Martial Arts - Aikido The Art Of Fighting Without Fighting.pdf - Aikido - sergi3

Introduction

As the drunk was almost upon him he prepared to demonstrate

his art in the ultimate arena, but before he could rise from his

seat the passenger in front of him stood up and engaged the

drunk jovially. 'Hey man, what's up with you? I bet you've

been drinking in the bar all day, haven't you? You look like a

man with problems. Here, come and sit down with me, there's

no need to be abusive. No one on this train wants to fight with

you.'

The Aikido man watched in awe as the passenger skillfully

talked the drunken man down from his rage. Within minutes

the drunk was pouring his heart out to the passenger about how

his life had taken a downward turn and how he had fallen on

hard times. It wasn't long before the drunk had tears streaming

down his face. The Aikido man, somewhat ashamed thought to

himself 'That's Aikido!'. He realised in that instant that the

passenger with a comforting arm around the sobbing drunk was

demonstrating Aikido, and all martial art, in it highest form.

There was once a very famous Aikido player in Japan who spent

his whole life studying Usheba's legendary art. Although he had

dedicated his whole existence to this beautiful art he had never

actually had occasion to test it in a real life situation against a

determined attacker, someone intent on hurting him. Being a

moralistic kind of person he realised that it would be very bad

karma to actually go out and pick a fight just to test his art so he

was forced to wait until a suitable occasion presented itself.

Naively, he longed for the day when he was attacked so that he

could prove to himself that Aikido was powerful outside of the

controlled walls of the dojo.

The more he trained, the more his obsession for validation grew

until one day, travelling home from work on a local commuter

train, a potential situation did present itself -an overtly drunk and

aggressive man boarded his train and almost immediately started

verbally abusing the other passengers.

Why have I written this book? Why have I written a book about

the art of fighting without fighting when my claim to fame is

probably the fact that I have been in over 300 street fights,

where I used a physical response to neutralise my enemy. Why

write a book about avoidance when it is obviously so simple to

finish a fight with the use of a physical attack? Indeed why

write it when my whole reputation as a realist, as a martial arts

cross trainer, as a blood and snot mat man may be risked by the

endeavor? The reason is simple: violence is not the answer! It

may solve some of the problems in the short term but it will

create a lot more in the long term. I know -I've been there. I

was, as they say, 'that soldier'.

It took me nine years of constant violence and many more of

soul-searching to realise this truth and because so much has

happened to me in my post-'door' years, my attitude and

'This is it,' the Aikido man thought to himself, 'this is my chance

to test my art.'

He sat waiting for the abusive passenger to reach him. It was

inevitable that he would: he was making his way down the

carriage abusing everyone in his path. The drunk got closer and

closer to the Aikido man, and the closer he got the louder and

more aggressive he became. Most of the other passengers

recoiled in fear of being attacked by the drunk. However, the

Aikido man couldn't wait for his turn, so that he could prove to

himself and everyone else, the effectiveness of his art. The drunk

got closer and louder. The Aikido man made ready for the

seemingly inevitable assault -he readied himself for a bloody

encounter.

opinion has changed. At my most brutal I justified violence, to

myself, to those I taught and to those I spoke to. I was even

prepared to use verbal violence to substantiate my views. That

was how lost I was. But I' m not at all ashamed of that, my views

may have been distorted then but I did genuinely believe them. I

was never a bad person, it's just that my beliefs were governed by

my limited knowledge, which left me somewhat Neanderthal.

term. There has to be another solution. At this moment in

time I cannot tell you what that solution is, only that

knocking a guy unconscious and doing a 56 move kata on

his head is not it. Not if we are ever going to survive as a

species and learn to live in peace with one another. I spend

my time now trying to avoid violence and trying to develop

alternatives to taking an opponent off the planet with a

practiced right cross. Some of the stuff is good too, it works,

it will at least help keep some of the antagonists at bay until

we can find a better alternative.

As my knowledge has grown so has my intellect and confidence,

this has allowed me a new belief -a belief that will keep changing

as long I grow. I can see it all now. I can see where I fit into the

scheme of things. I can see the futility of violence and the pain of

violent people. I can see that fighting on the pavement arena is

war in microcosm and that wars destroy worlds. I know now that

violence is not the answer, in the short term or the long

But, I hear you cry, what about those who won't let you

avoid, escape, dissuade, loophole, posture, the ones that not

only take you to the doorway of violence but want to kick it

open and enter the arena and no amount of talk or

negotiation is going to stop them. What are we to do with or

to them? Well, this is where my 'non-violence' theorem

becomes a little contradictory, because if we are forced into a

physical response and if we do not fight back, our species is

as good as dead.

I, like most, have a family to protect and I will protect by

whatever means fair or foul. Because I am trying to become

a better person, and because I am desperately trying to lose

violence from my life, I have been struggling with the fact

that, occasionally when it is unavoidable, I may still have to

employ violence, if only to keep the peace. I am constantly

struggling with the fact that this still feels wrong to me, but

my, our, survival is at stake. When I was in America last

year (1997) I was teaching with Benny 'the jet' Urquidiz and

I asked him whether he thought, given the fact that we were

both trying to be Christian people, you could ever justify the

use of violence. He told me that he believed violence was

wrong, but If someone left you no other option other than to

hit him, then it was their karma, it was meant to be. He said

that he felt they were sent by God to be taught a lesson and

he would give that lesson as gently as possible.

can confidently employ violence but who chooses not to

because I feel it is not the answer. Most people's opinions are

born from experiencing only one of these perspectives.

As a nightclub doorman I was often faced by violence that

terrified me, woundings that revolted me and conduct that

chilled me to the bone. However, what really sickened me -

even more than the congealed blood and smashed teeth of an

adversary -was the absolute hypocrisy of this fickle society.

Facing adversity did show me the beauty of amity but it took

time, many savage confrontations and much self-education,

before I could drag myself kicking and screaming into a

better existence. Unfortunately, even then I could not find a

preferable solution to the threat of immediate attack than that

of counter-attack. I am aware that the state might call my

actions criminal, but how do they rationalise their own acts

of violence? Perhaps by calling them law? I teach many

strategies to evade attack; avoidance, escape, verbal

dissuasion, loopholing and posturing. But what do you do

when all of these techniques have been exhausted and you

are still facing an adversary that wants to step outside the law

and attack you? You are left with a choice, either become the

hammer or the anvil -hurt or be hurt, kill or be killed. Does

that sound brutal? Are these the words of an uneducated

nightclub thug? How would you deal with the situation?

How would your peers deal with it? Those in government?

Those with power?

Some people need a poke in the eye to show them the right

direction, others simply need pointing in the right direction.

It is a question of having the wisdom to know when to point

and when to poke. To some in society violence is a

language, a way of communication - a very primitive

language -but a means of discourse nonetheless. If you don't

speak to them in their own tongue, then they will not

understand you. This is where the contention begins.

So, we have a contradiction in play here: violence is wrong

but sometimes we have to employ it. I know that the

uninitiated are already up in arms, probably scribbling away

discontent to the letters page as we speak. I truly understand

how they feel, because I feel the same way, but I fear that

they will never be convinced by words, and their experience

of life is often not broad enough to give them another

perspective. Their truth for a completely violence-free world

is as limited by their finite perspective, as mine was as a

nightclub doorman. I needed to experience the hope of non-

violence to appreciate its potential. They probably need to

experience violence to appreciate its necessity as an antidote

in a world where the species is lowly evolved.

I have a varied background in these matters. I have

experienced violence, pre-bouncer, as a scared young man

who could only suffer in silence. I have also experienced

violence as man who could confidently counter it with

greater violence and I now experience a violent world as

man who

Without wishing to go into politics and the rights and

wrongs of what is going on in the world, I will offer an

example of how they, the leaders of the free world, the

highbrow of humanity, deal with potentially violent

situations that will not go away. The world recently found

itself in a very threatening

situation with a foreign leader, a threat that could potentially

destroy the world and effect many other planets in our solar

system. The United Nations, the immune system of the

world, tried to avoid a violent confrontation by mediation.

The UN tried to escape a violent situation with compromise,

they 'loopholed' by trying to offer 'the threat' honourable

alternatives to war, they 'postured' by threatening war, (even

flying bomber planes over his country in a threatening

manner). They absolutely exhausted mediation. When it all

failed, what did the United Nation do, what did they consider

justifiable, though unfortunate, what did they greatest minds

in the free world agree upon when all their avoidance

techniques did not work? WAR! War was what they agreed

upon! War: the greatest expression of violence known to

man, where thousands of men, women and children are

killed and maimed. The UN told this leader in no uncertain

terms that they were prepared to talk to him, that they

wanted to avoid war, that they wanted to find an alternative

to bloodshed but the bottom line was, if he did not comply,

they would kill him and his people!'

not so lucky: three lost their lives, a couple their marbles and

yet another lost the sight in one eye to a glass-wielding

psychopath.

Psychologically however my wounds were less superfluous.

Overexposure to the brutality of people left me temporarily

paranoid, cynical and often very

violent. I could see only

physical solutions to life's many

disputes. Punching an adversary

unconscious after an argument

was, to me, as perfunctory as a

mint after dinner. It was never

gratuitous, I hated fighting, it

was survival, and that was all.

In my world violence was a

plumber's wrench -no more than

that. This behaviour was

acceptable, even expectable but

in civvy street, me and my kind

were brandished Neanderthal.

So when I finally transcended

the door' there was a time of

readjustment, of trying to locate

my place in a capricious society

where doormen were seen as

vogue in times of trouble and

vague in times of peace.

The immune system recognises cancerous cells, it knows

that one cancerous cell can destroy the whole body if it is not

killed, so it sends out killer T-cells to assassinate the

threatening cell. Ugly, but necessary if you want the body,

and the species to survive.

As for me working with violence? Physically the toll was

bearable, if not a little hideous. My nose, broken in three

places (I'll never go to those places again!) stab scars in my

head, broken knuckles and fingers and a cauliflower ear that

could win a horticultural ribbon. But some of my friends

were

I was frequently informed by those who had not met

violence down a dark alley (and it's too easy to say when you

haven't 'been there'), that violence was not the answer -a

view

voiced so often these days that it has almost become a

fashion accessory. Not an easy standard to apply though

when faced by a savage adversary intent on flattening the

world with your head. How many would not employ even

the vilest instrument to protect a loved one? For instance the

young lady who nearly burst my ear drum out side a

Coventry nightclub would never have believed herself

capable of violent assault, yet when her beloved was

attacked her principles disappeared quicker than a gambler's

rent money. 'Violence is not the answer!' She yelled at me

indignantly. Granted I had just 'sparked' her irate boyfriend

with a practiced right cross. He had tried to marry my face

with the speared edges of a broken beer glass -I felt

compelled to stop him the only way I knew how.

truths that can only usually be found in the middle of stormy

oceans or at the top of craggy mountains. Nothing comes

free of course, and there is a consequence to every action

that we take; if you pick up one end of the stick you also

pick up the other. Enlightenment came at great expense. My

innocence was clubbed like a beached seal, my marriage

ended in bitter divorce and my faith in human nature took a

near near-fatal slash to the jugular.

So, I realise that until the species we call humankind evolves,

there will always be a need for violence (unfortunately, I

have no doubt about this in my mind) to protect the good

majority and the world, from the bad minority and the

indifferent from themselves. This doesn't make violence

right, rather it is a necessary evil -sometimes you have to

lose a finger to save a hand. This does not mean that

everyone has to partake in violence, or even agree on its

necessity, on a large scale to protect this world from those

who would inadvertently destroy it. Many people make the

mistake of thinking that a solution must be palatable to be

correct -this couldn't be farther from the truth. Violence to

prevent greater violence will never be more than a hideous

expression of physical domination, but it may save mankind

until its metamorphosis into a spiritual domain.

'No?' I replied with mock surprise. 'Well, tell your boyfriend

that when he wakes up.'

My reply angered her so much that her face contorted into a

domino of hate. She proceeded to remove a stiletto heel

from her elegant foot, hoist the makeshift weapon above her

head like an executioner's axe and attempt to separate me

from my mortality. She was about to employ violence to

accentuate her point that it was 'not the answer'.

It would seem that hypocrisy in our society knows no

bounds. Ironically my own life as a bouncer began due to

my own innate fear of violence. I donned the required 'tux'

in the hope that confronting my fears might nurture a greater

understanding of my own sympathetic nervous system, one

that seemed in a permanent state of alert, maybe even descry

a little desensitization. It was to be an eventful, if not bloody

journey that lasted nine years. En route I discovered that

Therefore, not everyone has to 'get their hands dirty'. There

will always be a select few, like the killer T -cells in the

body, that roam the bloodstream protecting the body from

the intrusion of viral cells, who are chosen to do the dirty

work in the name of those who won't or can't. The immune

system protects the body this way, and even God in his

infinite wisdom had warring angels in Heaven to fight evil.

Returning to my

Martial Arts - Aikido The Art Of Fighting Without Fighting.pdf

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