“This is the nature of war. By protecting others, you save yourself. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself.” - Kambei Shimada, Seven Samurai
Aikido people are happier people.
In the 1954 Akira Kurosawa classic Seven Samurai there is this scene that I think about a lot. The leader of the seven samurai, Kambei Shimada tersely rebukes the villagers who want to sacrifice the outlying villager’s homes to save the main village. While talking about his own experiences and trying to convince the villagers not to be selfish, he says, “This is the nature of war. By protecting others, you save yourself. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself.”
I recently read an article on CNBC about happiness which made me think about Kambei’s assertion. The article was about happiness, and it interviewed Author Stephanie Harrison who wrote the book New Happy. What she found was that “money and success are not the keys to happiness.” Furthermore, she stated, “I think the secret to happiness is using who you are to help other people. To do that, you have to discover who you are, who you really are, away from the conditioning that we’ve been given by our society. And then you have to figure out the best ways to share that self with other people.”
From this article, I thought about Aikido and how training could make Aikido people happier people. Happier begins with ukemi. Early in our training, we are forced to take ukemi for our partners. It is forced because we do it because we are told to, not because we want to. Later in our training, when we become more confident in our ability to fall or receive a throw or pin, we actually come to enjoy taking ukemi. One reason why we enjoy it is because we have developed our physical ability and know we aren’t going to get hurt. Another and more deeper reason is because as Furuya Sensei used to say “training is how we gain enlightenment” and so by allowing others to use our bodies, we are helping them toward their enlightenment.
Obviously, helping others toward enlightenment is not typically on the forefront of our minds. But, over time, the training subconsciously changes us into better and kinder human beings. One indication that it is developing us is that we start to display patterns of selflessness. In Japanese, this selflessness is te wo sashinoberu (手を差し伸べる) or “to lend a hand” but it is helping without being prompted. Anyone can look selfless one or twice especially when they know someone is watching, but true selflessness is a pattern. This pattern is unknowingly drummed into us with every act of ukemi, when we clean, or anytime we help out. With every act, we somehow become more giving and kinder people - we become happier. This giving of ourselves supports Harrison’s understanding that to become happier, we must help others.
Aikido is not happiness nor are all Aikido people living in states of happiness. The operative word in the article was “happier.” Every day in life and Aikido, we are confronted with things that are out of our control. The unhappy person takes it out on others. Through Aikido training, the developed Aikidoist knows that they can’t change the circumstances, but they can change how they react. Aikido teaches us to be less selfish and think of others which science is now realizing helps us to be happier. Thus, Aikido people are happier people.
Today’s goal: Lend a helping hand to someone else in need - it will make you happier.
Watch this Ted Talk to better understand happier