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The Power of a Postive “No”
The Power of a Postive “No”
by Jim Giorgi
A series of co-incidences led me to revisit an article I read “by chance” 37 years ago - "Aikido and the Mind of the West" by George Leonard - and the powerful impact that article has had on my life. This is another story about the Power of Intention, and what Carl Jung termed “synchronicity.”
You can read it here: "Aikido and the Mind of the West"
My friend of many years, Bob, wrote a book report on the book “The Power of a Positive NO” by William Ury, which he submitted yesterday for a graduate course he is taking in Negotiation Skills. He sent me a copy for my review and comments, and mentioned that some of the principles in the book reminded him of some basic principles of aikido. As I mused on this, a train of thought began which culminated in my searching for and finding the article by George Leonard. This article is worth reading when you get a chance. You can find it here:
"Aikido and the Mind of the West" was included as a chapter in the book "The Ultimate Athlete" by George Leonardpublished in 1975. My friend Bob and I went to one of Leonard’s workshops together in 1985 at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY.
The series of co-incidences that would come to have such a profound effect on my life’s direction begins with the first time I read this article in the June 1973 edition of a magazine presumptuously called "Intellectual Digest.” This magazine was a short-lived publication, to which I happened to have a year's subscription, courtesy of a friend who was somehow getting cut-rate prices on magazine subscriptions in those days and asking all of his friends if we wanted to subscribe to some magazine or other via this "deal" he had. I originally didn’t, but I suppose to humor him, I did eventually chose a subscription to "Intellectual Digest", which was the only magazine among those he was offering that held any interest for me. He told me that I didn’t have to give him any money up front for it (I think it was about $12 a year at the time), just to pay him after I started receiving the magazine in the mail.
As I recall, I never actually paid him the subscription fee, having forgotten to do so until he reminded me years later (at which time he of course didn't want the money anymore). When I look back and consider what the great worth of this one article has been for me… I still think of my friend to this day and how profoundly this seemingly insignificant event affected the course of my life. Regrettably, this friend passed away last December.
"Someday" is Today: From Inspiration to Realization
When I read the article for the first time, back in those heady days of 1973, I was inspired. My friend Bob and I had just come off of one year of studying Tae Kwon Do with Mr. Yoo at NYU during 1972. Both of us had dropped out at the end of that academic year because of increasing academic demands on our time. We had not practiced any art for almost a year. Both of us, however, often said to ourselves (and each other) that "some day" we would want to study the martial arts again, both figuring that it would be resuming the practice of tae kwon do. Bob eventually did return to the study of tae kwon do when he lived in Albany, NY, during the years from 1980 until 1986, and obtained his first degree black belt in that art in 1983 or 1984, as I recall.
“Aikido and the Mind of the West” My “aha” moment in 1973
I read this article and everything changed. When I finished it, it was like one of those "inspirational" moments, when you see and know your path clear before you. I knew that, if I were ever to study a martial art again, THIS would be the art. This was, to me, the highest expression that a martial art could embody, one as close to a spiritual experience while still being a physical one, as could be possible. Remember, these were the days of Bruce Lee and also when “Kung Fu” was originally being televised, extolling the virtues of the “spiritual warrior”. I kept this idea in the back of my mind from then on, even though I never had or took the opportunity to make it a reality.
I moved to Orange County from NYC in 1979, beginning my first position as a school psychologist. During some of my rare sojourns through downtown Middletown in '80 to '83, I'd pass a storefront with the sign "Aikido School of Self-Defense", and was astounded to see that what I had taken for a very rare martial art, one for which schools would be available only in major global metropolitan centers, was available in, of all places, Middletown!!! Of course, I did not know at the time that it was Nihon Goshin Aikido, and not the style originated by Morihei Ueshiba which I had read about in George Leonard's article. But that still did not galvanize me into action.
Actualization: My Three Commitments
It took my attendance in July of 1983 at the third in the series of "Actualizations" workshops I had been attending (this one was held over a week's time in Sonoma, California) to inspire me to make 3 commitments to myself that I would follow through with when I got home to New York , and which would lead me pragmatically on a journey I had wanted to begin for many years- living a life where I would be the best “Jim Giorgi” that I could possibly be by practicing activities that united body, mind and spirit, and also releasing the emotional baggage and hangups that were still troubling me.
Those 3 commitments were, first, to read every book on the “recommended reading list” they had distributed at the workshop. This list of about 20 books included "A Course in Miracles", which I had never heard of before, but dutifully obtained and then studied faithfully for the full year term of the course (I did this from late January 1984 to late January 1985...365 days without a miss). I also read all of the other books, too.
The second commitment was to begin again the serious and regular practice of meditation, which we both had started practicing together in 1971 when Bob and I went to a Transcendental Meditation workshop at Don Herbert’s (TV’s "Mr. Wizard") house in Larchmont NY. Bob and I practiced TM for about a year and then both of us sort of let it fall by the wayside. Returning from California, I went to the first available meditation intensive workshop I could at the SYDA ashram in South Fallsburg in August of 1983, learned and started practicing Siddha meditation regularly. I eventually felt a calling to Zen, and followed that in 1985. The results of that journey are noted on my webpage for “Integral Zen”.
And finally, the third commitment was to begin studying a martial art again, and aikido if at all possible.
When the Student is Ready, The Master Appears
To this end, I made an appointment in early November of 1983 to observe a class at the nearest aikido school I could find (it would have been a prohibitive commute to go down to NYC from Orange County for classes), met Sensei MacEwen, and signed up that night to begin classes the following week. I believe that the date of my first class was November 8, 1983. And the rest is history.
I have to say that I went through periods of "disappointment" for the first couple of years that NGA was not the same style as that which I read about in Leonard's article, and thus somehow not as “spiritual”. Sometimes I considered dropping out and finding a nearby "mainline aikido" dojo. But two factors prevent discouraged me from doing that.
First, I was commitedly practicing meditation and studying spirituality on my own, and so did not require that kind of influence or instruction from aikido classes. I brought my own spirituality to my aikido practice instead of needing to obtain it there. Second, as I progressed through the ranks, and also occasionally attended workshops at other schools conducted by “mainline” aikido instructors, I was familiarize with the contrasts between it and NGA.
These differences caused me to realize more and more that what I was studying was more to my liking in every way, and I thank my "lucky stars" now that it was an NGA dojo that was "conveniently" located near where I lived. And now, almost 27 years later, I am the fifth highest ranking yudansha in the entire NGAA, and the principal author of the book that will be the definitive statement of NGA for generations to come. It’s hard for me to believe sometimes that all of this that has come to pass. Not a bad outcome from just the simple and otherwise easily forgettable incident of reading an article in a magazine that I probably never would have picked up on the newsstand. This article is the "granddaddy" of all of it.
The universe is a strange, mysterious, fascinating and, for me, benevolent place. I have always followed the path of my highest good and that highest good is returned to me daily. Just like the little pebble thrown into the still, smooth pond.
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I want to share with you my story of The Gift of the Katana as a way to demonstrate what I am teaching you about the Power of Intention.
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