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Old 05-01-2012, 06:40 PM   #33
graham christian
Dojo: golden center aikido-highgate
Location: london
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,697
England
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Re: Poor old academics....... (RSA video: Ken Robinson)

O.K. Gary and Matthew, thanks for the views.

The point of the video is to show the school system is at fault. Nothing to do with parents or culture or whatever other 'minor' things you want to factor into the equasion according to me.

I call them minor factors because by demonstration I have 'proved' such and do so in daily life. As for teachers I know many too. There are good ones and not so good ones but they are limited by the system it'self and their own unawareness of what good teaching is. (but that's another subject)

Budo is love Gary. Very pertinent to life and indeed education so it fits perfectly here in this discussion and according to me is the single most absent factor from the system and thus the cause of the problem.

This you may never of heard of before but as I generally find after using and demonstrating such principles with constant results I will inevitably find someone somewhere who uses them too and something somewhere would have been written about it by someone.

Let me give you a harsh reality test first. Think of something you love (or someone). Be it eating, be it a hobby, be it a pet, be it whatever but find something you love.

Now have a system, be given a system whereby you are not allowed to relate to that something or have anything to do with it but must relate and learn and practice and do something else. No you're not allowed to communicate to your wife Gary and Matthew you are not allowed to do so with your kids.

Pretty dumb wouldn't you say. But along may come some group of 'Authority' figures all with long grey diplomas (sorry I mean beards) and proclaim how it's all for the best you see, for the greater good you see, so that you turn out a better educated person you see........ Then when you and Gary complain then 'we authorities stroke our diplomas once again and sat how it's understandable because of your background and culture and obviously you have a psychological problem you see and, and, and.......lol!!!!

So Gary yes, I have had great successes with people helping them in their lives by knowing these things and thus knowing what's missing.

Love.

On talking to anyone you care to meet you can ask them once in a comfortable position if they had complete choice, without any considerations of why not or if it sounds ridiculous, but ask them what they love, what would they love to do or be able to do.

You see hidden inside that person is that something. Many will reject the question for they already consider it impossible or hold it as some secret hidden embarrassing thing. Many if not all saw it and knew it when they were small, when they were very young but were put down for saying it or even scolded for the mere mention of it.

So Gary I take it upon myself to find out what people would love to do, what they have put off, what they have been scared to mention, what they have never had the chance to do, whatever the reasoning and encourage them to do it. To learn it, to get good at it, to follow their true path.

The changes in people are indeed miraculous. I have given account here once before of a guy who was quite a successful stuntman who came to Aikido. He was massive and agile and couldn't believe how a skinny old man could throw him around like a rag doll and launch him through the air. He loved it. But as usual we wait. We wait for the real reason the person is here doing Aikido. We hold that every person who comes is here to solve some problem in their life and is searching, searching for something. Low and behold one day he got into a deep discussion and seemed to be rejecting something, something that seemed close to his heart. Well, we helped him through it low and behold out came something he always wanted to do but couldn't say.

He wanted to heal peoples eyes, he knew it when he was a kid yet was never allowed to even mention it for fear of ridicule. Due to his size and culture and where he lived and school he went to he was valued for his size and strength and sporting ability. He was now married with children and a house and established in his work. From the outside a successful man with a great family. Inside, a great big black hole.

To cut a long story short, despite the seeming impossibility due to age and situation he went on to study his dream and ended up moving to Canada opening an opticians practice of some kind or other. A happy man. That took discipline, that took courage, that took the budo of love.

So next time you here the successful telling you to follow your dream know what it means for it is following your love and the discipline, self discipline, to do so despite all pressures from family, friends, or whoever. Follow your true path.

Now if people had the awareness and indeed the responsibility to know these truths then youngsters could be encouraged to follow their dreams too. To find out what it is each kid has a natural love and talent for and set and educational path to suit. Now THAT would be ideal.

By the way, I apply this to my own son too and now he lives a very exciting and fulfilling life. Full of challenges yes, always learning yes, but progression all the way following his path.

The funny story that goes along with his case is once again something to do with when he was young. He was only five or six at the time. He had his favorite toys and teddy bears etc and different games and things he liked doing but I noticed one that stood out. In fact at that age it was unusual. When he went to bed he snuggled up to not a teddy bear but a toy saxaphone. I then decided to observe him more with relationship to music and found that in school his teacher said he loved it and seemed very aquainted with it for someone so young. When he was seven we asked him if he would like to learn how to play saxaphone and he positively beamed. It was like the room turned gold.

That was it. By the time he was fourteen he had passed all exams and was now professional standard and playing for the Harrow School of Music Orchestra and touring with them too.

His world is music and the saxaphone is his symbol he says and thus follows his path.

Matthew, I have read some of your blogs and see that despite your unsurities you love Aikido and thus it is part of your path too. It is the love that guides you is it not?

Well I hope that explains where I am coming from on this subject. May you all enjoy your own paths too.

Peace.G.
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