Today's aikido is so dimensionless. It's hollow, empty on the inside. People try to reach the highest levels without even paying their dues. That's why it seems so much like a dance these days. You have to master the very basics solidly, with your body, and then proceed to develop to the higher levels.... Now we see nothing but copying or imitation without any grasp of the real thing.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of mastering fundamental skills before attempting higher levels of expertise.
Gozo Shioda's quote reflects on the state of aikido today, suggesting that many practitioners focus on superficial aspects without understanding or mastering the foundational techniques. He critiques the tendency to imitate advanced practices without the necessary depth of knowledge and experience, implying that true mastery requires dedication to the basics.
In practice
During a martial arts seminar, a teacher might quote this to emphasize proper training techniques.
Today I live on an island, in a house that is sad, hard, severe, that I built for myself, solitary on a sheer rock over the sea: a house that is the spectre, the secret image of prison. The image of my nostalgia. Maybe I never desired, not even then, to escape from jail. Man is not meant to live freely in freedom, but to be free inside a prison.
To attain any assured knowledge about the soul is one of the most difficult things in the world.
The soul can split the sky in two and let the face of God shine through.
The attack on "selfishness" is an attack on man's self-esteem; to surrender one, is to surrender the other.
Ordinary life does not interest me.
The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.
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