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Old 03-23-2007, 01:22 PM   #2
Kevin Leavitt
 
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Re: George Ledyard on the Future of Aikido

Yes very interesting article.

One thought that came to my mind, was that why do we really need all this infrastructure, and why does aikido seem to depend so much on it?

I think it has all to do with the whole aliveness issue. Much of what we learn or have transmitted in aikido is done in a manner that is difficult to measure, and is very subjective in nature.

Because of this, you have to depend largely on the qualifications of those that have been judged to be "superior" or "experienced" in such things.

I think this might be a huge weak point with aikido.

With the advent of MMA and the paradigms and methodologies that it brings to the table, measuring, at least physical success or skill is much more objective in nature, and therefore people or held accountable at a lower level, and you do not need hierachial leadership and it allows for cross polination or an "open source"mentality.

However, the mental/spiritual cultivation in MMA might be hard to measure or non-exsistent as a integral part of it. (not that you cannot obtain growth in these areas through studying in a MMA method, it is just not explicit).

Thank you George for writing this article, I am curious to see the discussions that are inevitiably going to take place around this!

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