The Equanimous Warpath
by Autumn Umanetz
Some very permissive cultures will tell you that "any path is the right path, and no path is the only wrong one." This is not solely a modern sentiment. One rather conservative western culture has a proverb that, loosely translated, says: "If you're going somewhere, run. If you're looking for something, sit tight until you've found it." Many of the Japanese schools of thought are translated as "paths" or "ways". There are zillions of examples of philosophies expressed through travel metaphors, and many of them are contradictory.
These cross-cultural contradictions can be fascinating. Not too long ago, a Catholic Pope said, "Buddhism is nothing more than an attitude of supreme indifference," and provoked outrage around the world. Yet, from his point of view, he was right. It certainly has enough truth in it to make one think a little. But then, if you reverse the sense of his statement, it could become a distinctly uncomplimentary statement on certain western religions. It's funny how a sword tends to cut away from its wielder, without regard to who that wielder is.
It is one of these contradictions that brought me to study aikido. Having been fascinated by karate for several years, I gradually became repelled by the violence inherent in the techniques. "But," I said to myself, "surely that is the nature of a martial art. How can you learn war without practicing violence?" Not being a violent person, I decided to spend my time travelling other paths.
Enter a new word into my vocabulary. Ai-Ki-Do. Harmonious spiritual way. I laughed. Martial is war, war is conflict, and conflict is not a word that one generally hears in conjunction with harmony.
I had spent some time studying a style of meditation whose goal was equanimity, a state rather remarkably different from supreme indifference. The key to achieving this state was focus. Focus on disturbances, rather than away from them. Given a distraction, be it physical or emotional pain, unfulfillable desires, or illogical aversions, the key was to observe them as minutely as possible. This focus made it possible to retain equanimity in the face of any adversity. At least in theory.
For some unknown reason, I applied that point of view to what little I knew of aikido. Suddenly, the study of a martial art was no longer an exercise in the application of violence. It was the application of a philosophy to an aspect of the physical world. To deal with violence, one must be capable of observing and (to a degree) understanding it. One need not practice it.
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