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Old 07-04-2005, 06:56 AM   #95
rob_liberti
Dojo: Shobu Aikido of Connecticut
Location: East Haven, CT
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,402
United_States
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Re: Highest Level Martial Arts and Aikido

Well, considering that I'm also talking to people who have much more experience with Saotome sensei than I do and I'm basing my opinions off of those sempai (which I believe is the main positive aspect of an organization).. I personally find that the message of "kill your opponent" is that you need to have the mind of attack and take action and maintain position from that mind set in order to be able to receive your partner, unify, and then do something non-destructive with them. I'm well aware that many people with more experience than I have would disagree with that opinion - but I suspect they might just have have a problem with over-applying reductionist thinking or something.

Regardless, I am more interested in trying to get to where I think O-sensei, Yamaguchi sensei, Saotome sensei, etc. were trying to go, as opposed to trying to follow any particular teacher to become just like them.

Rob

Walking the spiritual path is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we can
deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques. -Chogyam Trungpa, "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism"
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