Aikido
Ueshiba Sensei forbade competition for the sake of determining
superiority. The aim of aikido is to become aware of your own
insufficiencies, of the transitoriness and ephemeral human victory, of
human weakness, and the insignificant foolishness of vanity. It is a
philosophical and cosmological education for the purpose of becoming
happy and free. It is by no means a mere competitive sport for testing
the superiority of power, muscles, or animal dexterity. Rather it is
spiritual, philosophical, moral, and cosmological. It is a methodical
treatise on peace. It avoids all the cruel, barbaric, and futile
conflicts which always lead only to more of the same. It is the avoidance of massacre. It is
a means of self-defense which relies exclusively on the art of
receiving, never on the art of attack. Aikido pacifies violent attacks,
immobilizing the enemy by the least and simplest physical technique.
Aikido is the firm and eternal foundation on which peace and harmony
rest. It is philosophy based on a universal concept.
It is self-evident that war cannot be eradicated by force. Stopping
war with force is like trying to put out a fire with fire. This is not
possible without sacrificing everything. It would be the suicide of
humanity. But it is not so simple a thing as putting out a fire, for
this, we only need to use the opposite of fire. The opposite of force is
reason. Reason encompasses and judges all thing. This is the very
principle of Aikido. This principle itself is a unique, unparalleled,
universal worldview. It is a compass which points out a new direction
towards eternal peace and freedom.
( The art of peace by George Ohsawa)
