O Sensei and Einstein

Heres an interesting little article I stumbled upon just a moment ago.

http://www.stenudd.com/aikido/osensei-einstein.htm


So I wonder then if Einstein would have been good at Aikido? Hahaha.

Einstein seemed a little too absent minded to be good at Aikido.

This topic made me think of something: you know how they say that the brain has two hemispheres and that one takes care of the logical stuff and the other the emotional-touchy feely stuff right? Well, now, I'm wondering what type of person is more likely to learn aikido and apply its principles easily?

Would a logical thinker master the mechanics/physical techniques? And would the touchy-feely person master the blending/leading techniques also?

I could classify Einstein as the logical type person, but I think he's an open-minded person with great visions. He could be absent minded (I don't really know) but aikido could have helped him focus more (if he needed it). Tell you what though, he could have dissected every movement in aikido and could have explained the dynamics of why a typical movement is essential or totally not needed. He could probably give his take on how a particular technique could be even simplified.
If only...

Larry Cuvin wrote: This topic made me think of something: you know how they say that the brain has two hemispheres and that one takes care of the logical stuff and the other the emotional-touchy feely stuff right? Well, now, I'm wondering what type of person is more likely to learn aikido and apply its principles easily? Would a logical thinker master the mechanics/physical techniques? And would the touchy-feely person master the blending/leading techniques also?

Larry, the greatest thing about this post is all the question marks. Einstein was born with a really high, but not incredibly high intelligence quotient of somewhere in the 140-160 range. An eighth grade dropout, he got so damn smart by asking questions. He would ask so many questions to so many people that most became annoyed with him, understandably.

As for the left brain/right brain stuff, I'm sure there's some truth to logic being processed more in the left hemisphere with creativity in the right, but the more I study psychology or--more specifically relevant--biopsychology, the more I realize how little I know. I try to leave biopsych to the experts, who themselves are just a little less clueless than me *relative* to the true complexity of our organic CPUs.

Drew

Its very funny that all that asking questions does not fit well with the eastern martial art teaching techniques. I'd submit that Einstein would of been thrown out of any dojo in japan.

Although Einstein was technically a high school dropout (from a Munich Gymnasium), he completed a high school level education in Switzerland, and went on to get a degree from Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich. One of the reasons he quit school was because of the militaristic education in Germany and the fact that his family moved to Milan, leaving him more or less alone in Munich. Don't give people the incorrect impression that was totally self-educated!

Drew Gardner wrote: Einstein was born with a really high, but not incredibly high intelligence quotient of somewhere in the 140-160 range.

You mean he was BORN that way?!

Henry Brown wrote: Don't give people the incorrect impression that was totally self-educated!

My biographical knowledge of Albert comes from a short book I read once on him in 4th grade. Someone with an eighth grade education usually knows quite a bit, so he certainly wasn't totally self-educated whether he finished high school or not.

Drew

One thing that Einstein was not - was purely "logical." He, unlike most of us, did not think in words - at least when he theorized. He thought, literally, in sensations. In other words, he EXPERIENCED space-time, and then later, used words and symbols to carve out when he felt.
Dobson and I were hanging around the Bowery (literaly - the old Bond Street dojo was half a block away) and I had the book, I and Thou, by Martin Buber, one of the great souls of the twentieth century. The cover picture of this saintly man, with his deep, gentle, eyes, tends to stop one in one's tracks. Terry looks at it and says, "Yeah, I wonder how he'd look with a good nikkyo slapped on his wrist." And pauses, and points at the book and says, "<sigh> I guess that's why he's there and I'm here."

Best

Good story Ellis.

In gassho,

Mark

Terry looks at it and says, "Yeah, I wonder how he'd look with a good nikkyo slapped on his wrist."