Thread: This aint UFC!
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Old 02-07-2007, 11:40 AM   #58
jonreading
 
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Re: This aint UFC!

To me, budo is the pursuit of a better life through [militaristic] structure. Aikido is budo, the pursuit of self-improvement through the structure of a martial art. The drive for self-improvement is a competitive one, and to me therefore budo is competitive against the self, "I want to be a better person today than I was yesterday."

Competition is healthy and natural, and a dominant component of Darwinism. We are competitive animals by nature. There's an old joke about two campers that stumble on a bear. The bear begins chasing the two campers and one camper says to the other, "I've read books that says humans can't outrun bears, we can't possibly outrun this bear." The other camper says, "I don't need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you."

Sometimes we get caught up in this attitude of non-confrontation, non-competition, "everybody is a winner." Sometimes we hide behind mantras, "if we fought I'd have to kill you," or, "Aikido is not about competition," or, "there are rules in other martial arts so we can't spare." Well, sometimes we need to get our ass kicked.

There are winners and losers, whether we choose to call them that or not will not change the fact some people are better than others. Whether you choose to test yourself as a fighter or not is your decision but do not veil that decision behind excuses, just say that you choose not to participate in competition.
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