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Old 02-25-2007, 11:17 PM   #696
Erick Mead
 
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Dojo: Big Green Drum (W. Florida Aikikai)
Location: West Florida
Join Date: Jun 2005
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Re: Baseline skillset

Quote:
Ignatius Teo wrote: View Post
There ya go....equivocating again... what you say is not what you mean, and what you mean to say is never meant... Distrust of institutional elements? That's a rather strong accusation.... and I don't think that really is the case.
I say what I mean. I presume Mike does as well. Dan? .. maybe Mike's statements are too broad a brush to paint him with, but the feel of his approach is not a far cry ...
Quote:
Mike Sigman -- various posts wrote:
....What I'm saying is that within the hierarchy of Aikido, most people (well, from a westerner's perspective in a western land) don't know how to do these things, .... if you take the number of Aikido practitioners that can do these things, it's a small (but not negligibly small) number in comparison with the whole of Aikido. .... Always the same pattern that some of the skilled at the top know how to do these things, the knowledge is somewhat guarded, and the majority of practitioners don't really know. ....

....Think about it. Everything is there for some serious mind-shenanigans. Uniforms. A "leader" and pecking-order hierarchy. Exotic rituals. Foreign words that must be used as part of the ritual. Cooperative training that helps confirm that the play is "real" as long as it's kept within the secret meeting hall (the dojo). And so on.

.... [Someone] ...making noises about kokyu power, I assure you that the established hierarchy would react very negatively toward anyone who made such a suggestion. Their status is at stake; in some cases their livelihood is involved. They would try to blow the topic off and personally attack anyone who suggested such a thing. Pretty much what you'd expect.
Not exactly a balanced picture of the functions of institutional continuity and conservation of knowledge, even an instituional model as loose-fitting as that which exists in aikido. Fine as personal perspective. There are other valid potins of view on that.
Quote:
Ignatius Teo wrote: View Post
Whether your claim is correct or not is a totally separate issue.
Entirely true. It stands or falls on its own. A thorough attempt at knocking IT down on a substantive basis is a worthwhile effort. Like Joshua's challenge to to justify O Sensei's statement on non-resistance.

If you succeeded in knocking me down the ideas are still there. It is wasted effort trying to knock me down, cause I really don't count for much. I just pointed to the ideas and the things that call them into play -- I didn't invent them. They don't travel on my merit, and good thing, too. If I were run out on a rail, somebody else will eventually point to the same ideas and ask naughty questions, too.

I made a long list of questions that no one really answered yet.

Cordially,

Erick Mead
一隻狗可久里馬房但他也不是馬的.
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