Kototama and physics - part one

(Traduzione da cura di Alberto Casetta)

I have already referred to the fact that Eastern philosophy in general is very close to modern physics. So much that the renowned nuclear physicist Fritjof Capra wrote:

"... The influence of modern physics goes beyond technology, it covers part of the thought and culture ... the exploration of the atomic and subatomic world has revealed an unexpected limitation of the classical conceptions [of classical physics], and has needed a major shift ... These changes, as determined by modern physics, have been widely discussed by physicists and philosophers in recent decades, but rarely we have realized that they all seem to lead in the same direction, towards a world view that is very similar to the views of Eastern mysticism. The concepts of modern physics are often surprising matches with the ideas expressed in the religious philosophies of the Far East ... in the microscopic world, the correspondences between modern physics and Eastern mysticism are surprising and it is almost impossible to determine whether their statements were formulated by physicists or Eastern mystics. "

(From "The Tao of Physics" by F. Capra)

Many of these concepts, as we shall see, can be found in the philosophy and the thoughts of Morihei Ueshiba. I shall therefore try to relate the main points of modern physics with the philosophy that created Aikido.

Of course I am not a nuclear physicist, let alone an Eastern mystic, and do not expect a thorough scientific or philosophical coverage of the topic. The following views are my interpretations of information obtained from various scientific and philosophical sources. The main purpose that I propose is to understand the nature of Aikido. I apologize if so, in reporting what I expressed, something can not be formally correct from the sheer point of view of science or philosophy.

Between Philosophy and Physics

For some time the atom has been considered the smallest part of matter. Scientists and researchers, through subatomic physics have managed to break even this "symbol", considered until not long ago indivisible. And the more we insist on the separation of matter, the more we realize the universal unity.

At the atomic level matter is manifested both as particles and waves. 

The status depends on the situation: in some cases, the atomic matter reveals itself as a body, in others as a vibration. 

Given its nature, it is not possible to determine its exact position, but his presence is supposed to at some point of the wave. And the space where the particle is moving, in quantum physics, is called the wave packet.

Fig.1

The wave packet represents the uncertain position of a particle

Quantum mechanics says that subatomic matter, manifesting both as particle and wave, has a singular behavior: if the particle is confined to a small region of space, it reacts by moving faster.

Fig. 2

In the compressed wave packet, the particle will move faster

The particles tend to react more in the tightest spaces.

Fig. 3

graphical representation of a type of motion of a particle around a core
the shortest the radius, the faster the particles will move
(The speed of these particles is close to the speed of light)

This symbol is what O-Sensei used to represent the beginning of the material world.

The small center is where the energy reigns: the wave energy, the vibration, in its maximum concentration.

The large circle represents the infinite expansion where the energy expands and disperses.

SU is the first sound (the first vibration, the first wave)

(See "kototama of the universe")

Quantum physicists discovered that the particle is not found with certainty in the precise locations within the wave packet, but it shows only a tendency to be in a particular place. Atomic events, also experimental ones, do not occur with certainty at certain moments and in certain ways, but only show a tendency. We can never predict with certainty the atomic event: we can only say that it is likely to happen.

(From "The Tao of Physics" by F. Capra)

This "tendency to be found" and "tendency to be" is defined in the philosophical and religious thought of O' sensei as YU "something's there" and MU "something there's not". In turn, the dualistic view of YU and MU takes the meaning of Fullness and Emptiness.

Quantum physics tell us that matter can not exist without the particle or the wave: one generates the other. The particle is not matter, it cannot be measured in three dimensions. It is "something there" and "something there's not" at the same time in the wave packet. 

Imagine two magnets pushing against each other: their magnetic fields repel and do not allow us to approach them, but among them there is only air, but this air has the consistency of steel.

O Sensei reveals that emptiness and fullness co-exist and are not separable. The outer circle can expand indefinitely, and MU and YU therefore will coexist as opposites and complementary at the same time. One cannot exist without the other. If we eliminate one, the other one will disappear immediately. That is because energy is the coexistence of YU and MU.

Fig. 4

MU and YU, emptiness and fullness, move away in a straight line of the diagonal, but are united by the outer circle. The spiral represents the infinite dilated in concentric circles as you move away from the center. There it disperses the energy force coming from the union between emptiness and fullness, just as the expansion of the wave packet reduces the vibration and the particle's velocity. The more MU and YU fall apart, the more the force decreases, although never disappears.

O Sensei, as a religious mystic, has experimented for many years through his philosophical martial arts.

Eventually he created Aikido as a result of his research.

Through the practice of Aikido, we are fortunate enough to go through these experiments of O Sensei, and share this experience.

Aikido should always be practiced reling on a level of force appropriate to the practicioner level. 

Even in Aikido, if you want to achieve higher abilities, one must experience the dynamics of defense from attacks of increasingly strong impacts. Too often we are too complacent to make experiments in the mat, so we can always be successful. But that it is not the best way to improve.

And too often I happened to attend technical and philosophical explanations based on the intellectual implications rather than the experimentation.

I want to remind, first of all to myself, that the Eastern mystics do not base their view on intellectual reasoning. The goal of meditation is to achieve a consciousness always based on practical experimentation through the mind, and not the conceptualization of reality. Being aware does not mean having the ability to think intellectually, but to be able to perceive the experience of the mind-body activities in relation to the whole.