> On Thu, 13 Mar 1997, "Corey A. Cook" <cookcore@esuvm.emporia.edu> wrote:
> >Eva-Lise Carlstrom wrote:
> >> Aikido Story #1:
> >>
> >> I knew a guy who was taking aikido classes; he was just starting. He was
> >> walking home late at night from aikido class, when two guys jumped him,
> >> one of them with a knife, and demanded his money. He immediately thought
> >> of what he'd learned in aikido. The first thing to do was, "Relax, and
> >> breathe." He didn't know the next thing, because he'd only had two
> >> classes. But he took a breath, let it out with all the tension, and
> >> relaxed.
> >>
> >> And they ran away.
> >Good story. The closest I've studied to zen is zenarchy (the zen version of
> >discordians) and Tao as explained by Winnie the Pooh. I do have one
> >question. The last line seems to be a typo. This story would make more
> >sense if it read: "And then ran away." Please correct me if I'm wrong.
>
> I think it makes sense either way. Conflict is a highly dynamic system
> and tiny cues from either side can trigger reactions. The attackers
> would have been expecting a fight or flight reaction. When it didn't
> arrive they were denied the stimulus required to prompt their next
> action. I have seen this in action and it's marvellous to witness
> (especially when you're having your ass extracted from the proverbial by
> someone armed with nothing more than a cool head).
When you're holding a knife on someone and expecting him to cringe in
terror, and he relaxes instead, it's pretty scary. I expect. If I
attacked someone and he relaxed, I'd think I was in big trouble.
Eva