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Old 06-25-2008, 11:24 PM   #24
Misogi-no-Gyo
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 498
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Re: Aikido™ and Aiki…do. Where are we at?

Quote:
Gernot Hassenpflug wrote: View Post
I hope this long-winded post does not elicit an equally long response

Best regards,
Gernot
Hi Gernot,

Well, I planned this one to be very short. Only because a full reply would take me half a day to compose. In any case, while the value in my opinion would at some point be good for many who have not been exposed to the depth of Abe Sensei's instruction, I will only reply to the general tone of your last post.

I just want to say that I truly appreciate both the humility and honesty with which you replied.

I mean, I just about fell out of my chair when you said:
Quote:
Gernot Hassenpflug wrote: View Post
I am afraid I was blown off too many times when asking direct questions that it would probably not be a good idea to try again.
My only response would be, ...but of course - It could not have been any other way. After all, that is the culture of the dojo. No matter how you slice it, Abe Sensei is so "old school" that there weren't any schools around when he came up. We, the outer-deshi, were not bound by the same restrictions by which dojo students found themselves limited. We always wondered why people would move to Japan, join the dojo and expect to get anything of any real value when there were students, some training for twenty years or longer who were still waiting in line for their comeuppance. But, hey, to each his own. I once asked Abe Sensei about all that. His answer was quite funny on one level, and actually the single most intimate thing I have ever heard from someone outside of the person with whom I was in a relationship. Suffice it to say that when you enter the maze, there is only one path to follow, and there are many dead ends. A few of us just discovered that, like techniques, there really was no maze for us. Abe Sensei just smiled and responded metaphorically with, "See, now you get it." When the four of us finally visited at the same time a few years ago, Abe Sensei did the oddest of things. We had asked him to share an aspect of the misogi-no-gyo that he hasn't taught to anyone in about thirty years. He agreed to do so. At the end of our visit, he passed along a secret message to each of us, exactly the same one, wondering if any of us would get it. The thing is, he can and is so direct when he chooses to be. All we needed to do, all along, was just listen. I am still reeling from many of the completely candid things he said in private. On a daily basis I think to myself, Like the Sun in an Alaskan Winter, I miss him completely.

.

Last edited by Misogi-no-Gyo : 06-25-2008 at 11:33 PM.

I no longer participate in or read the discussion forums here on AikiWeb due to the unfair and uneven treatment of people by the owner/administrator.
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