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Old 06-25-2008, 09:22 PM   #19
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,123
United_States
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Re: Aikido™ and Aiki…do. Where are we at?

Quote:
William Hazen wrote: View Post
Anyone with any ability to teach "it" is more than welcome to show "it" to an eager audiance at our Dojo and we will humbly share what little we know.
But isn't this a simple deflection, William, once again? Let me emphasize the once again part because there are a few posters who talk ambiguously, but with insistence, that they share the same views, etc. Logically it would seem that if the same "ki" is being talked about, that means the poster must be able to understand the conversation from the original poster. Hmmmm. What I don't get is the "we're doing the same stuff and I understand 'it' as you describe it, but I can't describe it". A conundrum indeed.

But what bothers me most is the idea (which you've floated before) that the topic cannot be engaged except in some sort of personal trial at your dojo. This is similar to a current poster who wants to see videotapes of everyone in combat, talk about his income and college degrees, etc. I.e., "what has this got to do with the topic at hand?". This is not the "Tao that can be named is not the Tao"... this is the baby steps to the Tao (it really is, BTW) and it can certainly be discussed functionally. If you want to see some drawings from Chinese and Japanese showing diagrams very similar to the ones I've used on this forum, let me know. The idea that a person who knows can't articulate the basics does not stand up except within a group who simply doesn't know the basics.

I gotta say that I'm a little disappointed with some of the levels of debate that I've encountered by too many "spiritual" people, in my life. And trust me, I don't have that attitude simply because I've never broken heads.

Regards.

Mike Sigman
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