A little worried about Morihei Ueshiba and ki altogether...

[parkerlineage]

The "righteous anger" thing. Yaweh was angry with the Israelites a bunch in the Old Testament; so in the right circumstances and if followed through correctly, anger isn't bad.

[Sam]

side note.... just as a physicist myself id leave all the physics arguement for or against ki out, just because as far as my understanding of it goes - applying physics to explain ki is more likely to damage an arguement for ki as there are far cons thans pros.

Anyways ... ill leave you all to it.

[Abraham_lincoln]

One thing to think about is the fact that aikido is an asian martial art. In Japan's edo period, the government prosecuted christians. Christianity conflicted just a bit too much with the culture. You could be right, but the bible can be used to make metaphors for anything. The youth minister of my church said last year that if we tried to quote scripture to prove a certain point, he could just contradict us with another passage. The comparison of the two things is just too hard to make a difinitive conclusion.

[aigaios]

IMHO, Ki is something that we may never fully understand, in fact, our understanding of it at the present moment is very little. Therefore, it would be somewhat hasty to say that Ki is a product of any divine or evil source until we have been able to discover more about it.

[elbows_and_knees]

One thing to think about is the fact that aikido is an asian martial art. In Japan's edo period, the government prosecuted christians. Christianity conflicted just a bit too much with the culture. You could be right, but the bible can be used to make metaphors for anything. The youth minister of my church said last year that if we tried to quote scripture to prove a certain point, he could just contradict us with another passage. The comparison of the two things is just too hard to make a difinitive conclusion.

christians were persecuted in many non christian societies.

[elbows_and_knees]

IMHO, Ki is something that we may never fully understand, in fact, our understanding of it at the present moment is very little. Therefore, it would be somewhat hasty to say that Ki is a product of any divine or evil source until we have been able to discover more about it.

religion isn't based on understanding - it's based on faith. If your faith says that any power not from God is evil, then ki would be considered evil if it's not proven to be from God. Hence the discussion earlier about ki being spiritual energy - like the power of prayer - which is God given.

[bushido_man96]

IMHO, Ki is something that we may never fully understand, in fact, our understanding of it at the present moment is very little. Therefore, it would be somewhat hasty to say that Ki is a product of any divine or evil source until we have been able to discover more about it.

religion isn't based on understanding - it's based on faith. If your faith says that any power not from God is evil, then ki would be considered evil if it's not proven to be from God. Hence the discussion earlier about ki being spiritual energy - like the power of prayer - which is God given.

Good point, elbows_and_knees. Here is my take on it: ki is in the body, like a soul, spirit, energy, however you want to describe it. So, if it is part of the body, which God created, then it should be a good thing, right? But, that doesn't mean that it can't be used wrongly.

[parkerlineage]

But if God created it, why doesn't he reference it in the Bible? Or does he?

[elbows_and_knees]

because they wouldn't call it ki, a japanese term. spiritual energy is talked about everywhere in the bible. Strength through God - daniel and the lion's den, Job, samson, david, saul... people who had great victory in battle or personal tribulation through Him.

"No weapon formed against me shall prosper..."

"jesus christ, who strengthens me"

references to jesus being our rock, sword and shield...

considering the context of the religion, power is discussed differently - christianity is about faith in Jesus, so all power would come through him, as opposed to being self manifested, like ki. Now that I think about it, that may be why some christians are against the theory of ki - it does not manifest through God, but through the individual. instead of asking Him for it, you manifest it yourself through training...

[parkerlineage]

That's exactly why I don't agree with the concept of it being good.

Which then brings me back to, if it exists, from where does it come? Perhaps I'm being too narrow minded?