A warrior thinks of others. Japan’s most prolific swordsman said, “Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.” At the core of most belief systems lies the concept of putting others before ourselves. The world is a very lonely place and if we cannot work together, we will surely perish. Thus, in the world of budo, selfishness is sign of weakness. The concept of togetherness and thinking of others is an integral part of Japanese culture. Formally, Japan was an agriculturally based society and so they relied on the kindness of others where people worked together in order to survive. The concept of thinking of others is thought of as teinei (丁寧) or “politeness” but politeness in this sense is in how we treat and respect people and things. We treat people with care and kindness not because we are trying to get something from them, but because we too wish for care and kindness. We realize that the resources are not infinite and so we treat things with care and respect as well. Battles cannot be won by individuals and so a warrior knows that having a team is necessary for success. In Aikido, having a training partner is integral for our success too. Our partners give us their bodies so that we may achieve mastery and so we cannot waste or abuse them. We cannot reach our higher place if they are selfish and only think about themselves. We cannot survive on our own and so we rely on the kindness, compassion and generosity of others. As much as we get, we must also give in return. When discussing a rather selfish student, Furuya Sensei once said, "He gets everything handed to him on a silver platter - yet he has no awareness that he must, in turn, serve others with this same silver platter." Our greatness does not come from vanquishing others but how kindly we can treat one another. We will not succeed if we only think of ourselves and so a warrior always thinks of themselves lightly and always thinks about others first.
Today’s goal: Do just one thing in which you put someone else before yourself.