“I choose to live by choice, not by chance.” - Miyamoto Musashi
The best Aikidoists understand the power of active choice. In behavioral economics, active choice is “a decision-making strategy that involves making conscious and deliberate choices about what options to pursue.” In psychology, this might be called “putting oneself first.” Putting yourself first means “to not neglect your own needs.” Choosing oneself might seem to be contrary to the ethos of the samurai because, after all, samurai (侍) means “one who serves.” Thus, a samurai’s life seems devoid of choice and thus they do not get to live at their own discretion. However, that is not entirely true.
Most samurai were born into their professions and were taught to serve their superiors and, if needs be, sacrifice their lives. Thus, they seemingly have no choice and so it might be incredibly difficult for a samurai to choose themselves first. However, what most don’t realize is that to give up one’s life is actually a choice. People often erroneously think that the samurai “loved death.” They do not. Knowing that they are going to die, they learn how to live and so choosing is an active choice.
From the outside looking in, Aikido might look like one person doing techniques on another person. On a certain level, this is true. However, on a deeper level, we do Aikido “with” our partners not “to” our partners. There is a difference. “With” suggests that there is a certain active synergy between two people. Doing it “to” someone implies that one person is active, and the other one is passive.
In class, when the movement of two people training together becomes disjointed, I often ask them the trick question, “Who is in charge?” The correct answer for either person is supposed to be “I am.” Simultaneously within the movement of any technique, each person is actively in charge of themselves. The uke or “the one being thrown” consciously moves with their partner and then actively chooses how they will take the technique being done to them. For the nage or “the one throwing,” they consciously move with the attack and search for an opening to create a technique to do. Each person is actively engaged in the choice of doing their part with one another.
In psychology, a healthy person has boundaries and puts themselves first but not in a narcissistic way. This is supposed to be more of a self-love or “to have the regard for one's own well-being and happiness.” Putting ourselves first is supposed to be done in a healthy way which is in line with our personal goals and done with healthy boundaries. From the samurai point of view, despite the horrors of war and the finality of death, the true samurai warrior actively engages in choice. Active choice is freedom. When we actively choose, we are engaging in self-love which might seem like a foreign concept for a samurai, but they have realized that in accepting and choosing their own deaths, they are actually truly living.
In Aikido and in life, everything we do is a choice. No matter what happens to us, we have the ability to choose how to respond. Sometimes, it may not seem that way but even a samurai chooses themselves first as they throw themselves to their doom. The best Aikidoists have realized that there is a power in engaging in active choice.
Today’s goal: In everything that we do there is a choice.
Watch this video to better understand choice