The way-in is going out
In life one can be “into” many things… and it is very interesting to discover how many little universes exist in which we can participate. Nevertheless Aikido is something that one can never be “into” since this is clearly the wrong foot, and opposite direction, in order to join this Art.
The only way to be or get “into” Aikido is by going out to it. I wonder, how else can this be said, how else can it be described? Oh yes, imagine a journey into space… any other place to compare to, seems to be small. So, you start your journey from one point, and then you go out, but without seeking an equivalent point to reach, as the one you started. You go out, you expand, and you stay out…
Aikido is like a key to a door, that once you use to open this door, you find out that you were… locked in. Taking the first step out includes that there is nothing that will persuade you to go back-in…
It is nothing less than that!The simple things are sometimes the most difficult to grasp, perhaps because they lie at our feet and we step on them with the very first step, in an attempt to advance. One might rightly say: “…and what the hell do you want us to do”. Well… what about sitting down right where you stand without stepping on anything? That would do.
People try to join Aikido and somehow they are refusing to exit to it… because they try… to get in. This looks even worse for people that are already practicing it. They are given a door to freedom and they use it to hang their hat on…
In order to understand and realize the concept of “exiting towards” Aikido, takes a bit of the quality that makes us humans beautifully unique. It takes the quality of imagination…
Aikido is out there, to a direction of a journey… It is not in a Dojo, it is not in a little box for you to open, find it, then put it into your pocket and call it your own… What a miserable and shortsighted prospect anyway…Explaining the above in pure tangible technical terms is not only possible, but a necessity for the Martial Artist who does not rely on empty words, but seeks proof (though I must admit that in this specific occasion I feel that it’s killing a bit the poetry…).
The fundamental principal of Aikido is to concentrate on your center, but as soon as this is done (with a practical effect that actually proves that you do) the next thing is to extend your Ki to all possible/desirable of directions (again, with a practical effect that actually proves that you do). If one of these principals is missing, or is interrupted during your technique, then you have Aikido no more. It is clearly stated by the founder of the Art and by many more Masters, that this extending of Ki coming from the center should have no limitation on how far it goes…To perceive our positioning in Aikido… to perceive our positioning in life, determines our ability to orient ourselves and thus chart a specific course of destination. It is the difference of a lost small boat that drifts into the ocean, with the one that carries a compass, a map and a willing man on the deck…
From time to time, a person will look at himself and then raise his head to see the stars, asking the eternal question: What am I doing here?
Among an ocean of assumptions, that is wise to avoid, and among a sea of answers that are to be learned, one is for sure:
The ability of putting this question is the biggest part of the answer itself…
Bon Voyage my fellow practitioners…“We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself”
Carl SaganFebruary 10, 2009