Allen Beebe

Hi Dan,

It is nice to see you contributing again.

1) I agree with your opinion that Ueshiba was expounding upon, what was for him, at once phenomenal and nouminal reality.

2) I think Josh is right and re-stated Peter's views better than I could.

3) One of the other things that Peter is gently pointing to is something that certainly caught my eye when I first read Budo Renshu. This doesn't appear to be just my understanding but Peter's as well and Mr. Bieri touches upon it in his translation. Along with everything else, Ueshiba provides instruction for those intending *offensively attacking* from behind cautioning those performing such an attack that they may leave themselves vulnerable to reversal if they inadvertently assume they enjoy physical impunity due to the nature of their attack.

The fact that Aikido's founder was providing advisement on how to better assure the success of a surprise attack to a 1935 Japanese martially interested audience via written media shouldn't be too terribly surprising considering at that time he was teaching the same, in person, in multiple venues dedicated to that very pursuit. Certainly most, if not all, of his students of the time were privy to this.

All the best,
Allen