How to Be in Harmony and Sustain our Interdependency: Lessons from Aikido

“Remember that harmony is inextricably bound up with the conflict from which it sprang.”

Terry Dobson

Morihei Ueshiba’s portrait hangs above the kamiza, a place of honor in the front of our Dojo’s practice area, as it does in all Aikido Dojos internationally. He was born in 1883 and died in 1969. Aikido a martial art based on peace and harmony, with its flowing circular movements, was founded by him after many years of practicing adversarial martial arts. His goal was to create a “path” and way of life to reconcile all conflict. Aikido is now practiced throughout the world and its lessons are applicable to all who seek better relationships. In the opinion of many, he was the greatest martial artist who ever lived. His life was a dedicated journey in matters of spirit. Like so many other mind/body methods, Aikido uses one’s Ki — or universal energy — to blend with others and to mitigate the never-ending injurious interactions in our life.

O Sensei or “Great Teacher,” as he was fondly called by his students, was a devotee of Kotodama, which respected the sounds of the universe, Shinto Buddhism with its focus on nature and poetry, and Omoto-Kyo which focused on the spirit of resolving conflict through harmonious blending of the energy of an attack. The belief of Kotodama is that the universe has an enormous dense energetic vibration, called Su. Like the Zero-Point Energy expressed in Quantum Physics, the theory of Su is that untapped energy exists in the vacuum of space and is available to us in the form of Ki or Chi. The vibrations of Kotodama are represented by various sounds that are believed to be the foundations of the universe.

In Aikido there are infinite ways to receive an attack, which necessitates being open to many options when practicing. This leads to what are called “lifetime techniques,” illustrating the many and never-ending learning possibilities that we are offered in life. When confronted by another, be it a physical or verbal attack, one who is trained in Aikido gathers the universal Ki that is accessible to us all and waits in a meditative action state right up to the last instant. It is then that they gracefully step off the line of attack (sensing the perspective of the attacker’s viewpoint to attain a position to protect,) and reconcile or even enlighten the attacker. As Lao-tzu the Chinese poet said, “The way lies in not doing, yet nothing is left undone” (from Tao Te…