Cady Goldfield

Chris,
Inner emotional strength is one thing and is of enormous weight and great value. But the kind of internal power being discussed concerning Ueshiba is, alas, boringly physical in nature. It is mechanical, physical power generated internally, and expressed physically.

But it was this very plain, physical-mechanical skill that allowed Ueshiba -- a martially-minded man reputed to have something of a temper -- to cultivate the kind of internal power you refer to.

Saints often become saints because they were martyred -- physically destroyed. In the martial world, it is the physical that is being discussed, not the Higher Nature. Physical survival.

Gandhi took non-resistance and physical meekness as far as a man could, and it succeeded because he had the psychological/emotional manipulation power "bargaining chip" I mentioned above. It worked because he knew with whom he was dealing -- that the British had a moral conscience, and could thus be reasoned with. But Gandhi, when told about the Jews' plight in emerging Nazi Germany, suggested quite earnestly that the Jews should lie down in front of the Nazis in passive non-resistance, letting the Nazis do what they would, without complaint. Gandhi had no idea that Nazis and Hitler did not operate under the moral principles that the British did.