people say such things as they are against anything really. For instance a man has a few bad experiences with women and then is against women or against relationships or......well you get the picture. You could be against politics or yellow people or spiders or bad weather whatever. So what have you just done?

You have set yourself up, in opposition to, that whole world of women, spiders, yellow people, bad weather, politicians. One versus millions. Thus you destroy yourself. Thus you have already lost.

Food for thought.

Peace.G.
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