Batto Jutsu workshop, Apr 2010
Sharing Experience, Building Community
Ideals are ideal. Life needs balance.
I see, hear, feel, taste, smell and therefore I am. I think and therefore I am. Is one true and the other false?
Some people practice to become expert at a thing for which they have talent. Others practice to round themselves out where they feel inadequate. The former is about building on strength. Does it make a person one-dimensional? Others practice self-defense for security, health, fitness, or for companionship, or to impress friends, or to wake up. We are all of them. We need a lot of things from our practice.
Why learn to deflect a thrust by swinging the sword down sideways?
That defense will be useless out there in the future when that attack never comes. It is useful in the now when this attack is happening. Not a real attack, yet still wanting awareness and response.
Bearing in mind that the future is an unreal time, practice to share this real moment.
"Why improve?" is a question. "Why grow?" is an answer.
The sword begins to feel as an extension of the body. Some people practice to learn how to grow.
Consciousness grows from awareness, not from thinking.
It is not whether we win or lose, but doing it with class, that matters.
Our aikido has no competition. Just class.
Effectiveness of technique is not a goal to be anticipated, but sensible (sense-able) guidance to keep us together on the path.
No destination, only journey.
No conclusion but continuation.
Bearing in mind that the future is an unreal time, practice to share this real moment.
"Why improve?" is a question. "Why grow?" is an answer.
The sword begins to feel as an extension of the body. Some people practice to learn how to grow.
Consciousness grows from awareness, not from thinking.
It is not whether we win or lose, but doing it with class, that matters.
Our aikido has no competition. Just class.
Effectiveness of technique is not a goal to be anticipated, but sensible (sense-able) guidance to keep us together on the path.
No destination, only journey.
No conclusion but continuation.
-Norman Dimock
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