The aikiTHEIST

Just a background to the name.

a. Aiki

I was an avid Aikido practitioner, I started when I was in university in 1992 or so, but never really got into it. I really got serious about it only starting around late 1998, that's when I started going regularly and got graded and so on. Although I have lapsed again in the past half year or more due to work commitments.

I have also been playing a lot of Battlefield 2 and am now considering whether to get Battlefield 2142 or not. In BF2, my moniker is aikiDESHI. I have signed up for veteran status in BF2142, so that'll continue to be my alias in BF2142. I recently received a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator X as a gift and I've spent this whole weekend reading up on it and trying it out, so let's see how it goes.

Just a short explanation, Aikido is the way of Aiki as I guess many of you with a passing interest in martial arts would know. Deshi is a Japanese word for student/disciple or some such. I now identify myself with the Iwama school of Aikido, which has an "uchi deshi" program (uchi - internal or inside or in this case, live-in). If you go to Iwama but don't live in, you are called a soto deshi (soto - outside). So, I suppose deshi is a good word for student in the Aikido world. Hence, aikiDESHI, or a student of Aiki.

b. Theist

The latest book I've completed is Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" and Sam Harris' "Letter to a Christian Nation" both of which I found very enlightening. I've always had doubts about religion and have been in lots of debates with "born agains" who were trying to recruit me into their ranks when I was in university. But then, I've never claimed to be an atheist, maybe an agnostic. Sometimes I do try to lapse because people all around me are quite religious. From my wife, to my parents, to my in-laws, etc. I've even tried going back to church on a regular basis at one point. But these 2 authors really have all their arguments together and based on what they have to say, I find believing in a religion as just being untenable and ridiculous.

So, lately, I've been sharing some of the interesting readings I have found with some close friends. Since I've been writing it on emails, which I don't even know if they read, I thought I might as well start a blog and hopefully share the thoughts more widely.

c. aikiTheist

The name aikiTheist! Combining my love of Aikido and my new found conviction that there is no God as described in the Bible or the Koran and it links in with my BF2 life as well ;-)