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12-30-2009, 12:45 PM
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#1
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Dojo: Itten Suginami Dojo, Nunspeet
Location: Wapenveld
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 350
Offline
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Dilemma
One of the great/awful things about Aikido is that you can always find a teacher who is as nutty/enlightened/ as you are, thereby ensuring that whatever you do can always be described as "Aikido". Seeing as how most Shihans don't want to define Aikido (could be health system, Budo, self development, self defense, art form, shugyo, etc., etc.) nobody knows what the hell they are doing, except insofar as they define it for themselves and their way of practicing their image of aikido fits in the dojo they are part of, or at least, for the time being. This is great/terrible unless/until we bump into other realities/assumptions that force/persuade us to redefine/re-anesthetize ourselves in order to continue along our chosen path/maze.
Every time I log on i get invited to post and mostly what I read reminds me not to make a fool of myself again, but being a fool I couldn't resist.
BTW when you read the above paragraph pick whatever variations you like in order to generate something worth arguing with
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If your temper rises withdraw your hand, if your hand rises withdraw your temper.
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12-30-2009, 01:19 PM
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#2
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Dojo: Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja Aikidojo; Himeji Shodokan Dojo
Location: Renton
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,276
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Quote:
Alec Corper wrote:
One of the great/awful things about Aikido is that you can always find a teacher who is as nutty/enlightened/ as you are, thereby ensuring that whatever you do can always be described as "Aikido". Seeing as how most Shihans don't want to define Aikido (could be health system, Budo, self development, self defense, art form, shugyo, etc., etc.) nobody knows what the hell they are doing, except insofar as they define it for themselves and their way of practicing their image of aikido fits in the dojo they are part of, or at least, for the time being. This is great/terrible unless/until we bump into other realities/assumptions that force/persuade us to redefine/re-anesthetize ourselves in order to continue along our chosen path/maze.
Every time I log on i get invited to post and mostly what I read reminds me not to make a fool of myself again, but being a fool I couldn't resist.
BTW when you read the above paragraph pick whatever variations you like in order to generate something worth arguing with
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I disagree most fervently! Most fervently indeed! I'm not sure with what yet, but I'm working on it, give me more time.
Wait I think I've found something! In your second to last paragraph you say that it is because you are a fool that you keep making a fool out of yourself. I disagree! Assuming for the moment we're not talking about you directly, I think it can actually be quite wise to make a fool of yourself. How else can other less foolish people provide that enlightenment you seek? Seriously. Besides! Shirley, it's a valuable public service to demonstrate what not to do!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Last edited by mathewjgano : 12-30-2009 at 01:22 PM.
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Gambarimashyo!
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12-30-2009, 01:46 PM
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#3
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Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
So, I got the following possible combinations:
This is great unless we bump into other realities that force us to redefine ourselves in order to continue along our chosen path.
This is great unless we bump into other realities that force us to redefine ourselves in order to continue along our chosen maze.
This is great unless we bump into other realities that force us to re-anaesthetize ourselves in order to continue along our chosen path.
...and 61 other possibilities, perhaps the best of which is:
This is terrible until we bump into other assumptions that force us to re-anaesthetize ourselves in order to continue along our chosen maze.
...wait, what was "this" again?
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12-30-2009, 01:54 PM
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#4
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Dojo: West Wind Dojo Santa Monica California
Location: Malibu, California
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,295
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
A dog chasing it's own tail never bumps into anything.
William Hazen
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12-30-2009, 01:59 PM
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#5
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Dojo: Itten Suginami Dojo, Nunspeet
Location: Wapenveld
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 350
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Hey, come on guys, you're not taking this seriously enough. Pretty soon the thread will be moved....... somewhere else!
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If your temper rises withdraw your hand, if your hand rises withdraw your temper.
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12-30-2009, 02:00 PM
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#6
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,415
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
I understand/don't understand and agree/disagree with/without you.
David/Not David
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Go ahead, tread on me.
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12-30-2009, 02:03 PM
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#7
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Dojo: Aikikai Gent, Brugse Aikido Vereniging
Location: Bruges
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 139
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Quote:
David Skaggs wrote:
I understand/don't understand and agree/disagree with/without you.
David/Not David
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Seems like you have an existential problem!
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12-30-2009, 02:19 PM
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#8
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Dojo: Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja Aikidojo; Himeji Shodokan Dojo
Location: Renton
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,276
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Quote:
Alec Corper wrote:
Hey, come on guys, you're not taking this seriously enough. Pretty soon the thread will be moved....... somewhere else!
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Is the dilemma "to post or not to post...and why?" ...Or am I just seeing my own reflection there?
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Gambarimashyo!
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12-30-2009, 03:07 PM
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#9
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Dojo: Itten Suginami Dojo, Nunspeet
Location: Wapenveld
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 350
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
These are some of the most "aiki" comments I've seen for a long time, such blending, perfect tenkan, just a touch of avoidance/evasion and great sen. Even my fingertips are feeling martial now.
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If your temper rises withdraw your hand, if your hand rises withdraw your temper.
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12-30-2009, 03:11 PM
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#10
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Dojo: Itten Suginami Dojo, Nunspeet
Location: Wapenveld
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 350
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
BTW, the "this" someone asked about is that everybody is doing their own aikido, whatever that is, and whether we agree or diagree with that fact is a fart in the wind.;-)
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If your temper rises withdraw your hand, if your hand rises withdraw your temper.
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12-30-2009, 03:16 PM
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#11
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Location: Left Coast
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 4,339
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Quote:
Alec Corper wrote:
BTW, the "this" someone asked about is that everybody is doing their own aikido
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Oh I don't know, sometimes I feel like I'm stuck doing somebody else's (surely MINE couldn't be this bad), and I'd like to know where and how to exchange it for one of better quality.
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Janet Rosen
http://www.zanshinart.com
"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
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12-30-2009, 03:19 PM
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#12
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Location: Summerholm, Queensland
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,126
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Dilemma? What dilemma? The teacher/instructor (or anyone who sets themselves up as such/advertises the fact that they are in a position to do so) has an obligation to teach the student - irrespective of where they are at in their own development, or how they define what it is they supposedly do/teach at whatever point in time. IOW, if one has "students", one has implicitly accepted the responsibility of guiding that student. And therefore, it is the teacher's responsibility to ensure that the student receives what they require to learn - at the student's level of development. Even if it something that the student must figure out for themselves, the teacher must provide the pre-requisite learning environment in order for the student to discover for themselves.
Likewise, the student (by definition), implicitly accepts the obligation to learn and attempt to replicate what the teacher presents. To borrow a classroom analogy, if you turn up to a MA101 lecture expecting to do SD211, then you're in the wrong class... MA101 is in the great hall on the other side of the campus.
By the same token, a student may have several teachers, just as a university student may choose to do various units and electives in their chosen course of study. Over the course of my undergrad years, I had several lecturers, each teaching in their distinct areas of specialization. It was up to me as an undergrad to reconcile several discrete bodies of knowledge, and work out how these separate and distinct subjects could be applied to future career choices.
If you look at the career paths of many of the past and present teachers, they would have had several teachers and people they collaborated with over the course of their careers. They too would have studied with, and learnt from a variety of sources, formally or otherwise. It would be unrealistic to expect that such a person exists that was the embodiment of all there is to know. Or that one is expected to learn all there is to learn from only that person, and no other.
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Ignatius
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12-30-2009, 03:37 PM
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#13
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Dojo: Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja Aikidojo; Himeji Shodokan Dojo
Location: Renton
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,276
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Quote:
Alec Corper wrote:
These are some of the most "aiki" comments I've seen for a long time, such blending, perfect tenkan, just a touch of avoidance/evasion and great sen. Even my fingertips are feeling martial now.
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Is that a "no" to my first question then?
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Gambarimashyo!
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12-30-2009, 07:20 PM
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#14
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Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Quote:
Alec Corper wrote:
These are some of the most "aiki" comments I've seen for a long time, such blending, perfect tenkan, just a touch of avoidance/evasion and great sen. Even my fingertips are feeling martial now.
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After a brisk walk in 10 degree weather (that's 10 Fahrenheit, you metric peoples) and half a bottle of sauvignon blanc, my fingertips aren't feeling anything.
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12-30-2009, 07:23 PM
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#15
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Dojo: Doshinkan dojo in Roxborough, Pa
Location: Phila. Pa
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 4,615
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote:
After a brisk walk in 10 degree weather (that's 10 Fahrenheit, you metric peoples) and half a bottle of sauvignon blanc, my fingertips aren't feeling anything.
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Nothin wrong wid dat!
I hope you at least had a good dog with you...
B,
R
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Ron Tisdale
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"The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind."
St. Bonaventure (ca. 1221-1274)
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12-31-2009, 07:58 AM
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#16
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Dojo: Team Combat USA
Location: Olympia, Washington
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,376
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote:
After a brisk walk in 10 degree weather (that's 10 Fahrenheit, you metric peoples) and half a bottle of sauvignon blanc, my fingertips aren't feeling anything.
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Oh that is just great Mary! So apparently you are culturally insensitive to those that use the Kelvin Scale! You know not everything can and should be measured by Centrgade or Fahrenheit Scales!
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12-31-2009, 08:02 AM
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#17
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Dojo: Team Combat USA
Location: Olympia, Washington
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,376
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Alec wrote:
Quote:
Shihans don't want to define Aikido (could be health system, Budo, self development, self defense, art form, shugyo, etc., etc.) nobody knows what the hell they are doing, except insofar as they define it for themselves and their way of practicing their image of aikido fits in the dojo they are part of, or at least, for the time being. This is great/terrible unless/until we bump into other realities/assumptions that force/persuade us to redefine/re-anesthetize ourselves in order to continue along our chosen path/maze
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Maybe it has been left loosely defined to allow us the room to bump into the reality. To give us a platform and space to make our own, to ask questions, to....gasp!...internalize for ourselves.
Maybe there is nothing wrong with things following the same basic tennants, yet being different.
Maybe it is the differences we are supposed to notice, embrace, and celebrate.
Maybe the abolishment of fundamentalism and fundamentalist thinking is a big part of the process.
I don't know, but it sure has been a great ride so far for me!
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12-31-2009, 08:07 AM
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#18
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Location: Ohio
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 82
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
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12-31-2009, 01:32 PM
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#19
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Location: Edmonton, AB
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 802
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote:
Oh that is just great Mary! So apparently you are culturally insensitive to those that use the Kelvin Scale! You know not everything can and should be measured by Centrgade or Fahrenheit Scales!
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Well, Hang on... The Kelvin and Celsius (Centigrade) scales have the same graduations.. Different "zero" points... No minus K temperatures....
Let's see... 10 F (10-32)x5/9-32= -12.2C
Ok, that's starting to get cool...
Happy New Year everyone.
W
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12-31-2009, 01:43 PM
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#20
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Dojo: Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja Aikidojo; Himeji Shodokan Dojo
Location: Renton
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,276
Offline
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Re: Dilemma
Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote:
Maybe it has been left loosely defined to allow us the room to bump into the reality. To give us a platform and space to make our own, to ask questions, to....gasp!...internalize for ourselves.
Maybe there is nothing wrong with things following the same basic tennants, yet being different.
Maybe it is the differences we are supposed to notice, embrace, and celebrate.
Maybe the abolishment of fundamentalism and fundamentalist thinking is a big part of the process.
I don't know, but it sure has been a great ride so far for me!
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I really like that Kevin! Beautifully put! Thank you.
Happy New Year!
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Gambarimashyo!
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