Thread: Resistance
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Old 12-09-2011, 12:28 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: Resistance

Hi Niall,

Thanks for the nod to one of my columns.

I've arrived at a point where I see all aikido interactions as the relationship between what is solid and what is empty. What we call "conflict" or "violence" can only come from the collision of solids. This happens in degrees, so a lesser degree might manifest as mere resistance.

However, I don't believe the answer is to become only emptiness. If there were only emptiness, there would be no creation, no form, no universe. Rather, I think our job is to align the structures of solid and empty so that they are in accord.

Good structural engineers know that resistance has its part to play in achieving balance, harmony, stability, and integration. Balanced resistance creates boundedness which allows for form.

Persistent resistance in the face of an overwhelming force is likely to perpetuate a violence, when some flexibility, fluidity, or resilience of form might mitigate it. Does a resistance promote a healthy equilibrium, as in the structure of a truss? Or should a yielding to force initiate the collapse of an undesirable structure, and to what extent should we guide the collapse and minimize the fallout? When forces resist our movements, when should we go around and when should we overcome the resistance to move that which is wrongly placed?

Our training can't answer all the questions for all situations, but I do think it provides us the way to find the answers for the exigencies of the moment and its future consequence.

All of which is just to say I agree with you, and merely wished to add my voice to the discussion.
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