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Old 08-17-2008, 11:03 PM   #128
Erick Mead
 
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Dojo: Big Green Drum (W. Florida Aikikai)
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Re: "Aiki" in Russian Video Clips

Quote:
Rob Liberti wrote: View Post
It was a long time before people could come up with a reasonabe explanation for how a bumble bee was flying.
I am quite sure the bee was not troubled by the lack, nor cared much about people's opinions of its ability to fly or not. On the other hand, it was not the bee that came to know the nature of its flight. And was that a reason to rest satisfied describing the flight of the bumblebee as though "communicating the intention of up" to the air?

Quote:
Rob Liberti wrote: View Post
But I'm willing to try to approach it from the other way if you think it will help. I honestly don't understand the confusion about the "jargon", but we can try to clarify if you are up for it.
I have expressed criticism of the six directions "springs model." If it is merely a holistic attitude adjustment to a generic sensibility -- then fine. NO issue, and never was, which I have said on more than one occasion. Imagine ants crawling down your arms if it makes it work for you, but realize that the creative and subjective element that you (probably rightfully) find useful does not itself lead to any objective comprehension of what the body is actually doing.

Quote:
Rob Liberti wrote: View Post
putting your "intention up" - give me a list of multiple choice for what that could mean.
I am supposed to hazard a guess at what an ad hoc expression is supposed to signify? I am not the one ascribing any meaning to the term. I have thoughts about the cyclic nature of balance and the phase and anti-phase relationships of those issues. There are macro and micro aspects to that line of thought with functions recurring at different scales (which reinforces a sense of its validity for reasons I will not go into here). They are not idle thoughts and have sound support. I have written about them.

But relating (or excluding) that topic from discussion of what YOU mean with your "intention up" cannot be said without taking care to observe critically what you actually do when you are doing it AND trying to articulate it -- therefore seeking a terminology suited to the task. THAT attention to the empirical facts of what is occurring is the value of this approach -- with DEEP caterories in which to place them -- more than anything else in any particular theory or choice of mechanical convention.

You begin to notice what is mechanically occurring whether you are thinking of doing it or not. I don't know about you but my budo got better the less I had to think about anything. My concern about the moral responsibility incumbent in budo heightened as that became more the rule than the exception. And that's all I'll say about that. You simply observe what is happening better, because you have a non-arbitrary framework in which to retain and relate that knowledge over time. You learn more from failures and you notice them more closely.

Please give a substantive description of what your perceive you body to be DOING at the time that you conceive of "intention is up" or "holding lines of intention", or "central equilibrium" at least as specific as what Dan gave for the description of his version of shiko, and I'd be pleased to oblige with my observations on the matter. Whether it helps or not is up to you.

Cordially,

Erick Mead
一隻狗可久里馬房但他也不是馬的.