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The Spiritual Foundations of Aikido
Morihei Ueshiba, who founded Aikido early in this century, intended that his martial art would give form to profound spiritual truth, and lead to a unification of the world's peoples. He saw Aikido not as a fighting method or as a competitive sport but rather as a means of becoming one with the laws of universal order-- ki , or life energy. Unfortunately, the subtleties of Ueshiba's teachings, veiled in the esoteric terminology of Shinto, can be puzzling for even the most advanced practitioners. They are not passed down today, and have never been introduced to the West. Gleason, a fifth-degree (Godan) black belt in Aikido, recognizing the importance of the spiritual aspects of the discipline, researched its roots in Shinto, and in this book is able to offer a clear explanation of Ueshiba's teachings.
• Unlike the common "how-to" manuals on basic technique, this is the first book to introduce the underlying spiritual principles of Aikido--the elusive concept of kototama (word souls), expressed as one spirit, four souls, three origins, and eight powers--and how they relate to the forms.
• Teaches the student how to use Aikido to accomplish spiritual goals.
• Reveals little-known teachings of Shinto and Aikido, relating them to Buddhism, Christianity, and other spiritual teachings.
• Unlike the common "how-to" manuals on basic technique, this is the first book to introduce the underlying spiritual principles of Aikido--the elusive concept of kototama (word souls), expressed as one spirit, four souls, three origins, and eight powers--and how they relate to the forms.
• Teaches the student how to use Aikido to accomplish spiritual goals.
• Reveals little-known teachings of Shinto and Aikido, relating them to Buddhism, Christianity, and other spiritual teachings.
216 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 15, 2018
An accessible expression of the spiritual foundations of Aikido. This book is uplifting and a genuine joy to read.
Recommended for anyone with an interest in Aikido, and the spiritual traditions of Japan.
If your looking for a "fight book," this isn't it.
Recommended for anyone with an interest in Aikido, and the spiritual traditions of Japan.
If your looking for a "fight book," this isn't it.
November 10, 2025
There are technique manuals, there are inspirational quote books, and then there are texts that quietly rearrange the architecture of how you understand reality. The Spiritual Foundations of Aikido sits firmly in that last category for me. Gleason doesn’t just explain aikido; he opens a door into the cosmology that birthed it—Shinto, kototama, and Morihei Ueshiba’s vision of aikido as a practice of alignment with universal order rather than a method of winning fights.
What I found most powerful is how clearly Gleason treats aikido as a living metaphysics. His discussion of kototama—the “word souls” and the vibrational nature of sound—turns the usual conversation about ki into something far deeper than “energy” as a vague metaphor. The framework of one spirit, four souls, three origins, and eight powers isn’t presented as abstract doctrine; it feels like a hidden anatomy of intention, perception, and movement. Reading it, I felt as if he were quietly mapping the inner circuitry of how conflict, harmony, and transformation arise inside a human being long before they become visible as physical technique.
For years, I’ve been working my way toward what I call cognitive aikido—an inner art of blending with thoughts, emotions, narratives, and attacks on the level of mind rather than muscle. Gleason’s exposition of Ueshiba’s spirituality gave me the missing scaffolding. His insistence that aikido is “not a fighting method but a means of becoming one with universal order” is exactly the pivot point I needed: from self-defense to world-defense, from blocking to harmonizing, from winning to transmuting. The principles he draws out—centering, entering, blending, returning aggression to its source without hatred—translate almost seamlessly into psychological and spiritual practice: how to meet rage without becoming rage, how to redirect fear into presence, how to hold space where reconciliation is more powerful than victory.
On a personal level, this book helped me codify cognitive aikido as a serious discipline rather than just a poetic metaphor. It gave me language and lineage for an inner art that treats arguments, intrusive thoughts, shame, and despair the way a seasoned aikidoka treats a grab or a strike: as invitations to return to center, to spiral rather than collide, to let conflict exhaust itself in the field of a larger compassion. I will be drawing on the structures and insights in this book for a long time.
So: thank you, William Gleason, for doing the hard work of translating Ueshiba’s esoteric Shinto vision into a form that those of us in the West—and those of us working on the frontiers of psychology and spiritual practice—can actually use. This book didn’t just deepen my understanding of aikido; it helped give birth to an entire framework of cognitive aikido that I hope will honor, in its own way, the spirit of what you’ve preserved here.
What I found most powerful is how clearly Gleason treats aikido as a living metaphysics. His discussion of kototama—the “word souls” and the vibrational nature of sound—turns the usual conversation about ki into something far deeper than “energy” as a vague metaphor. The framework of one spirit, four souls, three origins, and eight powers isn’t presented as abstract doctrine; it feels like a hidden anatomy of intention, perception, and movement. Reading it, I felt as if he were quietly mapping the inner circuitry of how conflict, harmony, and transformation arise inside a human being long before they become visible as physical technique.
For years, I’ve been working my way toward what I call cognitive aikido—an inner art of blending with thoughts, emotions, narratives, and attacks on the level of mind rather than muscle. Gleason’s exposition of Ueshiba’s spirituality gave me the missing scaffolding. His insistence that aikido is “not a fighting method but a means of becoming one with universal order” is exactly the pivot point I needed: from self-defense to world-defense, from blocking to harmonizing, from winning to transmuting. The principles he draws out—centering, entering, blending, returning aggression to its source without hatred—translate almost seamlessly into psychological and spiritual practice: how to meet rage without becoming rage, how to redirect fear into presence, how to hold space where reconciliation is more powerful than victory.
On a personal level, this book helped me codify cognitive aikido as a serious discipline rather than just a poetic metaphor. It gave me language and lineage for an inner art that treats arguments, intrusive thoughts, shame, and despair the way a seasoned aikidoka treats a grab or a strike: as invitations to return to center, to spiral rather than collide, to let conflict exhaust itself in the field of a larger compassion. I will be drawing on the structures and insights in this book for a long time.
So: thank you, William Gleason, for doing the hard work of translating Ueshiba’s esoteric Shinto vision into a form that those of us in the West—and those of us working on the frontiers of psychology and spiritual practice—can actually use. This book didn’t just deepen my understanding of aikido; it helped give birth to an entire framework of cognitive aikido that I hope will honor, in its own way, the spirit of what you’ve preserved here.
July 9, 2018
Great and insightful book on the philosophy of Aikido along with revelations on aikido principle and technique.
August 29, 2019
While there is some insight contained within this book, it most seems like the ravings of a lunatic.
April 30, 2013
I read this book out of curiosity and discovered the writing and descriptions of the exercises of spiritual awareness in the practice of Aikido very well described and it is extremely easy to understand. For an Aikido practitioner who hasn't read this book, or a beginning Aikido student Gleason's book could be very beneficial.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews