Aiki Dojo Message - Empowerment
“Life is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead.” - Quote attributed to Morihei Ueshiba
An Aikidoist is a seeker. A seeker is someone who is searching for knowledge. When we talk about training, we often use the word shugyo(修業) and most think that it means “austere or hard training” like in mushashugyo (武者修行) or “warrior training.” However, if we look up shugyo in the dictionary, it means “pursuit of knowledge.” The pursuit of knowledge is the search for empowerment. Empowerment is “the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.”
Self-empowerment is not a place we arrive at. Empowerment is a constant cycle of self-refinement where we discover, learn, and refine ourselves. Furuya Sensei once wrote, “If you have a problem in your training, you simply work at it until you have mastered it. Once you have mastered it, you move on to your next obstacle and work on it until you master it. This is a continuous and endless process. In your lifetime, there will be many battles that you will face and conquer, and this is endless. As you gain experience however, you will find that you understand your situation better and become more accepting of each challenge as it comes your way, and you begin to welcome these encounters. This understanding is actually the growing of energy within you. Some people like to call this empowerment.”
In a traditional dojo, the floors are wiped down before or after class. The students do this with a dampened cloth. Dampened means wet enough to clean the floor but dry enough so that the water on the floor afterwards evaporates quickly. Too much water will cause the floor to stay wet too long and create mold and mildew. Too dry and it won’t clean the mat. Damp in this sense is a delicate balance. When we wring the towel, we are supposed to use a shibori grip (絞り) or one hand over the other which is similar to how we grip a sword. Holding and wringing the towel vertically this way is supposed to be tidier because the water drips down and not out, but it is also supposed to help us develop our grip. The “wringing of the towel” is also a metaphor. Shiborikomi (絞り込み) means “refinement” or “to narrow-down.” Thus, as we wring out the water, we are also refining ourselves. In cleaning, we are trying to find the perfect balance between wet and dry. In training, we are also trying to find the perfect balance between warrior and human being. Furuya Sensei called this balance saikan koubai (歳寒紅梅) or “the elegant apricot flower and the strong plum blossom.” He said, “Saikan koubai means to focus too much on war makes us rough and crude while the emphasis on too much beauty makes us weak.”
There is a thin line between empowerment and delusion. The only thing which staves off delusion is constant refinement and that is why O’Sensei implores us to never stop growing. Knowing oneself is true power and that is why a true Aikidoist seeks to know.
Today’s goal: Knowing requires learning and learning requires humility. Be humble and seek to know.
Watch this video of author Robert Greene to learn more about finding yourself.