Expert: Joe McSorley - 1/9/2005

Question
Hi again!
I have found such a passage in "The Secret Significance of Aikido, poetic Songs of the Way"

"A person who in any situation perceives the truth with resignation, would never need to draw his sword in haste"

What does it mean to perceive the truth with resignation, and why "would never need to draw his sword in haste" Do you have any thoughts on this?

thanks!


Answer
Hi Luke,
  I will help you with this but the true answer needs to come from your own experience and not from reading someone else's words.  It's the difference between having a cognitive understanding of swimming and being able to swim; when thrown in the ocean it is the experiential that contains the real truth.  Sometimes it takes years to understand these sayings but the mind needs time to mature and deepen before the truth becomes apparent.
  To draw your sword in haste would mean that  you are reacting  out of  fear or distorted mental perception rather than due to the truth of the moment.  If we need to perceive, or to cognitively know what a danger is then we have lost time and will panic.  To know the truth or reality, beyond the realm of our individual ego, is to perceive things as ‘they are' and not as we as individuals interpret them to be.  This type of ‘direct seeing', ‘direct perception' or ‘pure thought' ( Zenkei Nishida) is a result of overcoming our individual ego's and to see whole objective truth rather than an individual interpretation of the truth.  Thus, when confronted with real danger we act appropriately with resolute stillness and when confronted with faux danger we act ( not react) accordingly and not with haste.
   I hope this has helped you.  Take care,
              Joe