Have you ever tried starting a fire without using matches, lighters, or fire starters?
You know… rubbing sticks together or trying to make two flints spark, then blowing gently and hoping to see a tiny flame appear. That very “primitive man, ranger, scout, explorer, Rambo” kind of thing.
Without the help of technology or chemistry, lighting a fire isn’t easy at all. And keeping it alive is just as challenging.
Our ancestors -who saw in fire life itself, warmth, protection, light, and the possibility to cook food-knew this well. They dedicated a true ritual to maintaining a constant flame.
Where did the care once devoted to the eternal fire by the Vestal Virgins in Rome two thousand years ago go?
Maybe the answer lies in another question: what truly ignites us?
It’s easy to feel excited. Our natural curiosity sparks when something new appears -something that resonates with our needs and inclinations.
It’s far less simple to turn emotion into action, and action into a constructive habit.
Once the fire is lit, it must be fed -and fed the right way. A tiny flame dies if you don’t blow gently and support it with twigs and small branches proportionate to its size. It suffocates if crushed under tons of wood.
The emotion and wonder of lighting a fire must then be followed by the consistency of gathering wood, drying it, placing it in the fireplace, clearing out the ashes…
I think you can already see where we’re going.
The emotional dimension in personal development -especially within a discipline like Aikido- is essential. It is for children, even more for teenagers, and, although we often try to hide it, equally so for adults.
We can make many speeches, but in the end, Aikido is about making contact with the inner flame each of us was born with. Then, recognizing it, nurturing it, and using it to… shine, warm, illuminate.
Many winds blow against that flame. Many from the outside, and some -powerful ones- from within.
External difficulties are many, both material and immaterial. Dedicating -or gifting, for example to a child-time within chaotic schedules, fragmented relationships, and the roller-coaster of family budgets is far from simple. If we’re not careful, we let external situations suffocate that flame.
The winds blowing from within are the most dangerous. An unguarded fire becomes an uncontrollable blaze when the wind rises. And it causes damage.
We have a duty to recognize ourselves. To understand how we are made. Not to settle for watching our flame slowly burn out. To open ourselves to a kind of understanding that guides us toward transformation driven by the desire and need to improve.
Lighting the fire of Aikido is quite simple. And it is equally simple for it to become a destructive blaze-when there is no balance between technique, ethics, and the cultivation of the practitioner’s non-physical dimension– or to keep it safe.
But we must go through the effort, the frustration, and the joy that come from insisting on rubbing those two sticks together until we manage to ignite- and ignite ourselves.
Disclaimer: Picture by Pixabay