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Old 04-22-2016, 12:33 PM   #7
R.A. Robertson
Dojo: Still Point Aikido Center
Location: Austin, TX, USA
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 346
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Re: Looking for Aiki (in all the wrong places)

@Jon,

I think I generally agree with your thoughts. Inspiration != aiki.

That said, we need to stipulate our semantics. There is not (does not seem to be) widespread, let alone universal, agreement on what is the definition of aiki. I try to keep it simple and look for whatever is a good fit. If a thing is a good fit for its context, then I see it as an expression of aiki. (And again, it's a continuum of "more" and "less," rather than "is" and "is not."

So for me, aiki is value-neutral. I can think of some things that are extremely aiki locally, but very much not, globally. So I would find it useful to say, "look at this situation and see how it is aiki here, and also how it is not aiki there."

The way I see it, aikido is a specific discipline. It is a study and a practice that focuses on the confluence of forces in a martial context. It is a martial discipline that can (and should, imo) extend to a broader way of life with applications far beyond personal combat.

However, the Way of Aiki is something far more global than aikido. By this I mean that the way of aiki is something universal, to be found in physics and chemistry and biology, and... pretty much everywhere you look. Being vast and ubiquitous does not make it meaningless.

I often say that (to me) it is like the difference between physics and Physics. One is simply the behavior of the universe; the other is the study of the same.
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