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Old 01-27-2011, 01:33 PM   #120
Marc Abrams
Dojo: Aikido Arts of Shin Budo Kai/ Bedford Hills, New York
Location: New York
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1,302
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Re: Ikeda Sensei Demos of Ki

Quote:
Budd Yuhasz wrote: View Post

Back on to the original topic . . what Ikeda Sensei is doing and showing. I have to call out/tease Lynn Seiser for immediately cautioning about talking about Ikeda. Folks, break out of this rut that the sensei is beyond reproach or examination - in Ikeda's case, obviously, he's trying to get people to get it!

If you aren't looking at everyone you meet in martial arts that has skills you want to emulate or surpass - through the lens of "how can I steal everything from this person as soon as possible" . . then you've already made a decison towards a slower track of learning.
Budd:

I do not think that many people are trying to get other people to not look at their idols with scrutiny. I think that most people are trying very hard to get everything they can from a teacher (maybe I'm being too optimistic). I think that Dan's statement "You don't know what you don't know." is a wise cautionary note. The hubris contained in some people's beliefs that they can gain all from seeing a video, or from watching a person do something, should speak for itself. How many times have you made advances in some area and when you look back on something, you go, "Oh my GOD, it was always there in front of me! Why could I not see it then?" How many times have you directly trained with someone and find more going on than meets your eye? Even hands-on experience will be limited to our ability to be open to learn and experience new things.

All of us, our teachers included, are all students on some path. Many struggle with their own progress and then compound that with their struggles in how they can teach their students what they have learned (or are learning). We know that having skills is a different subset from being able to teach a skill. We then have to compound that mess even more by recognizing that people learn in many different ways and at very different paces.

I think that this learning and transmission process has always been a convoluted affair. I would assume that many generations before us struggled with similar issues that we debate within ourselves and with others. History tends to indicate that "the greats" have been the result of serendipitous interactions between certain people at certain times. Maybe someone can find a more efficient and effective means of transmission. We all are trying to find that elusive "holy grail."

I think that we all need to keep a good dose of humility, open-mindedness, a willingness to share, a willingness to be wrong, a willingness to try and experience as much as you can - First Hand, as we try and learn new and different things. I greatly appreciate your efforts to tone down the rhetoric and bring things back on topic. At the same time, we also have to be careful to place a caveat around what we state to reflect the distinct possibility that there is always more there than meets our eyes at this moment in time. Ushiro Sensei cautions people that the greatest impediment to learning is what we already think that we know.

Regards,

Marc Abrams