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Cherie Cornmesser wrote:
If I was concerned about power and the ability t handle someone who was attacking me with intent to do harm I wold buy a go and spend my time learning how to use it.
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I learned all that when I was a wee little fellow. I was stripping and reassembling rifles and pistols in elementary school. As an adult, I've never owned or carried any firearm except for a short stint as a detective, which I hated. I've walked through some deep, dark streets alone with nothing but the spirit of God to defend me. But I have a picture of myself at the yoseikan hombu with Minoru Mochizuki doing a technique on me and in the background, the scroll in his kamiza is seen, and directly above my head the kanji for Heaven. So I only rely on God for my life and defense, but for some reason, God seems to have sent me to Minoru Mochizuki to learn the ways of budo--Minoru Mochizuki's budo. And he told me, "Always teach my budo." And I frequently feel his urgings, from the roots of aikido's dawn, before it was even called aikido. So I speak for aikido itself and for Ueshiba as Mochizuki spoke for him.
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Cherie Cornmesser wrote:
It is not why I study aikido. And seeing Ueshiba's power in videos is also not why I came to aikio. My choice to take up aikio had nothing to do with wanting to learn to kick ass or become powerful or to defeat a attacker.
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Well, Carsten and I (and others) have openly wondered what inspired people to begin aikido. You tell us it wasn't for the power to throw people, but you don't say what it was. So please tell us why you chose that path?
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Cherie Cornmesser wrote:
I'm not really afraid of the power I have gained or that which I will gain as I continue to train. The power is just a side effect of my training which is for an entirely differnt purpose which I am happy to say I am slowly beginning to accomplish.
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But from this two things remain unclear: are you really developing the power that aikido was intended to develop? and What was your purpose in beginning training?
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Cherie Cornmesser wrote:
So I think that as Mary pointed out you first need to drop the assumption that everyone is training in aikido for the same reason that you are.
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I think it should be clear that I know very well that most aikido students are not training for the same reason I train. My major point is that most people are both "schizophrenic" in their motivations and in denial of that fact. They want the black belt very seriously or they wouldn't follow all the undeniable "mickey mouse" aspects of following a teacher's (and his organization's) idiosyncratic requirements year after year. Why? The black belt is a symbol of power, call it what you want: a symbol of accomplishment? That's a type of power. But the black belt specifically implies the power to overcome strong attackers. My purpose here is specifically to bring people to an exact examination of their own motivations, to address and acknowledge them in private if not in public. So what is your motivation (what was it at the very beginning) for training in aikido and following the requirements for rank?
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Cherie Cornmesser wrote:
Reading the classics does tend to incite me to do some pretty deep thinking on aikido and life and my own internal struggles as well.  |
I see now why Melville is truly a classic, not at all unlike Ueshiba, not unlike Mochizuki or Shioda. They never lost the values that our society lost long before memory.
Very interested in your response.
David