Tougher than I thought

Kendo attendance was low today due to post-tournament syndrome.
In my previous post I mentioned how I had sweated real hard but didn't feel totally exhausted.
Well today I nearly died from exhaustion and fatigue.

I think the dojo is trying to get the rookies to raise the bar one or two notches in order to even consider having us practicing with the rest.

a milestone.

I don't know why, but all day yesterday I was high off of something. I had a very heightened sense of euphoria. I imagine heaven will be something like that. It will only be better because we will always have a heightened sense of euphoria which never goes away.

Last night I sweated like I never sweated before. I've ran long distances and bicycled even longer. But nothing like that came close to keiko. I was sweating dime-sized beads of sweat. My entire body felt red while pulsing rythmically in unison as if it were a giant heart.

Today I saw a chiropractor. The doctor gave me electrocution therapy, to relax my tense muscles.

All would be perfect had I had a Wii in my possession.

A New Kind of Warrior

Does the bomb or gun mean the end of the warrior? Or is it the birth of a new warrior, no longer defined by war? What is a warrior to do when he can no longer relate to war?

Japan was perhaps the first to face this question as a nation, and it was all the more dramatic as the warrior ethic pervaded all things Japanese. The winner of World War II, who has made as its proud boast: "the business of America is business" - came to see what happens when the Japanese samurai carries out "war by other means." This promise of a new way is what Aikido is all about.

The Oriental tradition of the martial arts taught that the warrior must make nonviolence his inner virtue in keeping the peace - with others but especially within himself. The Western view of the warrior is different. The West is known for its great history of education and ethical thought, but it never developed a tradition of educating the nonviolent warrior. This means that when faced with someone intending to cause you harm, you surround him with your heart and attain the victory of peace. This form of nonviolence is something different from christian meekness and Gandhi's ahimsa. The ideal of "love for all things" is the ultimate state of awareness for a warrior.

Aikido and the new warrior

An exerpt from The Earth Scroll

Buddhism is a way of helping people, Confuciansim is a way of reforming culture. For the physician, healing is a way of life; a poet teaches the art of poetry. Others pursue fortune-telling, archery, or various other arts and crafts. People practice the ways to which they are inclined, developing individual preferences. Few people are fond of the martial way of life.