Graham
This is just more co-opting of Ueshiba's words to form personal views of your own that have nothing to do with the teachings of
Osensei.
Aikido teachers seem helplessly...almost hopelessly, lost in their understanding of their founders teachings. It's no surprise they just decided to make shit up and tell their own students some definition they invented.
Morihei Ueshiba was a student of Daito ryu and the Chinese classics. Aikido teachers should study his teachings IN CONTEXT of those models or have the intellectual honesty to simply say "I don't know what he meant." This nonsense of "Well, I think it means this or that... to me." is unprofessional and even uncaring of students who are trusting you.
Sometimes I think if he came back to life and started explaining things (particularly if it involved his internal power)...people would resent it and want to be let alone to go back to their own world they invented.
Dan