Clif High - Here, take my hand...

Aether Pirates of the Matterium!

Here, take my hand. This is a famous Aikido phrase. It is used to invite the uke to attack you, to engage, to contend. Uke is the one who gets thrown. The one who extends the invitation to uke is the nage. That's the one who throws, who instructs. The phrase uke-tore,
is a transliteration of the Japanese verb ukitoru, which means to receive or to accept. This verb is used in many different contexts in Japanese. In the martial arts area, it's usually a shortened version of the phrase itamio ukitori, which translates into accept the pain. It also means learn to receive. Learn to accept. It's in many contexts.
You'll find it in lots of martial arts books. Always about contention. Because we contend with ourselves trying to push away pain. We contend with ourselves trying to push away what we must learn and face. This is really a big point of life. All contention at all levels is really about exploring oneself being reflected by
your partner in that contention. If you're nage, the uke reflects to you as much as you instruct him. Instruction is always a two-way street to a master. No matter who or under what circumstances they contend with, they will always learn. It's part of the process. It's their goal. In the martial arts, there are mottos.
We use these sayings to guide the mind and its thoughts on a daily basis as an aspect of our applied self-discipline. The martial arts are always, and really, truly, only about self-discipline, about fighting yourself. Masakatsu agatsu is what we say. True victory is victory over self-discipline.
Most of the thoughts that are guided by our mottos go to core principles. Many are quite complex and many, many multiple layers of information being expressed in the mottos themselves. The martial arts will use these mottos, phrases, and sayings, the language, in similar fashion to what you may find in secret societies.
So the Freemasons, for an example, use the phrase, meet on the level. And the response to that is supposed to be part on the square. This identifies the relationship between Lodge brothers who are not members of the same Lodge usually. Usually that's at an introduction level that you might use though as you meet someone
Truly on a level square somewhere in a city. And through the handshakes and the other gestures, you establish that you're both Freemasons. And then in the parting, you would say that. Met you on the level, part on the square. And it's their motto for the relationship. The mottos in the martial arts go further, these sayings,
because they define roles that one is prepared to accept, is willing to accept, in the partnership relationship of the exploration of contention. So, uke is invited by nage to receive. In Aikido, we start that by saying, here, take my hand. This begins that relationship. Usually we would say... Onigaishimasu.
That's a complex Japanese word, and it means many different things. Almost all the Japanese words have many different subtle meaning differences within the various contexts in which they're used. Onigaishimasu, within the martial arts, means variously along the lines of, with respect, let us begin. Or, with respect, let us train together. It implies and infer... No, it implies.
It states that there is a partnership relationship from the very beginning. That we both understand that contention, even though it is with ourselves, masa, gatsu, katsu, is entirely a partnership. Some of these, okay, so the master of contention, those people that understand how violence is to be applied in a disciplined manner
as a tool to cause social change in an instance or across broad swaths of the social order, the master of contention will almost always begin the dynamic of contention with the invitation because they wish to control that dynamic and direct it through their flow, through their key energy. Kia's life force. We cultivate that in Aikido.
There will be times when the master of contention must be harsh, must come on in and state things in such a way as to cause reactions, to trigger people to react in specific ways, very much like you will find in the art of war, these kind of instructions. And so in Aikido, our hard, harsh,
and brutal saying will be something along the lines of, send me your assassins that I may bend them to my will. meaning that I'm going to be at that level of contention with you. Send whoever the hell you've got. They will end up being my servants.
I will change their mind and make them mine and send them back against you. In other contention, it's more personal. It's more in your face right there. It's not as organized. There are not necessarily people involved that are in between the two of you.
And so you might use something that's almost soft in terms of the invitation to attack. But in a way, it's no less threatening, right? And you'd say something like, please, demonstrate your art that I may test mine. There are many, many masters of contention now on this planet. Shinshin Soitsu Aikido has been taught for a long time.
People that progress to certain levels within that are masters of contention. We have an understanding of the disciplined application of violence and the results that can come from that. Aikido is the art of peace, because you can only know peace if you master contention. It is not possible to have peace unless you are the master of yourself,
unless you have defeated yourself. Masa Hagatsu Katsu. We are indeed fighting ourselves. And the time for our discipline, for our minds, is erupting now. Many people will react... and there will be violence that will not be disciplined. It will not be properly applied. And that is because we don't face the need for that proper application.
We don't voice the fact that these are the circumstances. It is here now, and this problem will not resolve itself without violence, without open, visible contention. And then everybody has to decide how will that violence expose itself? How will it manifest in an uncontrolled fashion erupting into near-civil war, or will it be disciplined, applied, and effective,
and in essence, save lives. And it's because you know, as a master of contention, that this is possible. You can use violence, horrible, terrible violence, at the appropriate time in a measured, proper response to induce very large changes and avoid other, uncontrolled violence which would have far more damaging effects ripples throughout the social order.
And it is the nature of the master of contention to suck it up, basically, to know the karma involved, to accept. So the master of contention is also uki. When you are nage, when you're going to throw, you also accept as part of that process. That's part of mastery.
And as I say in Aikido, we say, here, take my hand.

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