Re: Eroticism
I'm grateful to everyone for their willingness to discuss this topic.
Chuck, I especially appreciate the comparison to Rumi, whose poetry I love.
Any true budo deserves to be treated with deadly seriousness. But true budo is life-affirming, and for that we also need moments of delirious intoxication, passion, and sensuality.
Many of the revered poets and painters celebrated subjects that were perhaps omitted in our high school classes. Many of them did so in far more prudish times than the ones we live in. I can only imagine that doing so took tremendous courage. The fact that people here on this forum can discuss the appropriateness of eroticism to aikido without hysteria is a healthy sign of our times.
Best to All,
Ross
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