Aikido, My Philosophy

Sensei Picciola always says that aikido is a philosophy of life and uses the allegoric example of the ukemi to make this point: living is like practicing ukemis: you fall and raise, you fall and raise, you fall and raise… with time and practice you learn to fall smoother and to raise faster, and the blows are less and less hurtful every time. Life is like practicing falls. Sensei's example is clear and very didactic; As I'm not as good as him with examples, I'll go with a more complicated one. I'll try to explain why I consider aikido as a philosophy of life.

I should start saying that I've been using a very simple concept of Fiedrich Nietzche for a while now: everything that doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Applying this to a philosophy of life: each blow received, either kills me or doesn't kill me; if doesn't kill me, the person that will emerge after the blow will be necessarily stronger than the one that received it. I think of this as a philosophy a posteriori: one recovers from the blow after suffering it.

I found in aikido, through a reflection of Juan Fava senpai, a similar philosophy but a priori: choosing death is living (read Fava's post: Choosing Death is Living (Irimi) for a better understanding of this concept). Considering this philosophy, we can analyze it together with Nietzche's example: I'm prepared for the blow before it comes; if the it comes or doesn't come doesn't matter, I'm ready for it. If it comes, I can do as Nietzche said.
Why do I say this? Because I consider aikido has a lot to offer beyond the techniques we all like to practice. I always see in the dojo that –all of us– want to practice like the sensei, and many, in my opinion, want to practice strong like Ruslan, or with the samurai concentration and the poise that Nahuel shows, and some want to be able to elevate our ki like Son Goku and cause the floor and walls to tremble (Personally, I want to practice with the solvency of Garcia Luna, and to do the ukemis like Silvia). That's what I see. I see and hear the sensei saying that day by day he is less interested in hitting someone, and that he practices this in his life, and I ask myself: Why don't they all want to learn this? Sure anyone can have a bad day; you climb a bus and the driver doesn't hello back, and you wish you find him on the street and bury his head in the ground with a powerful nikkyo ura, but, usually, this doesn't happen. You don't walk on the street jumping the banks in squares, with tobikoshi ukemi, neither solve your problems with levers in the articulations (although, I confess, I enter to my house doing kaiten) and still, it is possible to apply aikido daily, in the every day life. The philosophy that aikido teaches (respect for the partner, irimi, ukemi, etc., etc., etc.) can be used daily.
If they paid me for practicing aikido, I'd live easier. But this isn't the case. However, there where I go, I try to put in practice what I learn in the tatami. After all, in life, as in aikido, we are all learning. That's why I say: Kanpai!
Patricio, 29 years