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Old 11-11-2012, 04:46 PM   #102
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
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Re: The Fear of Power

Quote:
David Orange wrote: View Post
Well, mine comes from the root of aikido. This was the way Ueshiba really thought and lived. What does your truth come from?
Not from trying to psychoanalyze and imitate a dead man. I'm not trying to disparage those who take a serious scholarly approach to studying Ueshiba's life and trying to figure out what he was all about, and certainly not criticizing his students who have tried to pass on their understanding of it. But it's all a game of telephone, where things get progressively more distorted with every step. Aikido fundamentalists, who claim that they're going back to the source, are really just like any other kind of fundamentalist, and prone to the same errors: believing that fundamentalism leads to truth is simplistic reasoning. My truth comes from understanding that I'm a blind person touching the elephant: I "know" what's within my reach. I understand that my reach doesn't encompass all there is. But not knowing everything, and knowing that I don't know everything, isn't going to make my head explode (I seem to be in the minority in that regard, at least on aikiweb). And I'm not inclined to accept without question the "knowledge" that comes from other sources, without at least some consideration of the quality of the source in question. I just don't feel a burning need to come up with a full, final version of The Truth, is all. No, I didn't start practicing aikido as a quest for power, and no, I'm not deluding myself about that, and anyone who wants to tell me about my own beliefs and motivations is cordially invited to put it where Paddy put the drum.
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