Quote:
Ewen Ebsworth wrote:
No. But stamp collecting is a hobby, so by comparing Aikido to stamp collecting you are implying they have the same merit, which I don't think they do.
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You don't, but then, I assume you're not a stamp collector. Look, I'm not going to quibble about the bright lines that separate a "hobby" from an "art" or a "skill" or a "craft" or whatever you like, and I'm not going to argue about what belongs in what category. The "what" that you're comparing to aikido doesn't matter, stamp collecting or anything else. But whatever category you choose to put aikido in, do you truly believe that nothing, no other human pursuit, has "the same merit"?
Quote:
Ewen Ebsworth wrote:
People in the Aikido community venerate O'Sensei as someone who has something to teach them about Budo and about life. We wouldn't be discussing O'Sensei if he hadn't of opened his own dojo and began teaching his style of Aiki-Budo. The fact that he developed Aikido and then gave the responsibility of disseminating his art to his disciples shows that O'Sensei believed in his life's achievement. He had an uncompromising conviction in the benefits of Aikido. I would imagine the majority of people that use these forums think Aikido an important part of their lives - that it is purposeful, not just recreational.
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Don't you think the same could be said about teachers and founders of schools of painting or music?
Quote:
Ewen Ebsworth wrote:
I'm not saying we should be evangelizing the merits of Aikido, but neither should we feel the necessity to make it a clandestine act that we somehow try to avoid revealing to others.
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Emphasis mine. There's a lot between those two extremes. I don't make my aikido practice "a clandestine act", yet I'm sure that most of my coworkers don't know I train, and I've worked there for six years. Same with my neighbors. And, there are any number of other things they don't know about my life, and vice versa -- not because it's "clandestine", but because lives are complex and that's just not somewhere that our lives intersect.