Fall Back Friday - Grow by Losing
Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on November 3, 2002.
Practicing Aikido is not simply going through the motions. Just because we sweat and get a good work-out does not necessarily mean that we have learned something. Just because we are strong or can throw the other person harder doesn't necessarily mean that we have achieved some skill in the art. Just because we go on the internet and know about all the chit-chat that goes on about Aikido doesn't really mean that we know anything about Aikido at all. We must develop our sensitivity and awareness, we must become more deeply knowing than before. This does not mean that we have all the answers but it does mean that we have become more aware of ourselves and the people and things around us. I think we must develop this kind of awareness before we can begin to blend and harmonize with the other person. I often see people practicing so hard yet not learning anything. I don't understand this fully but I often see a lack of awareness or focus within those students. I also see a mental direction going away from what we are practicing or learning at the moment. I see that some people enter into their own little world and become completely oblivious to everything around them. This is NOT Aikido. This is simply indulging one's self on the practice mats. There is something that first must be lost before in can gain anything in our practice. We think too much of grabbing this and that. Lose your ego, lose your direction, lose your opinion, and lose everything. This does not mean to become an unfeeling zombie or the living dead. I am talking about becoming an "empty vessel" which receives all. Many students have already set up too many barriers around themselves to do this. This is not easy. I don't think it can be done on an intellectual level, I think there is a strong element of faith, devotion, love, desire, and aspiration involved here. Learning is not taking, receiving is not gaining, giving is not losing, can you understand my meaning? We grow by losing, we shrink by taking, everything is not calculated or surmised on an accounting ledger, everything is a matter of energy and its transformation within ourselves. This is Aikido.
Watch this video of Furuya Sensei explaining Aikido philosophy
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