by origami_itto on Thu Jul 04, 2019 7:53 am
I guess I should be clear and honest in saying that violence was a big part of my life growing up and even into adulthood. Professionally for a while. I've never really had a problem with dealing with it or acting when I needed to. You either move or you get hurt, not a hard decision for me, I'd rather hurt the other guy.
Even now I don't think I'd have a problem using violence were it appropriate to solve a problem, which of course sometimes it just is.
But just thinking about it abstractly in cold blood I can say unequivocally that I have no desire to ever harm another human being in any way if I can avoid it. I don't know how strong that inhibition is, haven't had to violate it since I realized it was there. Even going back a decade to security work the goal was to dominate and control without damaging.
If I thought somebody was a credible threat to my safety, sure, I have no problem putting them down by any means necessary. Short of that, restraint and (to them) overwhelming force that removed the option of committing violence was sufficient.
So there was a path that led me to my current mindset, exposure to and acceptance of certain ideas and practices, and the even stronger mellowing effect of age, I suppose. I know that my perspective now is far removed from my mindset of twenty years ago.
So by the same token what I'm seeing is behaviors and ideas that can drag minds in the other direction. Starting from a place of compassion and unity perhaps and winding up hating people and wishing harm on them, even wishing to be the perpetrator of that harm. It's a addictive, slippery slope that represents the worst in us. And yes, I'm taking about people on your wing of the political Looney bird, etc. I'm even talking about you particularly, sometimes. I've definitely had the thought that six judiciously applied bullets could make the world a much better place, sure.
Working with the vets is making me even more aware of this mental landscape. Certain words and ideas and images can have drastic affects on their composure and focus. Do we really need violent imagery to practice forms for health? I'm working on teaching the saber without mentioning cutting anatomy. It is challenging. It occurs to me during this exercise that the poetic names and images of postures may also be serving the purpose of cultivating non violence.
But it's a martial art, right, so it has to be about violence, right? Does it? Necessarily? Supposedly Yang Luchan was famous for never hurting his opponent. Yang Ban Hou... Not so much, so that shows there's room for diversity in practice.
I've taken to calling my Taijiquan a healing art, and the martial/combat aspect as conflict resolution. I don't want to hurt my opponent, I want to prevent them from hurting me and end the conflict with as little damage to them as possible. Physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.