Masakatsu Agatsu
Comments Off “As soon as you concern youself with the “good” and “bad” of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weaken and defeat you.”
- O’Sensei, The Art of Peace
Your training in Aikido really is a very personal endeavor. There are a lot of tangible and practical benefits to training, but other benefits are not seen or felt for years. It is only through consistent and diligent training that one will reap the benefits of following the way of Aikido. Aikido can be a way of life if you so choose. O’Sensei believed that through Aikido we can create peace on Earth. This makes me think of what happens when you drop a pebble in water. You see where the pebble was dropped and then you see concentric circles emanating from that point. It’s like when you make someone’s day by being nice to them. They feel better because of what you did and now they will treat others better, which will encourage them to treat others around them better and so on and so on. Imagine if everyone strove to do this. There would be no room for “maliciousness to enter”.
By it’s very nature Aikido forces one to focus on yourself. Not in a greedy, self-centered way, but in a self-improvement kind of way. This is the principle masakatsu agatsu – true victory is victory over yourself. When you concern yourself with your own performance and achievments and not compare them to others you free yourself to making progress that is right for you. When you realize that you can not control anyone but yourself you will stop trying to change those around you. This can be applied on the mat as well as in every day life. Controlling oneself is hard enough at times let alone trying to control others. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but one that is imperative that you do.
On the mat, when you try to force a technique it doesn’t work, but once you refocus on your own movements and quit trying to make it happen the technique flows more easily. This is vital in all aspects of Aikido, whether it’s technique or principle – you have to move and control only yourself.
Good luck in letting go of the urge to try to control others. It’s an ongoing lesson. One with which I hope your Aikido training can help.
Teresa Mastison Sensei
Themocracy