Quote:
Salim Shaw wrote:
It's time for the American Aikidoist to change our mentality of self defense. Cultural, Spiritual Aikido is not for those want self defense.
|
Okay, I'm going to challenge you to defend this position as I believe it's just wrong, especially the last sentence.
I think the conflict between the spirituality of Aikido and the self-defense applications are an invention of those who'd like to turn to jiu-jitsu as a better approach and want to justify their attitude.
Part of the point of an art like Aikido is to consider our responsibilities in defending ourselves as part of our training. I guarantee there will be disagreement among Aikidoists about those responsibilities, but not considering what they should be seems like an abandonment of Aikido to me.
I once quoted someone who said that "Aikido with the wrong attitude is just bad jiu-jitsu" and was challenged with, "What is the right attitude?". It's a good question which I would not be able to answer. I think part of what's important is considering the question, though, and working out an answer for ourselves.