Posts by Jesse Allen2

Paul Campbell3 said:So, you think Tohei couldn't stomach being taught by someone lower in rank than him? 😕

Look, even if that were true, neither Tohei nor anyone else actually grasped the core essence of what Uyeshiba was teaching. If they had, they wouldn't have messed it up so badly (don't get defensive, Paul Campbell3, I'm just repeating what's been said).🙂

First off, to start practicing aikido, you don't need to understand a single thing about his cosmology or the deep philosophy behind it.

But, if you want to live aikido and truly grasp it the way Uyeshiba intended, then sure—that's necessary. But again, it’s not strictly required, haha! 🙂

Tradition, technique, and methodology are one thing, but the spirit and the very essence of existence? That's something else entirely.

Aikido is just one way to express and achieve that, but it isn't the only way. 🙂

The universal spirit of love and its manifestations (like moving meditation—which is what aikido, or any martial art at its purest, really is... honestly, even chopping onions could be 😁 ) doesn't depend on a specific school, a teacher, a certain day, or tradition. That's just my take on it.

The universal spirit of aikido is singular. It isn't "owned" by any organization, any single instructor, or any specific school.

Techniques, the passing down of tradition, teaching styles—those are different matters altogether, and we can argue about those, but personally, I'd rather talk about fighters than this stuff here. 😉

Why did I get my wires crossed?
Because to even begin something, you need at least a baseline level of understanding. Moving toward a goal without any comprehension is like having sex without any emotion—which is really just a linguistic paradox, isn't it? 😛
On the flip side, once you truly *understand* aikido, you don't need to "understand" anything anymore, especially not how Uyeshiba interpreted it. So, as I said, I mixed up the order, but hey, it happens. 😁

bluemason3 said:Hmm... if that's the case, why bother showing up to practice and learning techniques in the first place? 😁

You learn them so you can eventually use them instinctively. It’s just like when you're a kid learning the alphabet—you spend all afternoon filling up notebook pages with nothing but the letter A, then B, and so on, until it just sticks!

Paul Campbell3 said:So, you think Tohei couldn't stomach being taught by someone lower in rank than him? 😕

Look, even if that were true, neither Tohei nor anyone else actually grasped the core essence of what Uyeshiba was teaching. If they had, they wouldn't have messed it up so badly (don't get defensive, Paul Campbell3, I'm just repeating what's been said).🙂

First off, to start practicing aikido, you don't need to understand a single thing about his cosmology or the deep philosophy behind it.

But, if you want to live aikido and truly grasp it the way Uyeshiba intended, then sure—that's necessary. But again, it’s not strictly required, haha! 🙂

Tradition, technique, and methodology are one thing, but the spirit and the very essence of existence? That's something else entirely.

Aikido is just one way to express and achieve that, but it isn't the only way. 🙂

The universal spirit of love and its manifestations (like moving meditation—which is what aikido, or any martial art at its purest, really is... honestly, even chopping onions could be 😁 ) doesn't depend on a specific school, a teacher, a certain day, or tradition. That's just my take on it.

The universal spirit of aikido is singular. It isn't "owned" by any organization, any single instructor, or any specific school.

Techniques, the passing down of tradition, teaching styles—those are different matters altogether, and we can argue about those, but personally, I'd rather talk about fighters than this stuff here. 😉

🤣 🤣 actually, I think you've got it backwards!

jademarlin26 makes some excellent points here 👍

But if I had to sum it up, aikido is all about freedom. That’s why my dear Banderas Ueshiba didn't feel the need to pin down a single definition.