My teacher, David Wink, another big guy (6'4") was Eric's main training partner and is also phenomenally powerful and fluid with all weapons including stick obviously. We trained in full contact sparring Ala dog brothers when I was an undergrad and he was a postdoc at MIT. He is now a director and senior investigator at NIH. I was blessed to train under Dave and hope to meet Eric one day. I've heard alot of war stories when they both trained under Geand Tuhon Leo Gaje together with other exceptional martial artists like Tom Bisio and Bill McGrath. What a golden era that must've been with all that collective talent training together!

aikido is based on love, it based on spiritual forces,the 7th dans+ who excel at it are aware of these spiritual forces at work,thats why they excelled to 7th dan, you are meant to back down at all costs to fight and not fight for "money or ego or show". This is harmony with the universe the ones who truly excel at aikido (7th 8th 9th dan) are very aware of this therefore cannot accept a fight, YOU have to attack them FIRST it is the only way to make them fight, a average aikido pracctioner is noot aware of this universal love or spiritual forces and therefore they do not excel and would get beat,its spiritual harmony in the movements.

Jack Howard "aikido is based on love, it based on spiritual forces" No, it isn't. It's based on joint manipulations and angular momentum. "you are meant to back down at all costs to fight and not fight for money or ego or show" That's a load of bullshit. Morihei Ueshiba fought for money in the Japanese army, and he trained Japanese soldiers. In addition, stories within Aikido mythology feature him doing things like defeating Kendo champions without a sword. Aside from these stories being unverifiable bullshit, there is no reason to defeat an armed sport player without your own sword other than to boost your ego or to destroy theirs (via humiliation). So, no, the aversion to competition is a coverup for the fact that they can't win. "7th dans+ who excel at it are aware of these spiritual forces at work,thats why they excelled to 7th dan" That's not why they "excelled" to whatever rank. Rank is meaningless. It's given out by other Aikido people, and no external test of skill exists. It's not like you have to show that you can defend yourself against a 6th dan Kyokushinkai attacker using your Aikido, and he's motivated to defeat you. You demonstrate moves on COMPLIANT partners, most likely your own students (since you obviously want to rehearse before your demonstration, and already you see them regularly), and if your stuff looks good, the masters promote you. At no point do you ever show your moves against non-compliant people.

Mister Guy when he fought in the army that was before his enlightenment, he realized that theultimate way was no true winner, as in he didnt break anyones jaw or arm or ko them, there own energy did it,the whole thing is based on gods love and harmony with the universe. Seagal surpassed the other japanese guys because he took intrest in the spiritual side which people didnt believe are real anyway.

Jack Howard "the whole thing is based on gods love and harmony with the universe" No, it is not. It's based on joint manipulations and angular momentum. This love crap is fluff and mystical-sounding bullshit that doesn't have anything to do with the reality of the situation. This is a set of combat techniques designed to win fights in a certain way. It happens not to work very well. "Seagal surpassed the other japanese guys because he took intrest in the spiritual side which people didnt believe are real anyway." No, he surpassed them because he did such better wrist locks and shit that they absolutely could not deny his superior skill, despite the extreme racism that is present in that culture. It had nothing to do with "spiritual" nonsense. "when he fought in the army that was before his enlightenment" I don't care what rationale you use, the fact is that the guy who founded it killed people while fighting for a soldier's wage. And the fact remains that nobody trained in Aikido has proven himself a competent fighter, so non-violence and spiritual nonsense is used to mask the fact that the techniques and training methods (mainly the training methods) are highly ineffective compared to other martial arts.

Mister Guy yes he fought in the war he was serving his country and he was young... In 1925, Ueshiba reportedly defeated an aggressive naval officer's bokken (wooden katana) without hurting the man. He then walked to his garden and experienced something significant- "..."I felt the universe suddenly quake, and that a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one. At the same time my body became light. I was able to understand the whispering of the birds, and was clearly aware of the mind of God, the creator of the universe. At that moment I was enlightened: the source of budo is God's love - the spirit of loving protection for all beings ... Budo is not the felling of an opponent by force; nor is it a tool to lead the world to destruction with arms. True Budo is to accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of the world, correctly produce, protect and cultivate all beings in nature."

so true