I think the real essence here is in the matter of ki.

If you really, physically, understand your own ki, the claims of most "ki masters" and many "aikido teachers" become clearly ridiculous. Ki exists and works in the zone between mind and body. It's how the mind accesses the body. When one has too little understanding of the body, his "ki" is in fact only an intellectual abstraction and his statements about ki reflect only his own wishes or his made-up fantasies about something he has not directly experienced. From there, everything goes down the drain, including ki, technique and life, itself. How tragic is it if we allow such people to make bizarre and unfounded claims about ki, technique, aikido and spirituality without lodging protest and clarification? From one false master, thousands of people may absorb and spread the false way. I have no problem seeing it and saying that it is false. You don't have to be the greatest in the world to adhere to the true principles. But if you consistently violate all the fundamental principles of life and the universe, nothing you do can find truth.

David