Aikido and Rebirth

I once felt the power of ego. I decided it was time for a change and Aikido was the catalyst. I don't feel its the only way to change, but it's one hell of a good one. Thanks to Aikido, my life is in better perspective. These are some of the beliefs I formed during Aikido training:

Whatever name we give to the Great Creator of life, It loves all human beings who love It. It created the devil to challenge us. Temptation is a fisherman with a wide array of lures. Immediate gratification is the shiniest of lures. Let's make our planet and our world full of happiness. Let's stop giving each other bad feelings. For when we do, we also give ourselves bad feelings. Free will is the Great Creator's greatest gift to us. It's a gift of immense beauty and of incredible responsibility. Deep down we are all absolutely perfect, but if we come to ignore the Great Creator and become our own gods, we will pay the ultimate price. However, if we're still alive, we still have time to see the Light (Kami no Hikari.) Don't forget who is always our guide; it is the child in us.

Drew

When the path is dark

The Divine will show the way

Only if you see

I love my precious! my precious! It's the only thing that matters!

Hmmm...this is interesting.

The Creator loves all who love (it, Him, mine is Him) and all who don't. That seems to be what sets Him apart from the others.

Aikido respects the student and the attacker, because the point is to disable the attacker with as little serious injury as possible.

Does Aikido come from the Creator? I think it does. Jesus sent the 72 disciples out the first time without even a second tunic. But the second time, He told them to go out only after they had spent some of their money to buy a weapon.

How much better a weapon is the one not designed for serious injury!

You make me happy, Drew! I wish I had your level of self-knowledge.

I love the duality that is presented in your topic! Go out and find a weapon before you spread the word of peace!

All major religions deal with this topic of duality. We definitely face it in our study of Aikido. It is the yen/yang, the void, and the balance of harmony!

Suzanne Cooper wrote: Does Aikido come from the Creator? I think it does. Jesus sent the 72 disciples out the first time without even a second tunic. But the second time, He told them to go out only after they had spent some of their money to buy a weapon.

Suzanne, could you give me a reference point on that? I'd really like to look that up.

Thanks!

Drew Gardner (Suru) wrote: I once felt the power of ego.

Good. That means you're alive and functional. Ego is a vital and integral part of who you are.

I decided it was time for a change and Aikido was the catalyst.

Eh? Aikido is a martial practice. It ain't a magic pill. It's a mehodology and philosophy of )mostly) unarmed ocmbat leavened by some pretty esoteric and, quite frankly, weird, religious philosophy that ever the founder said wasn't critical for immersion in the art.

Thanks to Aikido, my life is in better perspective.

Good for you. But, hey, knitting or stamp collecting could've been your path as well!

Whatever name we give to the Great Creator of life, It loves all human beings who love It.

Huh. Tell that to the folks in Hiroshima, Pompeii, Krakatoa, the Twin Towers ...

The Great Creator, if there is one, is, at best, ambivalent.

It created the devil to challenge us.

What? You're kidding, right?

No, really.

Please tell me you're kidding?

Temptation is a fisherman with a wide array of lures.

Oh my.

You obviously haven't been doing the same aikido as most folks. Tell us about your experiences, please.

Chuck

While I don't subscribe to the theory of an active creator, (I much like chuck believe that if their is one he/she is ambivilant and does not interfere with daily life, but another topic all together).

What I'd really like to point out though is the shortsightedness that fundamentalism can cause. You spend your time discussing technical points, looking for dogma, doctrine, and "seek the real meaning or truth". You spend time judging others and yourself, creating torment, conflict.

You start to believe that you are practicing Unifing behaviors when you are really not. (It is only unifying when everyone else follows your path)

Fundamentalism barks of intolerance, disharmony, and "group think". All the things that I think are wrong in the world.

Now I am not talking about religion, although fundamentalist thinking occurs there. It is very prevalent in politcs and in other areas.

It can occur in the dojo as well when we take the word of sensei literally, or try to figure out the exact steps for a technique etc.

I have heard my sensei say many times that it is not about technique, but about principle. Think for yourself, figure it out. Don't ask me, my aikido is different.

If there is literally a devil, a god, or a divine aikido spirit and he is actively involved in our lives, the arts etc....then I believe he/she created the concept of fundamentalism to be a big part of that evil.

I'd rather spend my time smiling, experiencing life in all it has to offer than to argue at length about what a person, deity, a book tells us is right or wrong, because in the end, we certainly talked alot, but missed out on what life has to offer!

I watched the movie Dogma again the other night (probably why I am writing these thoughts!). In it one of the messages was it was not important to believe in god, but to have an "idea" about what god would be like.

That makes a lot of sense to me. I like the slogan "what would jesus do?" from the sense that it makes us think about our actions, doesn't tell us what to do, but emplores us to have an idea!

Anyway...enough rambling!

In it one of the messages was it was not important to believe in god, but to have an "idea" about what god would be like.

I agree that I'd like to know exactly what God was like, but I want God to recognize me in the end!

The Jesus-and-the-weapon quote is Luke 22:35-38, for those who've written to me. I've answered your messages, too, BTW.

Jesus said it right when he said to love God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.

I believe aikido to be a sublimely humane method of loving your attacker into changing his mind!

Chuck Gordon (LOEP) wrote: Huh. Tell that to the folks in Hiroshima, Pompeii, Krakatoa, the Twin Towers ... The Great Creator, if there is one, is, at best, ambivalent. Chuck

I plan on telling many things to the folks from Hiroshima, Pompeii, Krakatoa, and the Twin Towers. I believe when it is my time to leave this tiny little planet, I will sit in a great circle and share eternal bliss with all those who did not become their own god.

Drew

I love all the posts here. I'm not sure what the "rebirth" thing is supposed to mean (I don't believe in re-incarnation).

It does seem that in Aikido training, in looking back at my motivations for taking up this wacky hobby, I was a very afraid person. Aikido has given me a tool to address that fear. I think this, for me, kind of like the sword Jesus told his disciples to buy. (I'll have to run this by my pastor, and see what he says ;-)

For Christians anyway, fear is ultimately a lack of faith or trust that God is working in our best interests. Aikido, at one tme, was a way for me to address some fear I had in my life. It's not really why I train anymore, but it sure used to be.

Good posts everyone. I get a lot to ponder from all you guys!

Wow! there is some crazy stuff here. Jesus telling his disciples to buy weapons?

I would agree with Chuck, ego is necessary as a normal human being. Without ego we have no self image, and without a self image we have nothing to drive us to aspire to things. Saying that, too much aspiriation is a bad thing.

I suppose, whatever floats your boat!

Everyone go back to the dojo! Practice! Practice! Practice!

I think God has shown love to us, by creating us with the potential to handle anything life throws at us. This is our world, its up to us to run it.

Threads about politics and religion turn out just like real-life debates on these topics, only 50 times uglier.

Hi everybody

The question of whether God created aikido or not is purely hypothetical and highly dogmatic, whereas another question might be more relevant. What did O-Sensei think about that question. If you read the series of articles called Takemusu Aiki starting in Aikido Journal, Vol 26, No 1, 1999, you will find that O-Sensei definitely felt that Aikido was a divine gift, and that his mission in life was to spread "the word". The text "Takemusu Aiki" was originally compiled (in Japanese of course) by the "Byakko Shinko Kai" , better known as "The Prayer for Peace Movement" Thanks to AJMag some of it has been translated.


regards

I'm sorry Chuck but neither knitting nor stamp collecting would have given me the tools to stop getting into arguments arbitrarily. I string beads for a living, but stringing beads has not given me the courage to walk into a room full of people i am terrified of. I studied ballet for 12 years but it never taught me how actually and metaphoically roll with the punches.

If you practice aikido as a hobby, it will give the benefits of a hobby- a pleasant way to fill leisure time. If you practice aikido as a way to learn to get along with other people, amazingly enough, in a very short time you may find you have friends and a Life you had forgotten you ever had. At least I did.

Jo,

I personally have no trouble with characterizing aikido as a hobby. First of all, I know few people who are not passionate about their hobbies. For them, a hobby is far more than "a pleasant way to fill leisure time."

Second, a hobby is something that you don't need to do, but like to. I doubt that many of us absolutely need to study martial arts. If we absolutely have to defend ourselves -- as citizens, police, or military -- there are far more efficient means available than our empty hands. Guns, pepper spray, laser guided bombs, etc. are the modern tools of a fight.

Third, a hobby by definition is not a vocation. I've never made any money on aikido. In fact, it costs a bit for me to practice. Frankly, I doubt my instructor makes much money on the whole venture. In short, I won't starve if I give up aikido.

The nice thing about having aikido as a hobby is that, without the pressures of having to defend my life or make a living with it, I can devote a lot of time and energy to my study than would otherwise be possible. I think I can get deeper into the art and become more skilled than if I had to do it for survival or for a living.

That last sentence may seem counterintuitive, but I've seen other examples. For instance, civilians who shoot as a hobby are often better shots than professional soldiers simply because they get more range time. They can also make mistakes (in technique, not safety) without fear of, well, dying.

None of this is mean to put down your concept or practice of aikido. I just don't think there's anything wrong with viewing aikido as a hobby.

Regarding the original post: The historical evidence seems to show that aikido was a religious expression for O'Sensei. At the same time, he did not require his students to follow the same religious path as he. I think it is far too easy to disregard the founder's religious concepts and graft our own onto aikido.

For me, it has been important to learn more about what the founder really believed and how aikido fit into his beliefs. Additionally, a study of how his aikido changed over time, and the changes since his death are very relevant to my current practice. The work by Stan Pranin and others at the Aikido Journal web site is great for providing historical context. Once I have a good historical context, I can then see which of my personal beliefs mesh with aikido and which don't. This is an ongoing exercise that occasionally causes discomfort as I learn more about myself, my beliefs, and my aikido.

I can say that, as a Christian, aikido works well with a lot of my personal values. I also have found aikido to be a very valuable way to effect changes in myself. I've changed a lot physically since I started training over four years ago. My temperament has also changed and I find that I handle arguments better than I did before training.

I don't know if I'd call that a rebirth, but I like the way my practice has affect me.

Regards,

-Drew Ames