From: kurt@eskimo.celestial.com (Kurt Cockrum)
Subject: Re: hmmmm...
Keywords: zen,aikido,pacifism,non-violence,violence
Organization: >>> Eskimo North (206)-FOR-EVER <<<
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 17:46:05 GMT

In article <1d9jabINNvm@uwm.edu> glenne@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Neuromancer ) writes:
>sanderso@nyx.cs.du.edu (Borogove) writes:
> 
>>Violent yes, but you didn't *have* to attack me. Oriental martial arts in
>>particular teach the use of sufficient force and no more, which I think
>>should be the credo of the anarchist : "use only the force that is
>>necessary"
>Sufficient and Necessary?  Sufficient for what?  The death of freedom?
>Force is by nature UNnecessary.

Sufficient to restore a state of relative tranquility.  The interesting
thing about many martial arts is that since they often deflect or reflect
the attacker's energy, that energy can come full circle and be applied
directly (and self-reflexively) against the attacker.  Aikido in particular
depends upon accurately sensing, blending into, and then subtly *redirecting*
or *correcting* (as with an error signal in a control system) an attacker's
energy and/or center of gravity (and other subtle but non-mystical parameters).
As an extreme example, if an attacker makes a headlong rush toward an opponent,
and the opponent avoids the rush and simultaneously sticks out a foot so that
the attacker trips over it and falls to the ground (very likely injuring
themselves, if they don't know how to land), is the *opponent* guilty of
"excessive force"?  Where did the kinetic (and stored) energy that caused the
injury come from? [ possible clue: the earth sucks! :) ]

Seems to me the best of both worlds -- we avoid "violence" (at least of the
kind practiced by the attacker; I wouldn't argue if somebody were to say that
such violence were replaced merely by "violence" of a more *subtler* nature)
while ridding ourselves of a potentially violent nuisance.  Certainly no
pacifist practices their beliefs against (or with?) , say, an attacking dog
(or do they? that may possibly be the next "new frontier" in pacifist
theory -- extending it to attacks by non-sentient creatures :) .

My sensei used to demonstrate by verbalising "captions" or descriptions
of the unfolding scenario, as uke (the attacker) would commence an attack:
uke cuts down with a sword; sensei bends down just at the right moment,
"seeing a quarter on the ground" and saying "aha! a quarter! Today's my lucky
day!" just as the cut is made and the attacker's center of gravity
dynamically shifts.  At that point sensei's thumb and pinkie (for demonstration
purposes) catches in a fold of uke's sleeve and moves maybe 1/2" max.,
just enough to overbalance the attacker, who then either crashes and burns,
or has to go into recovery mode, so to speak.

My sensei used to say that we should never participate in violence.  Of
course, he defined violence to be pretty raw, crude stuff.  He also said
that if one had violent *intentions*, then perhaps *everything* *one* did
qualified as violent.  On the other hand, one with benevolent, harmless
intentions could literally do no wrong by definition.

The upshot of all this, is, "what's on your mind?"  If you are *thinking*
about doing in your opponent (this often takes the form of a "desired script"
or "fantasized chain of events", sort of like a cartoon, storyboard or endless
tape loop playing and replaying over and over in one's head), then
whatever you do might be regarded as violence.  This is the point of clearing
one's mind (one of them, anyway).  Get rid of the Western Civ. head-trips
(nasty Judeo-Christian memes being just one example) (which serve the opponent
much more than they do you, anyway -- the whole point of them is control of
*you*, not your opponent, who is often in the service of the state, or would
like to be) and the whole issue of violence/non-violence is seen to be
illusory and moot.
-- 
kurt@grogatch.celestial.com (Kurt Cockrum)
 Nostalgic conservatives are already referring to the Bush Era as
 "those Halcion days of yesteryear".
Newsgroups: alt.society.anarchy