From High School Confidential (1958): J. I. Coleridge, President of the Wheelers and Dealers of Santo Bello High School:
Now, hear! Hear, hear hear, c’mon
now, cats, cool it! C’mon now, cool it, cats! Now, how’d you like J. I.
to lay a little history on you?
Now you heart that square bit she [the
teacher] was puttin’ down about Christopher Columbus, Our Founder? Now,
I ask you: is this a bring-down? Columbus? Why, man, he was the hippest!
Now, one swingin’ day when Chris was
sitting at the beach, goofin’, he dug that the world was round. And
with this crazy idea stashed in his lid, he swung over to the Royal Pad
to cut up a few touches with a cool chick, Queen Isabella, who was a
swinger. Bel took a long look at him, say, “Christy! What is this jazz
you puttin’ down ‘bout our planet bein’ round?” She say, “Everybody hip
did it square!”
He say, “The only thing square ‘bout
this world are the cats what live in it!” He said, “Look, now, I’m in
your pad for one swingin’ reason: I know I can make it East by swingin’
West. Now, I wanna take some nonstop studs to go in a deep pool of
water with me and maybe come up with the New World bit! Now if I’m
straight, why, everybody swing! And if I goof and run into any of them
flip Indian kiddies over there, I’ll just sit down and smoke a little
pipe with ‘em. Who knows, baby, make run off with the deed to a groovy
piece of real estate!”
She say, “Crazy, man, but, like, this
is a sick bit you in! And if you find out that the world is square?”
He says “Why, it’s easy baby. We just
tool off the deep end and dig a little infinity, that’s all.” He says,
“Bel, now dig me hard, baby,” he says, “I know you’re hung with the
Affairs of the Court
jazz,” he says, “but I need scarfin’ for this trip.” He says, “Baby,
and
that takes bread, and in the bread department, I am nowhere!”
She says, “Man! Man, like you a real
bring-down! See, you pump me up with a crazy story then expect me to
spring for the gold?” She says, “You just cooled the whole bit!” She
says, “You know the kingdom is next to Tappedsville, and if I ever laid
this story out on my old man, why, he’d flip out! You know how square
Ferdie is!”
He said, “Bel, listen, baby. You the
swingingest chick in the whole mother’ kingdom! And I’m hip that if
anyone can score for
the bread, it’s you.”
Well, kiddies, next mornin’ she came up
with a real wiggy plan: to hock the Royal Axe. And, after Chris met his
boat
connection, and scored for three, he got some cats together with eyes
for
adventure, and split across the Atlantic, no-tomorrow-style. [At this
point,
the teacher reenters the classroom and J. I. sits back down].
These are
quotes from Terry Dobson (1937-1992), who, as far as I know,
was O-Sensei's
only American *uchi deshi* (live-in student).
Conflict
can
be resolved, it will be resolved. You can do it. You must
do it. Things
are very fragile. Relationships are very, very fragile.
This whole
thing seems solid, feels solid, is solid. But it can all end
in an instant.
The more you understand this, the greater the delicacy
with which you
will treat one another and yourself.
*****
I think one of
the real dangers of the New Age movement is this word
"warrior,"
because it's presented without dark side.
*****
I think great
damage has been done by people romanticizing the image of
a gentle
warrior, a peaceful warrior, although I understand the intent.
It's
honorable.
But I think we have to come up with another word. To use
the word
"warrior" in that respect is to confuse the issue. A "good
person,"
"brave
man," "courageous woman," these are better terms than
"warrior."
*****
I once saw an incident on a little mountain spur railway that wound
deep through
the Japanese Alps, passing little hamlets of houses
clinging to
cliffs.
It was Saturday morning. People got on and off the train. There were
old people
going to market, farmers with their chickens and pigs, and a
lot of college
kids on a mountain-climbing vacaton. The sun was
streaming in
through the window. Everybody was happy.
The college kids had their gear stuffed up in the baggage rack,
mostly
rucksacks with ice axes tied to them. They were singing German
mountain-climbing
songs with Japanese accents, which I found greatly
amusing.
Across
from me was this beautiful old bald man dozing in the
warm sun. When
the train stopped, most of the kids got up to get off.
One of them
was next to me, he yanked his rucksack off the rack and the
ice axe fell
like a guillotine right into the beautiful old man's bald
head.
I froze. The axe clattered to the floor. The old man woke up and
clutched his
head. Blood started squirting from the wound. He looked up
at the kid,
who was absolutely aghast. The old man saw that the boy had
no idea what
to do. He reached down, grabbed the ice axe, and handed it
to the kid
with a bow. He said, "Have a good day. Enjoy your climb." How
is that for
deep humility!
I hope that when I get to be that age and have an ice axe in my
head, I'll
remember to bow.
*****
Just because
someone wants to have a conflict doesn't mean you have to
agree to enter
into it. Put the phone down and walk away. Get your
center. Come
back and say, "Sorry to have kept you waiting." This might
drive people
nuts, but it's legal.
*****
I hate the
samurai. I think the samurai suck, and you can quote me. It's
not that they
were without virtue, or nobleness. But they didn't have a
lot of
heartfulness. One of the first steps to being a samurai was to
get beyond
love and grief. All this romance about samurai life ignores
the
fundamental
truth that it was a very heartless existence. Japan
gave us this
wonderful art of Aikido. It gave me my life. But you have
to be
judicious
about it. You have to include the heart stuff. Realize
that what
you're dealing with is a warm. live human being whose body and
spirit may be
easily hurt, easily crushed. You must throw another person
in the context
of love. This is hard to do, especially when you've had a
lousy day or
when you owe back taxes. So you must continually come back
to the fact
that there is no separation between you and the other
person.
*****
If I had
one
piece of advice for beginners, it would be to forgive
yourself on
the one hand, and to be strong enough on the other to accept
your grace.
Some students quit right after they learn how to roll.
Learning how
to fall, to roll, is just a basic thing. The fear of
falling is
primary. Learning how to roll is to come up tight against
primary fear.
Once you learn how to deal with a sudden loss of support,
once you build
a certain structure for dealing with that, there is an
influx of
power, a feeling of competence. If you can't deal with that
power, it's a
sudden shock to your system. Paradoxically, people often
can't deal
with that sudden rush of good feeling, and they don't come
back. They
feel guilty about having dropped out when they were doing so
well.
*****
One reveals oneself in the way one bows. In the Aikido dojo, you bow
when you enter
and when you come onto the mat. The spirit in which you
bow is very
important; you reveal yourself by the way you bow. An empty
bow, while
better than not bowing at all, is essentially worthless. As
you bend at
the waist and at the neck, you want to experience a feeling
of
vulnerability and humility. Your bow makes you an empty vessel into
which
knowledge
can be poured. I used to be a terror about bowing; I
would throw a
student off the mat for an empty bow. It happened to me
once.
One teacher caught me in a flippant bow and hauled me up for my
arrogance. He
refused to let me finish the class and sent me off in
disgrace. It
took me about three weeks to get over the embarrassment and
go back to
class. You can bet that when I did go back, I tried to bow as
deeply and
sincerely as I could. One time I drew a bow that had to be a
world-class
bow. I was right there. My whole spirit was right there.
When I came
up, I saw him give a smile of satisfaction which he tried
hard to
conceal.
If you bow well to a partner, to somebody who doesn't know you, that
person will
immediately become fully conscious of you. The bow is really
the soul of
the art. Too often beginners think it legalistic
interference,
some kind of quaint custom that has to be gotten through
quickly.
You bow when you get on the mat. You bow to your teacher every time
he comes by
and says something to you. You thank him. You thank your
partner for
any instuction given to you. Should you unconsciously be the
cause of
injury
to another person, bow to them. Should another person
cause you
injury, bow to him as well. Thank him for the experience. When
in doubt, bow.
*****
I am a
stickler for the belt. It's more than something that keeps your
pants up, it's
a significant thing, it's closure. You tie it in a knot
that is
symbolic of the other closures and knots you make with the
techniques
learned in class. There's a right way to make that
connection. I
can tell the general nature of what someone does, whether
or not they
use their body a lot, by the way they wear their belt.
*****
Maybe the
reason you can't roll is because you can't leave your feet.
You can't go
for it. You can't trust enough to just jump the hell out
into space.
Ultimately no one can do that for you. If they kick you out
of the
airplane, it was not your decision to jump, you were robbed by
allowing
somebody to do that for you and you participated in your own
robbery. Once
you make the decision to go for it, it is dynamite.
*****
When you end the technique, make
sure that you remain totally present.
Surround your partner with your
presence. You want to ensure that he has
not been injured. You are
responsible
for his well-being, you are his
protector. There's nothing that
hurts more than causing injury to
someone else. You feel like a fool.
It's one thing if you are taking
care of business and something
happens; well, it wasn't your fault. But
if you were looking out the window,
saying goodbye to friends, and as a
result of your inattention your
partner came to harm, you know you've
done wrong and you have to watch
that person suffer.
*****
Some people can change their
lives
drastically through Aikido. I'm sure
that incredible things also happen
to people who windsurf. It's
stunning, the power that people have
to transform themselves. But it is
important to remember that Aikido is
not croquet.
*****
I've done a couple of things that
any reasonable six-year-old would have
known was going too far. I learned
that not coming up against your edge
is bad, but going over it is
terrible. What you want to do is gingerly
approach your limit. Go up to the
edge and go no farther.
*****
The purpose of conflict is
harmony.
