Chapter 45: Sensei's Tests

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 (Continued)

When Sensei arrived, my girls and I went out to greet him. I did the introductions, including Mom when she came out a few seconds later in case Sensei didn't remember her from when she'd delivered me to the dojo. Mom directed us into the living room, where three more introductions were made.

Sensei was still wearing his Aikido clothes, a white gi with loose black pants over the top of the gi's white pants, so he certainly looked the part of being my sensei, other than his being about as un-Japanese as you could get. He addressed everyone, "Mark and I met at his first Aikido class last Thursday. After class we had a good conversation, from which I understood that he had a level of ki awareness that normally takes students several years to develop. 'Ki' is mental or spiritual energy, and is an intrinsic and important aspect of Aikido. I lent him two books on ki development and we have had two phone conversations on the topic, last night and twenty minutes ago. During those conversations Mark described some of his abilities with ki. He sounded sincere and believable, except that many of his claims either take many years to master, or are beyond what I am aware can be done. He claims these abilities after one week, so I am disinclined to believe him, which contrasts with the sincerity and considerable understanding his conversations convey. Fortunately it is relatively easy to test a student's ki, so I have asked him to allow me to administer some of these tests. With your permission I will proceed?"

Mom asked, "You won't hurt him?"

Sensei replied, "No. We test all our students this way when we think they might be sufficiently advanced. The tests are mostly mental."

Mom nodded her consent.

For the first test Sensei stood facing me, instructed me to grasp the lapels of his gi tightly with one hand and not to let go. He added, "With your left hand, as your right arm is in a cast."

Something rather interesting happened as we were getting into position. Sensei was moving near me so I was detecting his ki as always happens with people near me these days, but it suddenly got a whole lot 'brighter'. Sensei started giving off about three times more ki than he used to. Almost immediately he asked me, "Are you centered, Mark?"

#1: <His ki must have gotten stronger because he just remembered to center himself. The last time we were near enough to him to sense that was when he did that weird "Making Us Fall Over Without Touching Us" technique, which distracted us too much. People other than us seem to have about the same ki when they're walking around normally, but what seems to be about three times that amount when they're centered.>

#4: <It's a pity we can't find out how strong our ki is when we're uncentered. I'm curious about that.>

"I'm always centered these days, Sensei."

"We will proceed then."

Sensei raised one of his arms high in the air between us, held it stationary for a second, and then let his arm drop onto my left arm. It didn't land heavily because he'd just dropped it under its own weight rather than using muscular force to zoom it down. It simply flopped down onto my left arm and lay there for a second. Sensei said, "Very good, most impressive."

Dad didn't quite snort, but I could hear his disbelief when he asked, "What was impressive about that?"

Sensei smiled, and said, "It would be easier if I showed you. Would you like to take Mark's place and I will repeat the test with you."

Sensei turned to face Dad, who wasn't slow to approach and take the same grip I had.

Sensei said, "Is that your strongest arm?"

Dad nodded and replied, "Yes, I'm right handed."

Sensei said, "Good. You look like a strong fellow. Do you work out?"

"I don't go to a gym but I do lots of lifting at work. I think I'm pretty strong."

"Good. Do not lose your grip."

Sensei raised his arm, held it a couple of seconds, and then dropped it, exactly as before. Except that Dad's arm was brushed away effortlessly.

Dad looked very surprised. Dad's not a bulky guy, but he's tall and quite strong while Sensei is quite small (not as small as Prof, but still small), and we'd all seen that Sensei's arm had just effortlessly brushed Dad's away.

Dad said, "Can I try again?"

Sensei nodded.

Dad took a very strong grip, even spreading his legs and hunching down to make himself as solid as he could. Sensei raised his arm, then swept it down again. Dad's Herculean stance made no difference; his grip was once again swept away effortlessly.

Dad's no dummy. Rather than trying again, he just said, "I don't understand. How did you do that?"

Sensei explained, "It is not about physical strength; it is about mental energy, which we call ki. I directed my ki down through your arm to the floor. The ki you had focused on your grip got swept downward, so your hand's muscles simply let go when the weight of my arm pushed your arm down. I broke your grip with mental energy, not physical force. However, I could not overcome Mark's ki since his was too strong for me. I have trained for thirty years while he has merely observed one class."

Dad tried one last time, "How do we know that exhibition wasn't faked?"

"I am not testing him for your benefit but for mine. Nor was I aware that I'd be testing him in front of other people. Mark passed my test, which is all I care about. I am very happy that he passed as it now appears most likely that he was telling the truth, which is very exciting for me. I will do some more tests however, to make sure. The next test is one Mark witnessed last week. I will do it because you will be able to see its effect and know it is not faked. Mark, am I correct in thinking that your broken arm is well healed now?" (I had it out of its sling and was using it as much as possible.)

"Yes. It feels perfect, the cast is just a nuisance. It's due off in a week and a half."

"I am not surprised. People with strong ki heal faster, and can help other people heal too. Your ki seems exceptionally strong..."

#3: <Wow. We heal fast. That's cool>

#4: <Maybe we were wrong to think the books' comments about ki healing were so silly?>

#3: <Yeah. Healing broken bones faster is a very real effect. If that's true, it sure can't be explained by self-delusion.>

" ... Stand behind me Mark, grip my forearms and lift me in the air, just as you saw demonstrated last Thursday."

Sensei held his elbows against his ribs and bent his lower-arm forward at ninety degrees to offer me easy 'handles' for my lift. I took my grip and a good stance, and lifted him a few inches fairly easily. It was a little awkward, but he's a small guy so the physical strength required wasn't anything major.

"Very good, impressive again. For your father's benefit, would he like to try lifting me?"

My father would indeed like to try. He replaced me, but no matter how much he grunted and strained, he couldn't lift Sensei off the floor.

Dad muttered, "I should be able to lift you easily. This is another of your mental tricks, isn't it?"

"Yes. I said I was testing Mark's ki, which is a mental rather than physical energy. All my tests tonight are mental. I would request that you not think of them as 'tricks' though. I have devoted a large portion of my life to learning them, and they are considerably more important to me than 'tricks'."

Dad apologized, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make light of your achievements. I am very impressed that you broke my hold so easily, and that I couldn't lift you."

Sensei nodded, then started walking around me. He asked again, "Are you still centered?"

"Sensei, I'm ALWAYS centered unless I deliberately choose not to be, which I certainly won't do while you're testing me. I haven't accidentally lost center at any time today, and I'm very unlikely to do it now."

"You are not exaggerating?"

I just shook my head.

"All right then. Stand relaxed and keep your body loose, not rigid."

I did as he asked, as he continued to circle me. On one of his orbits, while he was in front of me, I suddenly felt he was punching me hard in the stomach, and I jerked back. I almost immediately realized that he had not moved his fists at all, he was still just walking around me. He had merely intended to punch me.

Sensei said, "Very good, excellent. Exactly as you said with the bully at school."

I nodded.

Prof said, "It's my turn to look foolish by asking for an explanation. What happened then?"

Sensei answered as he was continuing to circle me, "I was going to punch Mark in the stomach. He sensed my intention and pulled away."

"I didn't see you make any such move?"

"No, I deliberately did not. I just projected the mental intention and Mark detected that. This is not a test of his observation skills, but of his ki."

Sensei was behind me, and I suddenly felt another punch coming, and jerked away from that.

Sensei said, "This time I was behind Mark so he had no visual cues. I am aware that this looks quite peculiar from your perspective, but it is great from mine. I can see that Mark reacts the instant I project my intent. He passes this test perfectly too. I have two further tests, of your 'proximity sense', as you call it, Mark.

^-- "Please shut your eyes. I am going to stand behind you and move around as quietly as I can. I want you to repeatedly call out 'yes, yes, yes' whenever you can sense me, and 'no, no, no' when you cannot. So if I walk from out of your sense, into it, then out again, you will call 'no, no, yes, yes, no, no.' Do you understand?"

"Yes, that sounds easy." I shut my eyes and started saying, "Yes, yes, yes" as he was within range. Over the couple of minutes he moved in and out of range and I kept him informed. He moved around to my front too, and repeated the process all around me. After a little more of that he said, "If you can point to where I am, that would be good too."

So I held up one hand, and if he was within range I pointed at him. When he was out of range I simply folded my finger into my fist, until he next stepped close enough.

After a few minutes of this, Sensei said, "You may open your eyes, Mark."

When I looked around, everyone else in the room was looking at me with a degree of amazement. Not so much Julia, who was mostly showing pride. She already thought I was awesome, and didn't need any further proof. I guess that from everyone's perspective, the last test must have been the most impressive to observe.

My sensing range is a three feet sphere centered on my center, but Sensei wasn't able to determine that. There were two complications. First he tended to measure my range by measuring the gap between us (skin to skin), so when he approached me from the side, my range appeared to be not much more than two feet as my center is the best part of twelve inches in from the outside of my hip. Second, and more significantly, he could be four feet away and intending to move inside my range, and I'd detect that part of his ki's flash that was within range. Because I only sense ki with proximity, sometimes I couldn't tell whether his body was slightly out of range or slightly in, so to play safe I call out 'yes', resulting in an erratic range.

Sensei said, "You ability to sense my presence is considerably more exact than nearly all aikidoka. I have one more test, which is not even a modification of one we do on our students. I have invented it as a result of what you said on the phone about being able to identify who is standing behind you. Can we get you to face the wall with your eyes shut, while we will take turns approaching you from behind. Once you detect us can you call out our names? Is that a fair and acceptable test?"

I answered, "It's fair. Do you mind if I walk around the room, past everyone first to make sure I know what everyone feels like? I haven't thought about this before, but I probably need to make sure I know what everyone feels like when they're close enough to me, similar to recognizing faces."

"As you wish."

I started doing that, walking up to each person to make sure I could recognize their ki's 'image' in my proximity sense. I quickly found out that I already knew what each person I visited 'looked' like in proximity, but I did everyone anyway, just to play safe.

Sensei said, "I am going to stand immediately in front of you, Mark, humming to drown out any sound cues you might receive and to make sure your eyes are shut. That will not interfere, will it?"

"No. That'll be fine."

Sensei positioned me, then walked behind me, asking, "Call out when I am too far away for you to sense please, Mark."

He slowly backed away and I let him know when he passed out of my range.

Sensei placed a handkerchief on the floor (I looked around to see what he was doing), and he said to the others, "If you would, I would like you to mill around about there." Indicating a spot a few feet out of my range. "Keep moving so Mark cannot get a fix on each of you. Then one of you move forward as quietly as you can and step over the line. Stay there until he calls a name, then return to the group. Then someone else step forward. Do you all understand?"

They all did. Carol stating, "Donna and I already did this with Mark at home. I know he can do it. He's very clever."

Sensei then said, "Let me check I know everyone's name." He called them all out correctly, which I thought was pretty impressive because I'm terrible at remembering new people's names.

He moved around to the front of me, told me to shut my eyes, and we did the test. I had no problems. I was even amused that Carol was the first to step over. I thought it was a message of confidence, not that I needed it.

After a dozen correct identifications, Sensei called out, "Do two at a time from now on please." I thought that was a clever idea. They started doing that, and I showed off a little by not just calling out the two names, but saying, "On my right Carol, on my left Dad." There was an exclamation of surprise from someone the first time I did this.

After a few of these, the sneaky devils did a threesome on me. I had no warning, and laughed when three of them stepped over the line together. "Haha. You smart alecs! From my right: Dad, Mom and Prof. Can't you count to two, Prof? I thought you were a professor of mathematics."

They did a couple threesomes, then some random mixes of one, two or three, and even four once, but it was obvious from the comments I could hear that I had it nailed. It ended with all six of them stepping over the line at once.

Sensei called out, "Enough. There are no more tests. Congratulations Mark."

I opened my eyes and turned. Everyone crowded around me and patted me on the back, Julia kissing me, and Carol gave me a quick peck too.

Sensei said, "Shall we take seats to discuss the ramifications?"

I got a seat, and a girl perched of both of my legs. Hugs and kisses from both, although Carol had to restrain her congratulations. In a gap, Carol announced to the room, "I knew he'd pass. My brother is very special!"

After a bit of laughter, Sensei said, "I am largely at a loss about what to do now. There has never been a student like Mark. I do not mean just in our dojo, but to the best of my knowledge, anywhere in the world. Mark sounded sincere and knowledgeable on the phone, but I simply did not believe him. My apologies for that Mark."

"No problem, Sensei. I know I'm somewhat unusual."

That caused a variety of reactions from my audience, especially Carol and Julia.

After the half-joking agreements and chuckles died down, Sensei continued, "What you saw may have seemed mysterious or even supernatural, but that is not the case. Students who apply themselves diligently for a number of years can expect to develop their skills to levels similar to Mark's. It might take them several decades, but most of what Mark did is achievable by anyone with the right attitude. I can do most of what he did, for example, and there is nothing supernatural about me. In addition to his learning those skills so quickly, there are three ways in which Mark showed exceptional ability.

^-- "First, the precision of his 'proximity sense', as he calls it. Most advanced aikidoka get a feeling for when there is someone close to them. Often that feeling can be quite accurate, but not to the degree of accuracy that Mark exhibited. Especially his ability to point exactly to the location of the person.

^-- "Second, also to do with Mark's proximity sense, is his ability to flawlessly identify anyone within its range. I have never heard of anyone being able to do that so perfectly. If I tried, I might do better than 50/50, but I would mostly be guessing. Without doubt, that ability of Mark's is exceptionally advanced.

^-- "Third, and to me perhaps the most important of all, is Mark's claim to be centered all the time. I will explain what that means. To use ki requires that the mind be in an altered state of consciousness. Not in the drugged sense. Recreational drugs are inimical to Aikido. I mean in a way that is very similar to meditation. Most aikidoka develop their ki with regular meditation sessions because of that similarity.

^-- "Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to maintain a meditative frame of mind while going about one's daily business. It takes years of diligent practice to be able to increase one's ability to hold center, which is what we call being in the state necessary for sensing and using ki. I have been practicing Aikido for thirty years, and can achieve a total of one to two hours of holding center per day, which unless I am meditating are usually in blocks of five to ten minute because I am constantly being distracted. Mark claims he can remain in this state permanently, which is incredible.

^-- "To help you understand how difficult that is, if I asked you to visualize a pink elephant standing beside you, I am sure you could all do so. Now imagine trying to keep that image in your mind every waking second while you are going about your daily business. You will get distracted and forget to think about it, finding it almost impossible to maintain it for more than a few minutes a day.

^-- "According to Mark, he can do the equivalent of that faultlessly. I cannot test his claim easily, but I have no reason to doubt him after his test performances. There may be one or two of the very best aikidoka who could claim to be permanently centered, but it is hard to believe. It is simply too difficult to maintain that concentration every waking moment.

^-- "In our phone conversation yesterday, Mark said he could run faster when centered. I did not try to test him on that, partly because I cannot think of how to. However, after these tests I am inclined to believe that claim too. No other aikidoka has ever mentioned this as far as I am aware. I can detect ki in other people, I can influence their ki such as getting Steven to let go of my lapel, and to a small degree I can promote healing and keep myself healthy, but running faster does not fit this pattern. I do not understand how he can do that.

^-- "Mark passed my tests with flying colors. The question is what happens now?"

Sensei's opening up the discussion resulted in a fairly chaotic period. My girls congratulated and praised me while Mom and Dad asked lots of questions. They didn't understand the situation, so they couldn't give advice, make judgments, etc.; the things that parents like to do. There were questions like Dad asking Sensei, "Is Mark really that unusual?"

"Exceptional. He has learned more about ki in one week than most aikidoka learn in thirty years."

Unfortunately I couldn't answer nearly all of the questions they asked of me, such as, "How did you get so good so quickly?", "What do you hope to learn from Aikido?", etc. I usually didn't have good answers because I either genuinely didn't know, or didn't want to say things like, "I want to find out if any other aikidoka have multiple minds." About the only thing I could usefully say was, "I seem to have a natural aptitude for Aikido, and I'd like to go to classes so I can learn more."

No one had any objection to that, but Sensei had a problem. He said, "Complicating this issue for me as Mark's teacher, is that Mark has not had any training in the forms, which are the physical movements of Aikido. Aikido is taught as a martial art because learning those techniques is the best way we know to develop the internal abilities we strive for, many of which Mark already has in abundance. In many respects, Mark is now one of the best aikidoka in the world, but he has no knowledge of how to do the most basic of physical movements. He is like a world-class poet who does not know the alphabet. It seems absurd to spend time teaching him the alphabet when he can already make beautiful poetry, but it also seems absurd for him not to know the alphabet. The only way I know how to teach Aikido is through the forms, which is a failing of the teacher rather than the student. Nonetheless I think I must start by teaching Mark the forms. With his ki he will almost certainly learn them faster than normal students. They will still take him a significant time to learn because they are predominately a physical exercise..."

Julia interrupted, "No they won't. He's just as good physically."

I had a horrible image of Julia telling Sensei what a great lover I was, and I turned a light red (perhaps closer to cerise than vermilion, or perhaps not - it's hard for me to tell, what with my being a guy). I knew Julia was proud of my bedroom skills and I certainly knew she had no shame, so it was all too easy to imagine her boasting about me that way.

Sensei said, "I am not sure I understand what you mean. Physical skills take time to develop."

Julia disagreed, to my dismay, "Not for Mark. Tell him about 8-ball, Dad."

#1: <Phew, that's better than I feared.>

Prof said, "I'm not sure that's something Mark could repeat in all other physical activities, but to follow my daughter's order: Julia has two older brothers, who are entertaining Mark's youngest sister in another room at the moment. Andrew and Robert have played 8-ball and similar games all their life. They're very competitive and have become very good. Mark was beating them within thirty minutes of his first learning the game. He's also ambidextrous, an exceptional soccer player, and very good at other physical activities."

Julia took a breath to add more. I played safe by clamping a hand over her mouth. I said, "I think Sensei has the idea now. No further examples are necessary."

I took my hand away, and Julia looked at me and said, "Spoilsport." Everyone in the room, other than Sensei, knew what Julia would be happy to proclaim.

Vanessa, who was behind Sensei somewhat, made a zipping motion across her mouth when she'd caught Julia's eye, and Julia got the message: no one outside the family was supposed to know about that, for reasons much more important than my embarrassment. Just as well, because no one else seemed to think that my embarrassment had any importance at all.

Sensei pressed on anyway, "Regardless of his physical prowess, I think Mark needs to learn the physical forms. It is what Aikido is built on and it would not be possible to place Mark in a class if he did not know the forms. If he is as good as his young lady says, he will advance rapidly. I will consider this issue some more, but I do not see any practical alternative as even the world's best masters teach using the forms.

^-- "You might consider having your arm X-rayed soon, Mark, as I expect your cast could come off sooner than you expect given the strength of you ki. That way you could start training earlier."

I definitely wanted the cast off as soon as possible, although I was somewhat weirded out by his being so confident of my bones healing faster than normal. Mental abilities were one thing, but healing broken bones faster was something else entirely, and FAR more real.

Sensei told the room, "Mark asked me to bring some Aikido books for him to read. I did, but I left them in my car because I expected Mark to fail the tests. I will fetch them now. I will wait by my car so you may have a private discussion if you wish. Come and get me when you are ready."

He made a slight bow as he left the room, probably a habit formed over the years of Aikido practice. I'd seen last week that they bowed a lot.

There was a small burst of noise after he left, things like: "That's amazing", "Who'd have thought Mark could do those things?", "I KNEW he could!" (from both Carol and Julia).

Once things settled down, Mom asked, "What do you want to do, Mark?"

"Go to Aikido classes, of course. I already knew that. Tonight was just Sensei checking that I could do what I said. Nothing he said changed my mind. He seems like a good teacher, so I'm even more interested than I was previously."

Mom said, "I find it incredible that you can be world class in something you've only watched for an hour."

"Don't forget I read a couple of books, Mom." It was easier for me to joke than admit I was awesome. That isn't even close to my style.

Mom laughed, "Haha. Yes, silly me, how could I forget that you also read two books."

Julia gave me a big hug, and said, "Isn't our man awesome?" I hoped no one interpreted the "our" the way Julia probably meant it. Although I was impressed that Julia was already mentally sharing me with Carol, I made a mental note to warn her about speaking like that in front of my parents because we didn't want them to find out about Carol's and my new relationship for several more years.

Carol said, "Yes!" And hugged me tight. It was also nice that Carol felt included in the "our", necessitating another mental warning note for Carol.

Mom said, "Mark, why don't you go and get your teacher. Take Carol and Julia with you to help carry the books. You'll have to anyway, as I think they're permanently attached to your arms."

I went out with the two girls attached. Sensei had a dozen books ready. The girls' hands were full of whichever one of my arms they were laying claim to, so Sensei and I had to carry the books back ourselves. I left them on the table by the front door, so I wouldn't forget them when it came time to leave.

We took Sensei back into the living room. Once he was settled, Mom said, "Mark wants to carry on with your classes, so I'll arrange to get his arm X-rayed and cast removed so he can start as soon as possible. You were serious about his arm healing faster?"

Sensei nodded, "I expect his arm may either be healed enough for the cast to be removed now, or its X-ray will show that it is healing faster than expected so the cast's removal date can be moved forward. In all honesty, it is another test of his ki. I think it is quite possible and it is worth finding out."

#4: <We'll be able to get our driving license sooner too, although Prof's warning makes that a scary development.>

Mom said, "Fair enough. I'm sure Mark wants to get rid of it as soon as he can. How will your classes work once he starts training?"

Sensei explained, "I would start Mark in the beginners' class, which is what he is for the physical forms. We usually have grading examinations whenever there are enough students ready to be advanced to the next belt, which is usually every three to six months. How fast students advance is an individual matter, so if Mark learns quickly, he can advance quickly. If he is so good that waiting three months between grading exams would slow him down, I can easily test him individually as it is a simple procedure taking only a few minutes. When Mark reaches a certain level we will move him to an intermediate class, and eventually to an advanced class.

^-- "It is not until a student reaches black belt, usually in seven to ten years, that we consider that Aikido training really begins. At that level the physical movements are being performed well enough that we can start concentrating on the mastery of ki. Mark is already ahead of most black-belt aikidoka in this respect, but he cannot train with them until he knows the forms. That entails learning a large number of physical movements extremely well. To use a simple analogy, he has to learn several dozen complicated dances perfectly - even to the angle that he holds his wrist, turns a foot, or tilts his head - for every movement of every dance. Once he knows the dances well enough, then he has to be able to adapt all of the moves to different partners: tall or short, fat or thin, young or old, strong or weak, fast moving or slow, etc. There are a great number of variations, which is why it normally takes seven to ten years to learn the forms well enough that applying them correctly is automatic. Even with Mark's ki being so amazingly well developed, I estimate it will still take him three or four years to learn the physical skills required to reach black belt."

Julia corrected Sensei, "Less than a year."