Universal Love...AIki..

Aikido has as one of it's fundamental principles the concept of universal love. This is not a philosophy but a real component of Aiki itself.

So what is this universal love? Why do so many folk describe it in so many different ways?

Well the reason in my opinion is down to how most folk think. We are brought up and taught how to think in terms of THINGS. This is why the main focus of much of Aikido is on technique because they are things, they have shape and form. They can be seen. Yet they of themselves are not Ai, are not Ki and are not the Do either. They are results of it.

                                   
So back to the mind and thinking. As I said earlier most think in terms of things. Thus they think in terms of QUANTITY. Along with this we may get timing and geometry and movement but still in terms of quantity.

Well to understand the basics a simple thing has to be recognized and that is that this universe and all in it is not just physical and in fact the physical is the result of underlying non physical principles. In fact to make it nice and simple we could look at it in terms of Quantity (physical) and Quality (non physical).

                                       
QUALITY. Can you think in terms of quality? Quality is spiritual, quality comes before quantity. When we all just follow quantity we end up with a world based on economics and profit where everyone is into image and bits of paper and titles and accumulation of more and more things and wealth of such and so we enter a hollow world lacking ant true notion of quality.

Universal love is a quality. Ki is a quality. Spirit, heart and soul are qualities. Faith itself and thus you too are actually a quality.

The path of peace.......peace is a quality too. No wonder those who think in terms of things can only see peace as a thing which relies on another thing being absent ie: war. Unenlightened thinking.

QUALITY. Love. Yes let's take love as an example. People think they can have a lot or a little of it, they think in terms of quantity. Yet love is a quality. You cannot look at it from the viewpoint of quantity except from the one aspect of quantity relevant to it and that is that it is either there or is not there. You do a technique with it or you don't.

Why? Because a quality is infinite. Hence UNIVERSAL love. kI is infinite. Peace is infinite. Harmony is infinite. Only quality is infinite.

                                       
Truth is infinite facts are temporary.

Aikido is the practice of the infinite.

Peace.G.