| The nescessity of critical thinking in Aikido |
| Written by Guillaume Erard |
 Guillaume Erard, 3rd Dan Aikikai is a former instructor of the Dublin Aikikai. This scientifically trained practicioner now lives in Japan where he trains intensively at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. Thanks to this double competence, he gives us some leads to help us make the most of the analytic powers that we inherited from the enlightenment while applying them whithin the framework of the Japanese traditional martial art.
As a scientist, I have often encountered Aikido teachers who considered the epistemological approach as an aberration in the study of an extreme oriental martial art, sometimes even like an insult directed towards their work or their own persona. Today, I would like to discuss the benefits there are to study a Japanese martial art while keeping in mind what the Enlightened have brought to us.
We are living in a time where pseudoscience and superstition enjoy a great popularity; hence undermining our critical thinking and knowledge. The human brain has this tendency to seek for meaning in all the experiences that we encounter every day. According to Daniel C. Dennett, a famous professor in cognitive sciences; the fact that science admits holding only a limited amount of knowledge can become so intolerable for our spirit that we will tend to seek elsewhere some absolute truths, unchanging and therefore reassuring: dogmas. It is in these gaps left by science that we can often find the most detestable methods and discourses. The essential challenge for today’s Aikido practitioner is to manage dealing with a certain duality. The strict etiquette of our art makes it rather difficult to explore and experiment on new ideas. Although progress only comes from a critical state of mind, these notions are quite unwelcome within a dojo. Indeed it would be intolerable to see a student interrupting endlessly the class, asking for further explanations or contradicting the teacher. What is there to do then? How can we make cohabit in the most fulfilling manner a heritage coming from the times of Samurai with a modern thought process, all this without having one undermining the other? |
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