Harmony

By Jon Reading

Harmony is a concept that arises frequently in aikido training. To better understand harmony, I choose to define the term as "a symbiotic relationship that drives the natural world in perpetuity; an accord to preserve a balance." A lion kills a gazelle in the wilds of Africa, is this murder? A colony of ants attacks the leaves and wood of a tree in the depths of a tropical rainforest, is this warfare? No. These questions are rhetorical because each example plays an important role in the preserving the balance of nature. In martial arts, this concept may be best recognized as ying and yang [Chinese], or in and yo [Japanese]. In Yo is the dichotomy of opposites: man and woman, good and evil, right and wrong, water and fire, heaven and earth, war and peace. Aikido seeks to remain part of the natural world, governed by the laws of nature, it is because of this natural desire that aikidoka seek to understand harmony. Warriors train aikido to learn to live in harmony with the world, and to restore harmony to the world as debt for living. Similarly, warriors train aikido to protect their society and maintain harmony within a social structure as debt for living within a society. The power of harmony is the fulcrum, or line that separates opposite forces, a fault line that creates weakness because of its neutrality. Humans have fault lines in their minds and bodies and those faults can be exploited by one who knows where they lie and how to expose them. Harmony seeks neither to construct nor destruct; it is a balance of opposites. Aikido helps to understand the role of nature in harmony, and the role of harmony in conflict. Conflict doesn't have a right and wrong side, only an unbalance of opposites. Aikido trains us to find the solution to balancing conflict and the ability to carry out that solution.

© 2006, Emory Aikikai