2 unrelated events plus something on my mind for awhile crossed some wires and exchanged some bodily fluids. Something new and unexpected came out of it.

On the backburner:
Aikido's obvious elegance and harmony with the universe, but its (to me) equally obvious inability to truly protect a practitioner in a real-life street fight. The question is: how can being "one" with the universe be less effective than other methods of self-defence?

Unrelated event 1:
In a lecture I recently attended, the lecturer talked about how messy the world is, and how ideas or concepts, from their archetypal stage, gets increasingly gross and deformed as they become more manifested, to the point where the physical version of an idea offers but a faint glimpse to the beauty of its archetype.

Unrelated event 2:
Reading some downloaded ebooks about street fighting and survival, a mantra constantly hammered into readers: if you want to live on the streets, leave all your martial arts training at home – the harsh realities of the oft violent streets share nothing in common with the controlled environments of the dojo.

Putting them all together, a realization: Aikido is beautiful because it represents, or very closely represents, the "laws" of the universe. At the very same time, because the current condition of the human race is nowhere close to being in a state of harmony with the universe, its little wonder that they don't resonate well with each other. In the near and present future, the domain of the physical does appear superior. Aikido, however, rather appropriately if I may add, does point to the fact that there really is something to look forward to – Aikido masters are known to increase in power and fluidity the older they get. It seems as if the less physical strength they have, the more they need to "let go" and strive for harmony in mind, body and spirit. And so it is hopefully for all of us, that as we evolve as a race, that which is beautiful and true eventually triumphs.

In the meantime, though, I'm going to pickup some real self-defence.

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