Human beings use metaphors all the time in explaining and making sense of the universe. Metaphors can be simple such as “saving time” (good) or “wasting time” (bad). Metaphors can be complex such as E=mc2 (a mathematical metaphor used to show that mass and energy are inexorably related, the essence of each contained within the other).

From what knowledge of Ki I have accumulated over the years, I have come to see two fundamental metaphorical paradigms emerge when it comes to understanding the nature of Ki. For a lack of better terms I’ll refer to them as the experiential paradigm and the mechanistic paradigm.

Ki metaphors that fall into the experiential paradigm tend to emphasize the cultivation of Ki as a pre-existing resource. Concentrate Ki at the one point, extend Ki, let Ki flow freely are all metaphors that invoke images of Ki as existing independently of the Aikido practitioner. From this point of view the student is seen to be a vessel for storing and concentrating Ki and also a conduit through which Ki is able to flow and be directed.

Mechanistic paradigm Ki metaphors evoke images of Ki as being generated within the student’s body by the correct application of principles of movement, ground path mechanisms, fascia and other structural conditioning etc. Mechanistic paradigm metaphors remove Ki as existing independently of the student and replace it with Ki as a generated force.

Let’s look at unbendable arm for a moment in light of both classes of metaphors. When I began Aikido the first thing I was taught was unbendable arm. It was explained that I should relax, keep one point and extend Ki from my center through my arm and let it go out and away (experiential). I did these things (that is I imagined what I would feel like when these things were happening) and when tested, my arm did not bend.

Conversely unbendable arm could have been explained to me in terms of the juxtaposition of opposing muscle groups and how by correctly manipulating them I could keep my partner from bending my arm (mechanistic). Again, if I process the metaphor correctly the result will be that my partner will be unable to bend my arm. Coming from a Kokikai background, my knowledge of mechanistic metaphor as it relates to Ki is severely limited, so please excuse if my example is less than accurately representative. In any event, the actual metaphor is unimportant relative to the discussion. Suffice it to say that unbendable arm is the result in both cases.

These paradigms are fundamentally at odds. But isn’t the conflict really illusory? Consider the fact that the world you and I experience is experienced via our senses. We don’t experience “reality” directly. We interpret sensory input in our brains and formulate our separate realities based on a host of filters and amplifiers that we have constructed over the span of our lives. The long and the short of it is we see the world metaphorically. Even the physicist with her instruments and formulae is just creating a metaphor to explain and quantify what has been “observed”.

As Aikido students, we learn to build metaphors to explain and understand the concepts Ki. Who is to say that one person’s Ki metaphor is correct while another’s is incorrect if the observed result of both people’s Aikido execution is the same? If I teach you unbendable arm using the experiential paradigm and another student is taught unbendable arm via the mechanistic paradigm and when tested both of you perform unbendable arm, which paradigm is right? Does it matter?




Read more at: http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/journal.php?s=&journalid=&action=view#Metaphor%20as%20a%20tool%20for%20understanding%20Ki.