NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/rec/martial/16116

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From: [e-mail] (Howard Landman)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: Re: Philosophy vs. Technique
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 22 Dec 92 18:07:01 GMT
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Lieven Pascal Leroy) writes:
>a short essay by Terry Dobson ... 'A Kind Word Turneth Away Wrath'
>
>Woah.  Deep stuff.  ... philosophy of Aikido ...
>
>How many of you feel the philosophy too?  Is it something you strive for,
>or a separate ideology you may or may not choose to accept along with the
>physical aspects?

WHY I STARTED AIKIDO FIRST, by Howard A. Landman

Around 1972, for a combination of reasons which were about 10% voluntary,
I found myself in a bad part of downtown Oakland at about 2 in the morning.
This was not a good place for a white boy to be.  Further compounding my
troubles was a black man who called himself Marvin Tea, who was very upset with
me for walking away from his house after he had gone to all the trouble of
kidnapping me.  I had absolutely no martial arts training or any real experience
fighting.  (I don't count getting beat up by 3 to 5 juvenile delinquents
after school on a weekly basis from about 3rd grade to about 8th grade.)

Marvin came after me and we ended up rolling around in the (dry) gutter.
I was lucky; at one point I rolled on top and Marvin's head was right there
in front of me with the curb a few inches behind it, poised like an egg over
the rim of a bowl.  All I had to do was slam it down REALLY HARD and the
fight would be over.  But then I might be a killer.  I had a fraction of
a second to consider my philosophy of life, and death.  I chose not to do it.

Still, I had the power of naivete.  When Marvin chased me into the street
(right under the Cypress Structure that later collapsed in the 1989 quake),
and I saw a car full of people round the corner in front of me, I thought
I was saved.  It didn't bother me that the car was what some might call
a "pimpmobile", or that it was full of 4 or 5 black men.  I had nothing
against blacks.  So when the driver got out and stood up, I explained my
situation.  He responded by punching me in the face, which surprised me so
much I fell down.  (Well, it was a *good* punch too. 8^{ )  A few seconds
later, I was being kicked by four to seven people - it's hard to count
when you're trying to protect your kidneys.  Eventually, it wasn't much fun
anymore and they all gave up.  After I staggered to my feet and walked the
first block of the 10 miles back to my car, a taxi pulled up.  The driver had
seen the whole thing, and thought I might want a ride.  He was, of course, right.


About a year later, I had a friend at Princeton who showed me some basic ki
exercises from Shin-Shin-Toitsu Aikido.  They made me realize that my body
functioned, in some ways, very differently from what I had thought.  He also
described the basic goal of Aikido as defense without damage.  I realized
that this might be an art I could actually stand to learn.  The seed was
planted.


Two years after that, I was sitting at a friend's house, and we browsed through
a catalog of different activities.  I was looking under "Astronomy" because
I knew someone who had a listing there for star parties.  Nearby was an ad for
Aikido.

I don't think either of us alone would have done it, but we goaded each other
into going together.  And for the entire summer, we trained together 2 nights
a week, in a Shotokan dojo where Aikido was allowed in to share costs.  At the
end of the summer, my friend quit.  But I already knew that this would be with
me for the rest of my life.


This has been a rather indirect way of answering Lieven's question.  But for
me, the philosophy of Aikido was what made it possible for me to begin training
martial arts in the first place.  I couldn't have begun any other way, in any
other art.  It would have felt too unnatural.  I didn't want to learn how to
destroy someone else - I despised hoods who beat up people for fun.  I just
wanted to learn how *NOT* to get beat up, which is an entirely different thing.

It's true that all roads up the mountain look different at first, but they all
lead to the same peak.  Now that I have come some way in my training, I can
see that it's not ethically wrong to study punching and kicking and other forms
of destruction.  I can enjoy sharpening my skills by studying other arts.  But
I couldn't do that then.  And even now, I am always looking for the non-violent
ways.  I see echoes of Aikido in Tai Chi, in Arnis, in Hapkido, even (though
it's still harder to see) in the very linear Shotokan.  I care about having
good punches, so my partner will get a realistic attack, and it's easier to
learn how to punch well in a striking art.

I know I have reached the point where in a real life-and-death situation I
might pull out all the stops and be willing to waste someone.  But not before
I had concluded that nothing else would work.  I don't know, and I hope I never
find out.  I would much rather either never be in such a situation, or have
such control when it does occur that there's really no contest and I can handle
it safely and harmlessly.  If I fail to do that, I might survive, but it would
still be a failure to me.  Those are the standards I have chosen for myself.

I've trained with Terry Dobson.  He was wonderful.  Can my own light ever shine
so pure and bright?  I don't know, but I hope so.  Ask me in another 10 or 20
years ...

    Howard