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Old 01-04-2009, 10:17 AM   #78
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
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Re: Effectiveness of Aikido in a combat situation

Quote:
Joe McParland wrote: View Post
Additionally: Experiencing complete connection is not the opposite of non-attachment. Some would claim that non-attachment is a prerequisite for experiencing complete connection, adding that attachment interferes with connection.
When I read Erick's words, I thought of lines from T. S. Eliot's poem "Ash Wednesday":

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
But merely vans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
Smaller and dryer than the will
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still.


"...to care and not to care" -- does that perhaps describe the line that separates connection from attachment? Feeling that a connection exists, but renouncing attachment to the outcome? And was Eliot only able to renounce such attachment when he finally accepted that he didn't control the outcome?