Tag: cooperation

• Hindrance of Extremes

  The characteristics that make us each unique, special, and good as individuals, when manifested too extremely, can actually make us less effective in our ability to be of service to others. 
  

  There is, after all, such a thing as too much of a good thing. 
  

  This is especially true when it comes to our personalities. 
  

  It is easy, blinded in pride by that which we are passionate about and feel called to do or express, to go too far, to overreach, and to step on the toes of others. 
  

  Therefore, it is important that we know where our boundaries and the boundaries of others are, for it is at these boundaries that we meet, collaborate, and cooperate. 
  

  At these boundaries, where our good and the good of others overlap, if we are able to set our pride aside and come together in service to the greater good, we will find that we have formed a community. 
  

  Only in a community of mutual beneficence are we truly able to thrive, with those things that make us each unique, special, and good shining forth unto the world in their purest and brightest forms without being darkened by the shadows of the extremes that hinder us in our aim to serve. 

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  May 8, 2022

  assets, collaboration, community, cooperation, personality, purpose, uniqueness

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• Efficiency is Intentional Nonresistance

  Force against resistance begets more resistance.

  

  While the goal of grappling, whether manifested as a throw, a pin, or a submission, is ultimately to impose our will on another person, this is much more easily accomplished if we can create circumstances within which our opponent actually gives us we want, instead of having to take it by force. In this way, he or she is actually helping us achieve our goal without even necessarily knowing it. The ability be victorious, however we define that, within conflict, without actually ‘fighting,’ is one of the unique qualities of jujutsu (the literal romanization of the Japanese 柔術) aka jiu-jitsu.

  Obviously, within all grappling, there is resistance. However, the highest aim of the jujutsu practitioner should not be to face this resistance head on and to overcome resistance with a greater amount of directly opposing force. There is no efficiency in this approach and, as much as grappling is about imposing our will on another human, it is also about doing so efficiently, and the most efficient means by which to accomplish our goal is with our opponent’s consent and assistance, not in direct opposition to it.

  As has been written elsewhere, our approach must be sincere and skillful if it is to be effective. For it to be efficient, however, our efforts toward our goal must be combined with, not in direct opposition to, our opponent’s efforts to stop us. This means, paradoxically, that, so long as we maintain our own safety and integrity, instead of trying to stop our opponent from acting against us, we must allow him or her just enough freedom to move unopposed in a direction that is both predictable and will ultimately lead him or her into a position wherein we are victorious, all without having to cause injury unnecessarily.

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  Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.

  Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as well as a founding member of the Severna Park and Baltimore Holistic Chamber of Commerce.

  Street art photo taken by Robert Van Valkenburgh, artist unknown unless otherwise noted.

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  February 1, 2020

  aikido, brazilian jiu-jitsu, cooperation, grappling, integrity, jujutsu, nonresistance, resistance, sincerity, submission grappling, violence

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• Remain Open To Cooperation

  If our approach to a situation we wish to have influence over is tainted with prejudice and preconceptions, we have already shut ourselves off to the possibility of cooperation.

  

  There are certain situations within which we find ourselves wherein it is necessary to impose our will on others. If we enter these situations with a closed mind we are setting ourselves up for failure from the start.

  Prejudices and preconceptions may not feel like resistance to us, but, whether consciously or subconsciously, they create tensions within us that manifest outwardly as resistance. Others can sense this resistance and resistance begets more resistance.

  By approaching a situation we wish to have influence over in this state, we have created a relationship of conflict, even in circumstances wherein conflict is unnecessary, undesirable, or in direct opposition to our goals. We may eventually get what we want through conflict, but not without the risk of loss.

  Whenever possible, it is always more desirable to get what we want without conflict. This allows us to save our resources for when conflict is inevitable and unavoidable.

  Getting what we want without conflict means doing so with the other person, not against the other person. Cooperation is the path to desirable outcomes without conflict.

  Cooperation, in this sense, is not necessarily the working together towards a common goal, but the ability to get the other person or persons to work toward your goal without being hindered by unnecessary resistance.

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  Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.

  Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

  Artwork by Ana, except where otherwise noted

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  November 18, 2019

  cooperation, leadership, management, preconceptions, prejudices, resistance, will

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