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Old 06-11-2005, 10:35 AM   #178
CNYMike
Dojo: Aikido of Central New York
Location: Cortland, NY
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,005
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Re: Aikido minus mysticism: a step forward

Quote:
Monty Collier wrote:
Mysticism is defined to mean that which is irrational, unsystematic, and based upon personal experience.
Technique is defined to mean that which is systemic, logical, understandable, and capable of being taught. It is propositional.
Under that broad definition of "mysticism," just the act of training on your own, making improvements, or even noticing things while you train -- which all fall under the heading of "personal experience" --- become "mystical" and according to you, should be disgarded. But there's nothing mystical about it -- just putting the time in. Yet since anything that involves personal experience must be disgarded, so the very act practing then, has to be mystical and thus disgarded.

By the same token, as you may know, there are drills such as the immovable arm drill which are based on the flow of ki. Whether or not the ki is actually there, the drills instill the body mechanics and ideas -- upper body relaxed, breathe and move from your abdomen (which are important ideas in many martial arts) -- which are the basis of the techniques. Improving on those areas improves on those techniques whether ki is really there or just gives you a mental frame of reference for what you're doing. Meaning it does improve on technique, and, according to you, should not be disgarded.

So it seems you have validated ki and invalidated martial arts training at the same time. Congratulations!
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