Inquiry: What Is Harmony?
© 1997 Shari Dyer
 

I doubt that there is a student of Aikido alive today that has not asked, and attempted to answer the question, “Just what is this art we call Aikido? Why does it answer me so well? What is it about this art that draws me so completely?”

No matter how much I train, I still ask myself these questions. The first conclusion I reached is that there is no one answer. There are so many different experiences, and so many different aspects of the art.

But I wonder about the nature of harmony itself. What are its qualities and characteristics? I have listed below those which are evident to me. (Perhaps you can think of a few that I have missed. Or perhaps you disagree altogether. It's all good.)

It seems to me that harmony has several characteristics:

1. Harmony is an ego-less state. It does not recognize supremacy nor does it judge action. It does not triumph. It releases. It lets go.

2. Harmony is synergistic. It transcends the individual components of a relationship.

3. Harmony is not an action, but a state of being.

4. Harmony is always experienced in the present. If it is observed by the conscious mind, then the moment is not being experienced. Harmony is in and fulfills the moment.

5. Harmony cannot be called forth on demand from the past or the future.

6. Harmony resonates.

7. Harmony amplifies and frees the energy of that which it touches.

8. Harmony is never unrequited.

9. Harmony extends and is inclusive by nature.

10. Harmony involves a state of balance and center.

11. In the moments of harmony, there exists no conflict within a relationship

12. Harmony is inherently beautiful to the observer and opens up the heart.

13. Harmony is inherently joyful to the participants and opens up the heart.

14. Harmony is valid in and of itself. It needs no justification.

15. Harmony is a natural state of being and therefor grounded in reality.


Conflict is also a natural state of being and is also grounded in reality.

What, then, is conflict all about? Why do we study harmony by confronting conflict? Wouldn't it make more sense to study harmony in a harmonious environment?

Conflict is at the very edge of, and often beyond, our comfort with ourselves and with our world. It serves to expand our awareness and challenge our beliefs of that which is around us and of that which is within us.

We can study conflict and harmony safely on the Aikido mat. The outside threat awakens responses within us that can be then experienced on all levels - the psychological, the emotional, the spiritual and the physical.

The relaxation, the required detachment, and the blending of energy in Aikido can through training, educate the student in the nature of, and the appreciation of, harmony as a way of life.

The mind will contract in the face of conflict. It wants everything to stay the same. It wants to stay comfortable, believing that stasis is the optimum condition for life.

But life is never static. It changes constantly and continually. To deal with life on a purely intellectual level is to be in conflict with life itself, and as such is not grounded in reality. So we train to embody the experience of harmony.

When the mind is in harmony with the heart, and when that heart is supported by a calm center, there is harmony within the individual. That harmony, by its nature, is able to extend and flow with events as they change, and with life itself as it dances its dance of life and death.

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