Shadowfax

Curretly spending the weekend at a seminar at which Mitsugi Saotome sensei is teaching. He has some interesting things to say on the sbject of aikido being a way of harmony and it being a peacful art. Since he is one of the very few left who trained directy under O'Sensei I would guess he has a good grasp of the subject.

The classes so far have been centered around this theme. You can chose to be kind, soft, and to do no harm, only if you understand the uderlying principle behd the techique. And that principle is being aware of where the killing blows are. "You canot talk about peace and harmony, if you do not have skill."

On some level you need to be willling and able to take life in order to choose not to.

At least that's what I got out of it.