Dear Artist still starving,
Thank you for your insightful observation. And yes! The art of the martial arts is very much about the expression of movement and flow. When we compare martial arts to music, we can talk about things like rhythm and timing, or syncopation and harmony. Any of these comparisons are worthy of a lengthy discussion themselves.
But there’s also the concept of being “in the groove” which touches the energetic qualities of both arts. In music, that term implies a moment when the musicians and audience alike click, resonate in the precision of the beat. Not too far behind or in front of, but mysteriously on and in. A ‘moment’ occurs. A near-inexplicable turn, a within-ness and conducting of. An arriving. And it moves! It’s dynamic!
The martial arts, I came to learn, delves deep into consciousness. Musicians, by comparison, learn that certain tones or rhythms, or melodies, changes or chords can strike their listeners strongly and emotionally. They may leap to their feet in joy, or slump in their chairs lost in tears and reminisces.
Martial arts works with that, but on a deliberately subconscious level. We learn to ‘connect’ deeply within ourselves, to a spot that at first is frustratingly vague and highly elusive, to ‘center’. We then learn to find that same spot in our attacker, even though they may not be aware of it themselves. We then learn to do this both statically and dynamically. In more advanced applications, we learn to do it multi-dimensionally, in the sense of physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. It is a deeply objective while simultaneously a highly subjective journey and set of experiences. It’s riding the line.
What is ‘the Force?’ Where is ‘the groove?’
The martial artist learns to not only find all this, but to some extent dissect it, the better to interrupt and disturb the literal center of our attackers very being or essence. In many senses, it becomes an amazing study, but one that can also be deeply disturbing in the sense of shaking the fundamental cores of belief and reality.
It becomes, quite literally, a learning in the study of literally conducting the so-called universal flow. Conducting or channeling the universal flow.
“A person who first sees a small man trained in aikido with mind and body coordinated throwing someone twice his size, or comfortably dealing with four or five other men probably considers it all very strange because he is thinking only in terms of the laws of the body and seeing it only with the body’s eyes. Were he to realize that the mind controls the body and view the case from the standpoint of the laws of the spirit, he would see that it is in no way marvelous.” — -Koichi Tohei, founder of Aikido
