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Old 05-28-2012, 06:43 AM   #50
Alec Corper
 
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Dojo: Itten Suginami Dojo, Nunspeet
Location: Wapenveld
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 350
Netherlands
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Re: Spiritual and i/p

Hi Tom,
Glad to hear life is treating you well.

It is obvious from your reply that I have not communicated very well, perhaps that is always the case here. I understand the way you define spirituality in Budo very well, but how do you know when you have become "spiritual?" . Inevitably, unless you declare yourself to be a spiritual guide (or others do it for you), you interact with others who confirm or dismiss what you believe are your accomplishments. This is exactly what happens here on Aikiweb. Rings of sympathy are created amongst people who believe,or imagine, that others are agreeing with what they say, which means likeminded folk are confirming your reality.
However, you say that your teacher can see a deeper reality in you when you practice kyudo. That, in spite of your best effort to be " spiritual", you are in fact involving in winning and ego games. Is your teacher then not closer to an objective measuring of the " correct" state? Do you not accept that he either sees deeper than you, or is capable of retaining a state of being that you intellectually comprehend but cannot occupy? Is he not testing you at that moment, not in the form of winning and losing, but in the form of seeking accuracy in the internal state of your being?
I would like to think that the gradual deepening of subjective knowledge of self leads to the objective understanding that I do not understand very much at all. Not to do so leads to statements full of self declared truths which cannot be refuted since they are sincere, however inaccurate they may be. There was a recent post about enlightenment, I guess if someone is enlightened this does not apply.
I believe that I am wiser now than I was 20 years ago, at least i hope so ;-), back then when I was 30 I thought I was wise. Of course now that I am older i see how inflated I was. Now I know better , I hope in 20 more years, if I'm still around I will be saying the same thing. If not, I am finished, I have arrived, If yes then my current truths are wrong (inaccurate and subjective) and I should treat my own certainties with suspicion.

If your temper rises withdraw your hand, if your hand rises withdraw your temper.