How correct do you feel the following quote is:?

Question

"The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood as a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek competition are making a grave mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst sin a human being can commit. The real Way of a Warrior is to prevent slaughter - it is the Art of Peace, the power of love." - Morihei Ueshiba

Answer 1

I take it to mean true warriors fight for peace? A bit idealistic for the real world but it is a good ideal.

Answer 2

There's definitely some truth to that.

There is a duality in the warrior because the power to protect is usually the same the power to destroy. How its used is what matters. For example, most women don't want to be beat up by their man, but they probably want a man who is strong enough to beat them up because he also has the strength to protect her. I tried to use a humorous example, but you get the idea.

The duality of the warrior also make him somewhat of a hypocrite, since protecting one's interests often means destroying someone else's. In conflict, people must retaliate to show their strength and weaken their enemies. And all sides involved usually think their warriors fight for the most noble cause. So who's right? I'd say none of them. They all just want something that's not plentiful enough to go around, and are willing to smash, injure and destroy to secure it.

If you ask me, when you look at the big picture, The way of the Warrior isn't about art, peace or nobility. It is about love, love for one's self and own interest, at the expense of the other guys and their interests.

Answer 3

Ueshiba's words are beautiful, and if everyone took them literally, there would be no war--only a war against war waged by ourselves on ourselves to resist the human (inhumane) urge to strike out like wild animals. If every man / woman vowed never to injure or destoyed another being, our countries would have to seek new ways to resolve issues, rather than offering up our soldiers' bodies as a brutal sacrifice for a cause. It is a courageous and virtuous sentiment, but impractical, for there will always be the warlord, seeking life-blood. As Sartre claimed, "Hell is other people." When that person seeks us out, would we be doing humanity a favor by taking his life, or will we be commiting a sin? I suppose the virtuous warrior could defend himself, but what about the defenseless? Do we act on their behalf or resist acting for our ideology? Is our passiveness, then, also a sin against humanity? Ueshiba is correct, but the power of love is not always strong enough to save us all from the power of hatred / evil.

Answer 4

Peace is a nice concept, but I believe it would benefit greatly from the following consideration: every person is a world all of its own, so interest and enthusiasm for the knowledge of others may be good as well.

Answer 5

Sometimes you can be something like a good warrior and at the same time, a pretty bad human being.

Answer 6

Does the means justify the ends? The quote is melodramatic and quite exaggerated. How can one cite "art of peace, the power of love" yet one kills in the process? Its contradictory.

Answer 7

It's fully correct. Anyone highly developed in the martial arts, for example, would never use their skills to intentionally destroy others. The discipline involved and required precludes such base aggression.

Answer 8

The last i checked samuri were around to protect against disorder. They wern't the ones to create disorder. They just a knack for ending it.

So i do think the quote is correct.

Answer 9

I think that the quote is correct but I also think that sometimes we need and have to fight for our protection and for the protection of our country and families. War is never good and it's painful but it can also give us freedom and that is one of the most important things that we can have as a nation and as individuals.

Answer 10

Sounds accurate to me!