"at the heart of the problem"

[kickinandtickin]

I'm a newbie here, thrown up against the southern side of the state and this generalized discussion of free state ideas by circumstance, and having read recently Brian Wright's Sacred Non-Agression Principle.  I've also noted, in a different thread, my own continued examination of the issue of firearms... certainly an interesting discussion to have and ponder on the day we celebrate what happened when the Redcoats marched out to destroy a cache of powder and weapons.  I ap[ologize for being a butt-in-ski, but this looked like a good place to drop in some new energy.

My own personal orientation is this: I never owned a weapon. My mother had an old .30-.30 with the firing pin missing with which she used to chase hunters away from the deer trails on her property in the Berkshires. I was a volunteer member of an elite ROTC unit where we learned -- precisely what, I'm not sure -- with the help of M-1's and blank cartridges.  My college roommate that year (1966, just before the war of that decade went viral) was a member of SDS and was a conscientious objector (I named my first born after him). 

My professional career for the most part was about saving lives ... as an EMT, instructor, planner, regional administrator, expert in mass casualty incident management, exercise design and coordination, writer about situation awareness and the OODA loop and simulation gaming and the use of Internet tools to coalesce community emergency management improvement. 

Along the way, I began to learn something about the coalescence of mind, body and spirit -- my two kids were both elite athletes -- and I encountered the art and experience of aikido.  In posting on the Internet, I adopted a bit of calligraphy done by my first sensei as my avatar. Here's a description of its meaning:

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/forums/index.php?s=7b6e1e972b4b3c0f6092efc4d28e4bff&automodule=blog&blogid=57&&st=320#

from which are these key excerpts and references:

"Instead of clashing with an opposing force, aikido accepts and redirects the incoming energy, neutralizing it in a way that causes little harm to the defender or attacker. If we perceive change as an attack, or a form of incoming energy, then aikido offers useful metaphors. On the mat, aikido might be seen as kinesthetic listening. Off the mat, dialogue can be seen as verbal aikido. "The most effective defense is to merge with and become part of the opponent." [the late Mitsunari Kanai]

***

"Aikido at first glance is just another one of the martial arts. Two people clash on a mat in a seemingly violent interaction; one of them ends up very quickly sprawled on the floor. While hand-to-hand combat (occasionally with mock swords and knives) is prominently featured in aikido training, there is something much deeper to be found in the art than the surface skills of learning to defend one's self against assault.

What might be found there is a truer and deeper self-understanding, and a way of encountering another in non-violent encounters as well....

The study of the way of harmony of spirit involves the simple precepts of positioning, centering, grounding, balance, movement, energy, and blending, and bringing all of that into harmony with one's external world by discerning its rhythm.

A core concept in aikido is awareness of one's "center", or consciousness of one's hara, located about two finger-breadths below your belly button and centrally located within the abdomen. Whether we are "on the mat" or our in the world, learning to work with our kinesthetic awareness and the dual intelligence of mind/body enables us to develop a "dynamic presence" from which harmony may emerge.

Through enhanced self-awareness, we mediate our strategies during interaction and performance, adapting to our environment, re-aligning instead of maintaining course on a pre-determined path or holding a position that was based in the past.

***

"Our non-resistance allows us to stay on the leading edge of change. Our presence implies seeing and choosing our relationship to the energy of change rather than reacting on the basis of previous patterns.

Ki is the Japanese expression for spirit-energy; it is the chi we find in tai chi, or our élan vital. If you were to ask an aikido master which skill or technique he would most like to have in a contentious situation, he would note his state of mind.

In aikido, you learn by experience how breathing, posture and stance interact with attitude, awareness, perception, mindfulness, values and intention. And you learn to how to use, focus and project your ki. Noted author George Leonard tells us that grace emerges when we are grounded, relaxed, aware, centered and energized."

***

"... our defensiveness comes from perceiving someone's input as being about our value rather than our effectiveness. If we are centered and yet mobile, our interaction can produce mutual growth and development. On or off the mat, when we move off the line of attack, we can better redirect the intent of the attack. When we rigidly or physically resist the incoming energy/attack/change, we set up tension and conflict. When we learn to recognize, move with and envelop it, we can guide it in such a way that it serves us, and therefore maintain harmony within it.

In his book The Inner Game of Work, Tim Gallwey talks about a similar kind of mobility. "One's true capacity for moving, or being moved, can be achieved only when one's commitment to others is in fact connected to and derived from his primary commitment to himself. When the learner can find this kind of alignment of purpose, there is a harmony of motivation that can provide the fuel and the clarity to overcome great obstacles in the pursuit of great challenge."

**

"Aikido is an inquiry into the source of our being and our energy .... Aikido is an inquiry into who we really are. It happens to be a somatic [or] whole system inquiry.... out of which comes a set of universal principles that guide us in how to conduct one's self in the world with grace and power.... Aikido provides a high feedback environment... It is an incredible laboratory for self inquiry and inquiry into the self beyond oneself. Aikido gives us the ability to sit in the center of the cyclone while everybody else is losing it... the ability to source one's decisions from spirit or from a deep intuition.'

Aikido's spirit of loving protection resolves challenges creatively, rather than avoiding or attacking them out of a sense of hopelessness and fear.

Books:
The Art of Peace, Morihei Ueshiba, translated and edited by John Stevens, Shambhala Publications, Boston 2002 [ISBN 1-57062-964-1]

The Magic of Conflict, Tom Crum, Simon & Schuster, NY [ISBN: 0-671-66836-6].

Aikido in Everyday Life: Giving In to Get Your Way, Terry Dobson and Victor Miller, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA 1993 [ISBN 1-55643-151-1].

In Search of the Warrior Spirit: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets, Richard Strozzi Heckler, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA 1992 [ISBN 1-55643-116-3].

Aikido and the New Warrior, Richard Strozzi Heckler, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA 1985 [ISBN 0-938190-51-2].

See also http://www.ranchostrozzi.com/.

***

"There is a critical moment of surrender and decisive action when you move directly into the heart of an oncoming attack. Entering is not done aggressively or with the intent of striking back, but with the purpose of moving next to and then blending with the direction and force of the attack [or incoming energy]. Blending is a transition of body, mind and spirit that allows the defender to see the world from the attacker's perspective, and from which can emerge empathy, compassion, and some form of non-violent or non-harmful resolution. The solution lies at the heart of the problem. Find that center, blend with it, and move from there."