| As a scientist, I have often encountered teachers | | | | true… but with little results as is shown in this |
| who considered the epistemological approach as | | | | video ( where a Ki master gets punished by a |
| an aberration in the study of a Budo, sometimes | | | | MMA fighter. About MMA, these lots have their |
| even like an insult directed towards their work or | | | | own belief system too but I will spare them for a |
| their own persona. Today, I would like to discuss | | | | subsequent article. |
| the benefits there are in studying a Japanese | | | | Besides exposing a fraud, this video illustrates |
| martial art (taking my own speciality, Aikido as | | | | quite vividly the auto mystification that this so |
| example) while keeping in mind what the | | | | called master suffers from. It is one thing to put |
| Enlightened have brought to us. | | | | your students in danger by teaching them mumbo |
| We are living in a time where pseudoscience and | | | | jumbo but it is an entirely different thing to put |
| superstition enjoy a great popularity. This would | | | | yourself in the ring. The bottom line is that to do |
| be quite harmless if it was not undermining our | | | | so, you have to firmly believe in your stuff. This |
| critical thinking and by extension, our general | | | | video also leads to an interesting reflection when |
| knowledge. The human brain has this tendency to | | | | we realise that it is probably his own students, by |
| seek for meaning within all the experiences that | | | | their submissive attitude, who led their master to |
| we encounter every day. While this capacity is | | | | such degrees of self deception; who said there |
| essential for helping individuals to make sense of | | | | was no justice? Coming back to the first video, it |
| the various stimuli that they are constantly | | | | is interesting to notice that it shows a very |
| subjected to, it sometimes misfires, leaving us in | | | | powerful feat of the human mind: the power of |
| desperate “need” of quick and simple | | | | suggestion. The students, while they are |
| explanations to concepts that can be difficult to | | | | convinced by the powers of their teacher, |
| grasp. According to Daniel C. Dennett, a famous | | | | become automatically much more susceptible to |
| professor in cognitive sciences; the fact that | | | | suggestion. As we see, they fall down and suffer |
| science admits holding only a limited amount of | | | | of an acceleration of their pulse accompanied by |
| knowledge can become so intolerable for our spirit | | | | an abundant sweating. On the opposite, sceptic |
| that we will tend to seek elsewhere some | | | | strangers remain unaffected if somewhat amused |
| absolute truths, unchanging and therefore | | | | after being subjected to these contact less |
| reassuring: dogmas. It is in these gaps left by | | | | strikes. The famous astrophysicist Carl Sagan |
| science that we can often find the most | | | | once said “extraordinary claims require |
| detestable methods and discourses. | | | | extraordinary evidences”. The point is that it |
| The essential challenge for today’s martial art | | | | is up to the people coming up with these special |
| practitioner is to manage dealing with a certain | | | | feats to give the proof of their existence, the |
| duality. The strict etiquette of our arts makes it | | | | reasonable attitude being to remain sceptic unless |
| rather difficult to explore and experiment on new | | | | proved otherwise. |
| ideas. Although progress only comes from a | | | | But what about all this progress that we inherited |
| critical state of mind, these notions are quite | | | | from the Enlightenment? Is it really a good thing |
| unwelcome within a dojo. Indeed it would be | | | | and is it transmissible to Aikido practice? It is well |
| intolerable to see a student interrupting endlessly | | | | accepted that our society as a whole is less |
| the class, asking for further explanations or | | | | aggressive and more open; exchanges between |
| contradicting the teacher. What is there to do | | | | countries having never been so rich and numerous |
| then? How can we make cohabit in the most | | | | (unless racism, obscurantism, religious |
| fulfilling manner a heritage coming from the times | | | | fundamentalism and greed come back into action). |
| of Samurai with a modern thought process, all this | | | | From an individual’s point of view, we live |
| without having one undermining the other? | | | | longer, more comfortably and we are in better |
| Within religion, belief in the absence of evidence is | | | | health. Of course, everything is not perfect and |
| considered as a virtue but if carried within the | | | | consecutively to these waves of progress, we |
| practice of martial arts, it becomes a problem. Of | | | | have had to face new crucial challenges such as |
| course the comparison Aikido/religion does not | | | | global warming, reduction of biodiversity, increased |
| seem pertinent to me since Aikido has not been | | | | needs in food and drinking water and so on. I |
| conceived in such a way by its creator (see the | | | | think, however, that the attitude which consists in |
| interview of André Nocquet, a direct student of | | | | rejecting everything modern while saying |
| O Sensei Ueshiba). It is not, of course, in our | | | | “things used to be better” shows a great |
| ideals of peace, neither in our codes, nor in our | | | | incapacity in apprehending the present. The |
| rituals that we have to seek for a religious | | | | Chinese philosopher, father of taoism, Lao Tzu |
| manifestation. Every sport has its own codes and | | | | illustrated this fear of progress very well more |
| these are more rooted within a warfare heritage | | | | than 2000 years ago when he said |
| (teams/armies, colours/uniforms, position on the | | | | “experience is like a candle attached to |
| pitch/battlefield) than a religious practice. However, | | | | one’s back, it only lights up the path already |
| I happen to think that it is precisely in the | | | | travelled”. Let us be serious for a moment, |
| intellectual submission and in the acceptation of | | | | and youngster, even if he spends more time than |
| anything and everything that we tend to lean | | | | is really good for him in front of the TV watching |
| towards the religious. | | | | Fame Academy is not dumber than its |
| I have heard on many occasions teachers claiming | | | | counterpart 100 years ago, he is of course far |
| that they, and no one else, held the only true | | | | more educated. It is also a bit dishonest to |
| Aikido, as O Sensei was doing it. They generally | | | | criticize progress when one benefits from all the |
| illustrate these claims by opposing their approach | | | | advantages of living in an industrialised country |
| to the one of other teachers, implying that these | | | | where we can have access to scanners, |
| poor souls are doing fake Aikido if not, no Aikido | | | | chemo-therapies and where the infantile mortality |
| at all. The reasonable stance is to stay sceptical in | | | | is amongst the lowest in the world. Fortunately |
| front of those who hold these kinds of | | | | for the human species, this reactionary stance is |
| discourses, if only because such claims are by | | | | not the common feeling and to only talk of what |
| definition mutually exclusive: if one is right, | | | | I know well, I would like to salute the outstanding |
| therefore all the others are wrong. How, as | | | | work of the great majority of biologists who |
| critical, yet open minded practitioners, can we get | | | | work on how to resolve the major issues that |
| out of this nonsense? Obviously, we cannot | | | | our planet faces in spite of a distrustful public |
| challenge all our teachers in a deadly fight or ask | | | | opinion and unhelpful governmental policies. |
| them to privately demonstrate to us their might | | | | For me, it is precisely this incapacity to question |
| at each class. Keep in mind that we are practicing | | | | things which is our greatest challenge in traditional |
| a Do, not a Jutsu. On the other hand, the attitude | | | | martial arts. We have this tendency to raise some |
| of being slightly sceptical should not necessarily be | | | | people up to the status of icons possessing |
| considered as a lack of respect. A sceptic is | | | | unreachable mastery. Of course, we do this, only |
| someone rather curious, and interested in many | | | | relying on great deals of tales and second hand |
| things. If otherwise, he would not invest time and | | | | stories about their supposed supernatural |
| energy into studying a discipline or a subject. The | | | | capacities. MMA practitioners and other |
| most important thing to keep in mind is that a | | | | competitors have understood this well and mock |
| sceptic is by default ready to accept anything as | | | | us about this quite often. It is capital for us to |
| long as a convincing body of evidence is present | | | | accept the idea that we can and we should |
| to support the phenomenon. As descendants of | | | | become better than our masters on a physical |
| the Enlightened, we should be sceptical budoka, | | | | level as much as on a mental one. If Aikido did |
| critical towards ourselves, our knowledge and our | | | | not evolve or improve but on the contrary, |
| art while respecting our teacher and the essence | | | | suffered from the fact that each student could |
| of our discipline. We must of course stay open | | | | not become better than his master, there would |
| minded and lucid in front of our own ignorance in | | | | be very little remaining of what Aikido’s |
| many subjects. Here is a difficult task to carry | | | | founder Morihei Ueshiba created. Somebody like |
| out, but not a dichotomy however! | | | | Ueshiba Sensei was very ahead of his time in |
| In some places, the sheer fact of pronouncing the | | | | terms of mentality with his universalistic vision and |
| word “scientific” becomes an insult, a | | | | his insistence on the peaceful resolution of a |
| “faux pas” that the experienced | | | | conflict while at a time of global war and living in |
| practitioner would never commit and that the | | | | an ultra-nationalist country. He was a hero of his |
| novice would be barely forgiven for. The words | | | | time but to the light of today’s moral values, |
| “non-overlapping magisteria” that we owe | | | | his opinions can now sound as very retrograde. |
| to the prestigious palaeontologist, Stephen J. | | | | Another vivid example is Abraham Lincoln, the |
| Gould, often come back to my mind. According to | | | | heroic 16th American president who, by |
| Gould, there are domains in which science has no | | | | today’s standards, would be considered a |
| right of entry. Although he is clearly referring to | | | | racist and a bully. These people are therefore |
| esoteric matters and religion, I think that a lot of | | | | models in the context of their time but they |
| people which I would describe as “mystical | | | | cannot escape the criticism of our current society |
| frauds” would gladly see this rule be applied in | | | | and the investigation using our modern knowledge. |
| martial arts too. We often hear people say that a | | | | It is our duty to do better than them, we now |
| discipline that has existed for a thousand years | | | | know better! |
| cannot be wrong or else, it would not have lasted | | | | In Aikido, we must give up the kind of discourses |
| for so long. I would say that on the contrary, if | | | | held by those who do the only true Aikido of the |
| the discipline in question has not changed | | | | founder because we saw earlier that these kinds |
| (progressed) along with our general knowledge, it | | | | of statements are unreasonable. The only person |
| is very likely that it will be plain wrong, or in the | | | | who did the founder’s Aikido was the founder |
| best case scenario, enormously incomplete. Take | | | | himself. Indeed, what we do is different but we |
| the theory of relativity as an example, it is | | | | must embrace this fact in order to go forward |
| agreed that any reasonably good graduate | | | | and make our discipline enter the 21st century |
| student in Physics understands relativity better | | | | proudly, not turning our backs to the future like |
| than Einstein ever did. I let you draw the parallel | | | | the orphans of a patriarch that we never actually |
| with Aikido if you feel like it… The consequence | | | | even met. We must see in each student of Aikido |
| of this is that science has heroes and texts | | | | an opportunity for a new reflection, a new |
| containing groundbreaking ideas but no prophets | | | | sensibility, a new interpretation of the fundamental |
| and certainly no books of revelations. This crucial | | | | principles that the founders showed us and |
| difference is the condition sine qua non for any | | | | certainly not like a corruption of Ueshiba’s |
| progress to occur. | | | | teachings. This is precisely our critical thinking that |
| To come back to Stephen J. Gould’s | | | | will keep us from this degeneration and allow us |
| proposition and although I have the greatest | | | | an evolution. |
| respect for his work, I would have to say that on | | | | To conclude, I am far from denying all that is not |
| the contrary to what he said, I think that it is | | | | explainable in martial arts, I would even say that it |
| crucial that science should be left free to | | | | is obvious to anyone who looks that the great |
| investigate every aspect of our human | | | | masters of martial arts perform outstanding |
| experience. Science has no agenda, no dogma; a | | | | feats. However, it is only if we keep an open |
| scientific theory is doomed to always eventually | | | | mind, critical thinking but also a respectful attitude |
| being proved wrong or incomplete and to be | | | | that we will be able to access to the mastery of |
| replaced by a better one more in accordance with | | | | these things. They seem only supernatural |
| the facts; reality. Science is the spirit filled with | | | | because we do not understand them well and |
| wonder of the child that discovers and | | | | because we tend to mystify them. Supernatural |
| experiences the surrounding world free from all | | | | and godly is always located at the limit of our |
| preconceptions. It is however true that science | | | | knowledge. Even Newton, the brightest mind that |
| currently lacks the tools necessary for the study | | | | walked this earth could not help but feeling that |
| of phenomenon such as Ki but nothing leads to | | | | way. Whether we are talking about Ki or judicious |
| think that it won’t change. We should | | | | timing and placement while respecting the |
| therefore stay open minded but also critical as | | | | physiological axis (bio-mechanics), it is through this |
| regards to claims that some ill intentioned or ill | | | | shift of perspective that we will truly reach a |
| informed people might make. | | | | deeper and more thorough understanding of our |
| While we are talking about Ki, I always wondered | | | | discipline. An analogy could be a child who would |
| why the most famous masters had this tendency | | | | watch a stage magic show in amazement from |
| to only demonstrate their prowess on their on | | | | the audience and later, would go to see the show |
| students. The reason which is often given to us is | | | | again from backstage. In Aikido, it is when we try |
| that it would be “too dangerous, that it takes | | | | to be more Japanese than the Japanese that we |
| training to be able to take it”. There is a good | | | | deny our inheritance because in these times, we |
| example in this video ( | | | | deny to ourselves the possibility to apprehend our |
| Right, in boxing; you don’t give an uppercut | | | | discipline with our own occidental sensitivity in spite |
| to a beginner. This argument sounds reasonable | | | | of the fact that this art has been conceived to be |
| but it unfortunately also makes their claims hard | | | | universal. |
| to verify. The question I am asking is purposefully | | | | Descartes taught us to ask questions so let’s |
| direct but not impertinent, nor disrespectful (I | | | | dare asking them, but let’s do it politely, |
| really mean this but I also know that some people | | | | respectfully and let’s stay open to all that this |
| will jump on any occasion to justify them feeling | | | | universe has of mysteries and wonders but |
| offended; be my guest). It is honestly and without | | | | without pouring the syrup of superstition all over it |
| malice that I ask these questions. After spending | | | | and without wrapping it with the cheap, shiny |
| many years practicing budo and looking for these | | | | paper of mystification. This, to me, is the key to |
| manifestations, it is actually likely that deep inside, | | | | build up this famous golden bridge that should |
| I kind of wish that all these incredible powers | | | | unite Orient and Occident so the two can at last |
| exist. There are a few people who have accepted | | | | understand each other well. |
| challenges to prove that their prowess were | | | | |