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Old 12-07-2012, 01:25 PM   #19
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
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Re: aiki, aikido, tomato, tomahto

Quote:
Cherie Cornmesser wrote: View Post
But honestly. If I held back from trying things that were outside of my comfort zone I would never have entered a dojo to begin with. As a student am glad I have teachers who are willing to give new ideas and different approaches a try. Their having done so has really given our dojo some amazing experiences and insights. Perhaps we might not carry it forward in our own training perhaps we may, but at least we had the choice.

I just don't understand why the need to be defensive and so loudly protest something which you are not forced to be a part of.
I think one problem is that some IP proponents have sometimes made statements about the motivation, mindset, commitment, what have you of those who don't train with them (and, to be sure, the reverse has happened as well). When someone has a position that doesn't seem to make sense, we could probably all stand to curtail the impulse to find a reason that's based on a flaw of some kind: this person fears change, this person lacks commitment, this person is afraid to move out of their comfort zone, this person is brainwashed, this person is afraid of new ideas, this person is too lazy to change their practice. Nobody likes being called fearful, lazy, stubborn, closeminded, defensive, etc. and why should they? And even if you're 100% right in your assessment of their character, what does your observation accomplish? It almost never causes people to be more open to your ideas -- if they do hear what you're saying, they do it despite the insults, not because of them.

The thing is, it's possible to have useful discussions about motivation, mindset, commitment and what have you. It's almost never possible to do so in the second or third person, though -- not unless you know someone very, very well. I can talk with at least some authority about my motivation, mindset, commitment, and what have you. You, really, cannot.
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