Definitions
Circular Motion
05 November 2005 12:49 AM
The Principle Of Circular Motion is an amazing concept and Universal Law. For it allows the creation of wholes, just as the crisscrossing of circles in all directions creates a sphere.
A circle in a line of infinite circumference equal distant from a common center for all the circles involved. The center represents the inward moving direction of the circle in balance, while the circumference represents the outward moving direction of the center moving in all directions at once. The center represents Origination and the circumference represents Manifestation of Direction. A center has no direction while a circumference has only direction. Yet, one without the other would be impossible in this manifest universe.
While even the smallest of dots would seem to be without circumference it is by definition a center and a circumference, no matter the ultimate small magnification you take such a dot to. Even a line itself is made up of entities of Circular Motion but with the dominant force being Forward Motion.
The reason a line has no beginning and no end conceptually is that all lines are "bent" as a part of a larger parent circle of which it is only a part. Even light rays who have almost no mass do not move in absolutely straight lines but in enormously large circles, as has been measured by scientists. They attribute the "bent line" phenomenon to the gravitational bodies exerting pull onto light rays, but this is only one partial explanation.
In terms of pure core principles, no line of Direction can extend itself forever but must eventually come back on itself as a perfect circle.
Thus we cannot say that the Universe is ultimately expanding, as if lines of manifestation go out from one infinitesimal center in absolutely pure forward force forever. We have also here realized that center exists as a primary law, but in manifestation is always center with circumference. While the circle expands, seemingly forever in lines of force, we know from the shape of a sphere that even these expanding lines that make up the circumference must also be coming back to themselves as a manifestation of primary circles that together make up a sphere.
With this view the Universe will not be seen as to be expanding forever but to be the manifestation of a larger circle of which expanding is only a part of the over-arching arc.
Back to human terms, then we practice Circular Motion as a way of coming back to ourselves in our movements and choices in life. If you stay only with Forward Movement you become like an over-acheiver who keeps the drive going forward for endless achievement until the Forward Motion drive peters out because there is no longer to same effectiveness and energy to keep moving forward.
Even in the artificial or simplified world of sports the star athletes can only go so far in their Forward Motion. Eventually most players real the level where they can go no further. One reaches the top of all those playing in achievements, and that is it. Downward goes what was a great climb. There is never only one side of the mountain. You must always climb back down again in descent. Thus does the Principle of Circular Motion take over from the dominant principle of Forward Motion.
A complete player will devote him or herself to doing both. Enjoy with grace and increasing consciousness the descent from your prime as well as the ascent to your prime. But how many believe in and practice such foolishness? Only the few who can become aware enough to get disidentified from the Forward Motion principle they first used to maximize achievement.
Practice Circular Motion in the many activities of your day. Take time to come back to yourself. Your breaks from work are not just a necessity. Come off the mountain as well as go up it. Do not identify with one Force and thereby try to reject the other.
When you form an immediate relationship with someone for a task, first usually begin the relationship in the moment. First establish the relationship and then do the task. A hello and a handshake can be consciously done to start the process. Asking how are you? is often affirming the relationship, but it might be unfocusing. Asking, are your ready for this? is more specific and in the moment. Then at the end of your work together, even if it takes only two minutes, again close the circle of the task and the relating with a minute or two of brief sharing on how you each feel about what you have just done together. I often ask also, now what is the next step? What do we do next? What do we want to have ready when we get back together? Are we even choosing to get back together? Get back together? See how the language itself is a metaphor for the fundamental universal principle of Circular Motion?
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Go Forward - Forward Motion
05 November 2005 12:33 AM
Musashi had learned with his disposition: Go Forward, Go Forward, Go Forward.
To go forward is a fundamental Universal Principle it seems. As in physics, an object with weight is static when still. Inertial has to be overcome by applying force. The force it takes to move the object of a certain weight is then the measure of the energy exerted. What first starts a directional movement such as Forward Motion is still mysterious. Theorists assert that our universe started with a Big Band because you can work backwards mathematically to an origination point in time when everything in the current universe started its expansion. However, the concept of Origination is Contrary to Forward Motion, for it suggests that there was a point in time when there was not Forward Motion.
For the practice of Spiritual Aikido Consciousness and Action let us stay with the realization that we are in directional motion. We are always going somewhere whether we choose to do so or not. This "going somewhere" is a result, not of our personal choosing, but of being born into existence and being shaped by internal and external forces which propel us forward into given directions. We develop as babies into adults, as an example of Forward Motion.
However, these Forward Motion thrusts are largely unconscious and deterministic for us. We do not choose them. They choose us.
When becoming a Spiritual Aikido spiritual warrior we want to bring choice to our unconscious drives already set in motion and to help determine the course of our lives according to the values we choose and the directions and goals we adapt as the focus for our choices and achievements in life.
Now with modern medical technology we can often consciously choose whether to be a parent or not. This new freedom of choice means that we do not have to be propelled by the unconscious forward motion of the instincts to produce a new generation of human beings through sexual intercourse. Unity creates Synthesis and Forward Motion, the development of the child in and out of the womb.
Thus through technology and other practices the individual has greater freedom in how she or he practices fundamental relating to the Universal Principles at work in us and in our lives.
In the arena of life the Spiritual Aikidoist makes conscious and chooses which Forward Motions to align oneself with, and also how in part to align oneself.
Being forced to ones execution in Forward Motion in action. We cannot choose to stop the Forward Motion but we can choose how we relate to that forward motion. We can also choose an immediate value to gain from how we relate to that Forward Motion. Some go to their deaths well. Some do not. Many of us will not die through execution but we may well die through the failure of our bodies due to disease and aging.
Thus the task is for all of us, whether we consciously choose to accept the task or not. Do we choose to go with the Forward Motions in our lives, or to resist them? Do we also choose to create significant Forward Motions in our lives such as personal development of those values and qualities we have the potential to develop?
Suicide is basically a flaw in spiritual perspective and development. It has been said that suicidal people feel overwhelmed by their inadequate personalities and so want to stop the Forward Motion of their lives. Some of course choose to do so, and maybe accomplish this. Yet, why be reactive and primitive in life? Why just live out archetypal forces?
Choose then the way of consciousness. Clear up unconsciousness. Clear up chaos as well. Where you have the power and freedom to choose, select and act on those potentials to develop that truly fit you and your givens in life.
Note also that it is often easy to get diverted from ones own path. Those who work for gurus, spending their lives on the Forward Motion aims and projects of the guru then align themselves with his Forward Motion, as if he or she is the impersonal force at work in life. For others it would not be a guru but a cause, political, religious, a national identity, a middle-class or radical value system, a materialistic identity. You can live your life in unconscious identity with some achievement, like a builder of cars or of buildings.
You can also project your energy and values onto a newborn child of yours and seek to identify with and guide that child's forward motion in life. Unfortunately, that child of yours is in many ways not like you. It is always best to focus on your own Forward Motion in life rather than on the Forward Motion whose only gift to you is that it came through your body, a product of Nature's Forward Motion, and not something you created yourself, though you may think that you did.
Practice consciously choosing Forward Motion when you become blocked, chaotic or resistant to something. Choose, choose, and keep choosing and the direction and outcome will become clear.
Vulnerability Principle
05 November 2005 12:23 AM
Where is his window of vulnerability if he has one?
Vulnerability is the opening left in a belief or action that we are not completely certain. Thus, while we are mostly in tune, or mostly complete in an action or intention, still we leave open "a window of vulnerability." We leave the way open to be shattered, devastated, challenged or ultimately defeated. We are not to be absolutely strong. A person without a weakness is a person without strength, since when the whole is strong the whole will be brittle and subject to shattering. A strong person with a weakness is a person who because of that weakness can be flexible and yielding in being strong and directional. The way has no direction because the way is the direction. In practice never assert you are right because you may be covering up where you are decidedly wrong.
Assert your rightness, your stance, your values, when you are certain in them. Your focus is on the truth but with the proviso that you may also be lying still. You are perfect because you acknowledge your imperfection. Your imperfection makes you perfect just as your perfection makes you imperfect. This is a practice, not an ideal floating above the earth. Practice makes imperfect! The more you know the less you know. The less you know the more you understand. The more directed your action, the less certain the outcome. The more intentional you are, the less you intend. The more choiceful you become the less choices are made.
Definition of Spiritual Aikido
04 November 2005 11:57 PM
The Practice of Spiritual Aikido is the practice of conforming every aspect of ones life to the natural energy principles of the Universe.
Just as there are fundamental principles and laws of how the Universe runs, so are these laws and principles applicable to the human being.
To choose to practice Spiritual Aikido in everything you do is a conscious commitment to live in harmony with the Universe as it manifests in and through you in each and every moment.
We choose to become consciously aware of the energy at work in each moment, and what is needed to enhance and relate to the fundamental principles at work.
We practice Spiritual Aikido as a mental and physical practice. The integration of the two is a spiritual practice.
Spiritual means living life at the core according to the fundamental principles upon which this Universe is built.
Spiritual is not just having special experiences of powers greater than our individual selves.
Spiritual is experiencing the greater powers but within a context of harmony, meaning and wholeness.
Spiritual is not the ego inflated by the great powers of life, those this must also happen from time to time. Spiritual is the ego serving a greater source and presence than can happen when one serves only, or mainly, the personal ego.
Aikido is the designated name for a physical and mental form of the martial arts invented by O' Sensei, Ueshiba Morihei, in Japan during the twentieth century.
Critique and Contrast of Aikido
Aikido as it is practiced today is mostly practiced as a physical form in the dojo, or training hall. As such the traditional physical moves are emphasized. They are beautiful indeed, but the practice of physical moves, learned from the outside with an instructor does not in itself teach Spiritual Aikido, which is to align oneself daily and in every moment with the Universe itself.
Most instructors I have met teach physical Aikido, which is from the outside inward. As a consequence, they do not seem to know consciously in themselves or in their lives, the inner harmony principles that are absolutely fundamental to the practice of being in tune with the universe in each and every moment as it manifests itself.
Spiritual Aikido combines the Spiritual with Aikido.
Spiritual Aikido emphasizes manifesting core principles from within oneself outward as the way to physical and mental harmony that leads also to spiritual harmony.
Spiritual Aikido has analyzed the physical movements of Physical Aikido and seen the basic energy principles upon which the physical movements of Dojo Aikido work best.
Physical Dojo Aikido teaches the physical movements of Aikido without also teaching the spiritual principles and movements of Spiritual Aikido.
Spiritual Aikido teaches both the physical movements of Aikido and the spiritual principles to practice both in physical Aikido and in everyday life.
Spiritual Aikido teaches living life to the core from the core. It is the practice of being in harmony with the universe.
Ueshiba Morihei, the founder of Aikido, did practice Spiritual Aikido as well, but his followers recognized this without following suit.
Followers of a master always pick up the physical aspects of a master's work, because these are the easiest to see and imitate.
However, imitation is not the real thing. Imitation is the shell after the egg has burst, losing its essential contents.
It is said in the dojos of Physical Aikido that you learn the movements of Physical Aikido through dedicated practice, even for years, and then you will begin to understand the spiritual principles and laws behind the physical movements.
This has turned out to be true with only some of the instructors I have trained with personally.
On the contrary, I suggest that to learn even physical Aikido you can teach the movements by first, and together, teaching the principles with the movements.
In Spiritual Aikido we do not teach movements from the outside. We teach principles of energy balance and work coming from internal awareness.
The student learns by developing internal awareness of how they are in tune with energy principles, or not in tune, as they do basic movements, many of which were put together in Ueshiba Aikido.
However, an Aikido movement must both feel right and look in harmony.
Spiritual Aikido Principles and Practices
~ Follow the path of least resistance.
~ Follow the path of Circular Motion
~ Align your total self with the energy principles at work in you and the situation
Follow The Path Of Least Resistance
This means that as you move your body you are aware of your body's resistance, and your mind's resistance, to letting a natural movement develop and complete itself.
When we flow naturally in a Spiritual Aikido movement, such as turning in a circle, we are not making ourselves move in the circle, we are in fact letting go to a fundamental energy pattern and principle called Circular Motion.
Follow The Path Of Circular Motion
Circular Motion is a harmonious, balanced and completion movement around an integrative center that hold the parts together as one whole.
A circle has a circumference and a center, just as described in geometry.
The reason this is so is that the Universe itself, the pattern of energy flow and entities, functions on fundamental energy principles, such as Circular Motion.
When we as individuals and groups practice Circular Motion we best do this by letting go to our body-mind's sense of circular motion in the moment.
If you try and move in a circle using the mind to control your movement, you will not be able to sense the natural flow of Circular Motion happening through you.
You need to let go in a balanced way to a superior force at work through you.
Thus when you practice movement in a circular motion you allow yourself to accept and follow the force of Circular Motion activated through you.
You do not force yourself to do this "right." Your instructor cannot tell you or show you how to do Circular Motion. Your instructor can demonstrate how he or she does circular motion and you can gain an impression how one committed student of Spiritual Aikido does Circular Motion. Yet, you cannot learn from your instructor "how to do it right."
Align Yourself With The Path Of Circular Motion
You must try circular motion for yourself and be internally aware when you are on the circle and when you are not.
When you are "on the circle" you will feel a sense of freedom, balance and movement, almost without using energy yourself.
When you are not "on the circle" you will feel that you are unbalanced, even slightly, or using extra strength and control to keep you "on circle." You will experience directly when you are flowing freely "on circle" and when you are not.
You will be developing internal awareness and thus bringing more and more of your total self, including your mind, to the practice of being "on circle."
In terms of your mind, you will become aware when you are on or off circle by the sense of yourself participating in your circular act.
Being "on circle" mentally and physically is an experience of almost effortless flow in which your body does not expend extra effort and your mind is not seeking to control the experience and "make it right."
Nor is your mind and body distracted with outside thoughts, such as, "trying to do it right," or "being aware of others and performing for them."
Thoughts extraneous to the moment are not held onto or forced out. You simply keep focusing in awareness of being "on circle" and gradually you will find that you are more and more "on circle."
Things will flow naturally and you will have natural focus on the energy principle being experienced. You will not be forcing anything or judging or evaluating yourself.
As soon as you evaluate yourself you will lose connection with what is actually happening through you.
Thus, to stay "on circle" you must stay connected to the natural energy principles happening through you in those moments of your focus on a practice.
Spiritual Aikido And Life
When you learn Physical Aikido from the "outside in", instead of from the "inside out," you are learning physical movements that do not often apply to everyday life, though at times you are grateful when you have your training developed.
Examples
One student was rushing down the subway stairs in a hurry so fast that he slipped and fell. But since he knew how to fall in harmony with the ground beneath him he did a natural fall and got right up again to catch his train.
When I take a sudden fall in playing tennis, even in older age, I roll naturally, even backwards, and come right up again, because I am trained in how to fall in a flowing and natural way in tune with how energy works.
One time riding behind on a new little motorcycle with a teenage daughter of a friend of mine I felt we were going to crash, and sure enough we did. However, as we both went flying through the air I was relaxed and aware. I did not get frightened and afraid of breaking my neck, or whatever. The thought did not pass through my mind. What I was aware of was simply the realization that "we are flying." Thus in this relaxed and alert state I was ready for landing, and land we did, without injury, even though I was around sixty at the time.
Another incident around that time was when I was invited to put on a training uniform and train with my daughter's fellow students in Aikido at her dojo.
We warmed up doing forward roles and in one flying summersault as I came up in full motion my handkerchief went flying out of my sleeve. No problem. As I rose up off the floor, still in circular motion, I simply lightly grabbed with my free hand the handkerchief floating in the air and returned it to my sleeve to complete the motion. The instructor noticed and nodded.
I was happy also because my practice was working. I was doing the outside vigorous motion at an advanced age but from the position of internal awareness. I was naturally in tune with what was happening in the moment as it was happening and finding my place instantly with the totality that was happening now.
This is a little but significant incident. No great fight with dark forces or gangsters, as in crime movies and novels. For the average person of either sex the daily practice is in the small, everyday things.
Full force life and death situations are fairly rare for most of us, if they happen at all. But what does happen to all of us are life conflicts, such as in separating from a long-term partner, and handling all the emotions and potential conflicts that arise.
This is the real test! Call I take my practice out of the dojo as well and live it in the real world of my life?
This is why in Spiritual Aikido we teach the principles as primary so that the student learns to translate the form he or she is learning in to all other forms of energy expression in life.
This is Spiritual Aikido then. There are many incidents to tell and many principles and practices to articulate. And we shall do so in these pages.
That's it for now. Even from these words you can start or increase your practice.