Martial Paradox Article
"What you have presented is a useful illustration of how martial arts enable you to be at peace while commiting acts of violence."
My response follows
Irvine your logic is puzzling.
You wrote about my words..."What you have presented is a useful illustration of how martial arts enable you to be at peace while commiting acts of violence."
You will have an excellent career in politics and media. You have become quite a spin doctor to prove whatever point it is you are trying to make. When have I said I practice/do/commit violence?
I practice nonviolent action. My arts have never been used except to build community, heal, teach and protect. Our mantra in my school is simply - you cannot hurt me, and you cannot make me hurt you.
Like all forms of mysticism it is often an internal walk. But the Zen mind shatters the dualities. The concepts of internal and external blur. My inner mind organizes the outside world. My outer world organizes into peace. I try to teach others to live in peace.
Can I train my way to peace in the Middle East? Will the children be fed in Africa? No of course not. I am a small man, and I am far from perfect. I hope the people in my life feel my peace. My students and coworkers at my job feel my peace. My students at my dojo share in my search for peace. My teachers share the peace they have learned with me, and guide my own journey towards finding my own path. Hopefully each of the people I contact in my limited sphere learn something of the concept and continue to pass it on.
Walk In Peace
I love the line "You cannot make me hurt you". Osensei said that when you hurt your uke, you hurt yourself. But there are still many people who think that the goal of what wee do is to defeat another person through some kind of violent action.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost Monty-Python-esque, really. I can see John Cleese threatening to crush his uke with a devastating blow from the Jo of World Peace, or the Glaive of Reconciliation.
Honestly, this is where I think Seagal and his peeps went wrong; It ain't about hyperextending elbows, even if those elbows belong to really bad people.