Do not fail
Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace
To learn from
The pure voice of an
Ever-flowing mountain stream
Splashing over the rocks.
You can never step into the same river twice.
Heraclitus, fragment 91
Water–flowing water, to be precise–is a key metaphor in the practice of both aikido and rhetoric. Sometimes it exemplifies a kind of “soft power,” a force that is both yielding and irresistible; sometimes it signifies the flexibility to work around rather than against an obstacle. Here, it evokes the key concept of contingency, the idea that the right answer or solution to a problem is never the same twice, that it must necessarily attune itself to the energy of the particular moment, the place, the people, the mood.
O-sensei expresses contingency through his encouragement to “listen” to the changing voice of the “ever-flowing” stream. Heraclitus reminds us that even if we think we recognize a river we are crossing, the water flowing over our feet is different than it was the last time, and the feet belong to a person who is different than the last time. The river is his way of illustrating the key rhetorical concept of kairos, a contingent opening or opportunity for an action appropriate to the situation. Related concepts in aikido include the shikaku (lit. “dead angle”) or opening in the partner’s stance; the triad of go no sen/sen no sen/sensen no sen, (“after/before/drawing the attack”), which frames the temporal space of possibility for joint action between partners; and, awase, “blending,” the harmonious timing of action with the partner that creates opportunities for change.
The Rookery 