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Old 05-09-2012, 12:44 PM   #72
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Does Modern Aikido Teach Enlightenment?

Quote:
Matthew Gano wrote: View Post
Transcendence of previous states of mind though? Not transcending the reality around you; certainly I think enlightenement, whatever that might actually be, is a very grounding thing.
But how do you transcend a previous state of mind? Unless you're using the word "transcend" to mean a state that may be (likely is) only temporary, and I don't think that's what most people think when their goal is transcendence. I think they believe (hope) that they'll transcend all that (icky mess, undesirable state, whatever) and leave it behind forever. And you don't, because, well...that's the human condition. You can break bad habits, you can get unstuck, you can come to a more complete realization, sure -- but as long as you're a human being, the possibility (even likelihood) always exists that you'll end up right back there. Or, you get past one instance of a stuck state of mind, only to have it play out in a new setting. People with serial relationship problems do this a lot; people who find themselves having the exact same problem at every job, the same unhappiness in every school, the same discontent in every dojo. It's a human thing. We may learn as we go, but we never transcend our capability of making those same mistakes.
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