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Old 08-25-2000, 10:53 AM   #7
Russ
Dojo: Pacific Aikido Kensankai
Location: Vancouver, B.C.
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 32
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Hear, hear, Jun!

We're all quite naturally afraid to make ourselves vulnerable by opening up to something different, even only a little different. Imagine how difficult it must be for someone who has a vested interest (via time and money) devoted to a certain style to let it go even for the relatively short time of a seminar. It's funny how our minds trick us. "I've trained ten years this way so I must be closer to the penultimate expression of technique. If I let that go even for the weekend then it's backward step." If we are stuck in a generally North American thinking mode, (ie. move forward, achieve the goal), then we tend to get defensive about our "way". Of course, if we keep reminding ourselves that there is actually no "there" to get to and no particular "thing" to achieve then we tend to be more open to other "ways".
A whole bunch of words to simply say "Beginners mind...."

Yours truly,

Russ
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