Throwback Thursday - Big Picture
Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on July 13, 2003
We think we are much better and more intelligent than other animals but when we think about it, - not really. We have our massive brains and smarts but most of the time we really do not know what we are doing. We think we have our logic and reasoning to deal with every problem but in most personal crises, it doesn't help us at all. We are like most other of God's creatures on this earth - so perplexed and in awe of all of Nature's wonders.
It is only when we think we can conquer Nature that things run afoul. It is only when we think we are smarter and can beat everything that Life has to throw at us, that we are so easily defeated.
Harmony, as in the harmony of Aikido, is not something that we have made up and can control, it is the enlightened perception of the Universe as a single, integrated entity which O'Sensei has sensed and understood.
We shouldn't think to manipulate or control Nature, but blend with it and feel it and become one with it as we should be from the moment we are born until we are no longer here. When we realize that Aikido is much bigger than ourselves and that we should stand in awe of it, we may have the same opportunity to perceive it.
When we train, nothing will make any sense to us at all. It cannot! It is a living fact which is in constant growth and change. Only after many years of devotion and faith, will things become clear to us. Just keep training, that is all - there is really nothing else to think about.
When the tiny processes of our logic and reasoning become quiet and still, when the internal dialogue ceases, only then, will the bigger picture emerge before our eyes. We will still not understand anything but this understanding we keep insisting upon is only part of the illusion.
Keep up the good work in your practice!
Watch this video of Furuya Sensei and Dick Cavett doing Aikido