I think if you can only imagine Aikido as its Kihon Waza you are really limiting yourself. It’s not just that you’re limiting your Aikido - you're limiting you. I think you haven't been paying attention. I think you missed all the advisements, all the caveats - you, the filled cup.
I also think you have a whole lot of explaining to do regarding how “Aikido is the universe” but then how everything outside of Kihon Waza is not of the universe. This is what comes to mind when I hear, “Aikido is not MMA,” or “Aikido is not for fighting.” Is fighting outside of the universe?
Apparently, I can step backwards and to the side, I can keep distance - there is the universe. However, apparently, the universe ends with stepping inside. I can throw Atemi, but just not that Atemi - some Atemi are out of the universe, apparently. Really?
Non-contestation can only be found at distance - really? Yin/Yang reconciliations and yielding strategies and tactics cease to function on the inside, up-close, and while engaged? Is it because the universe doesn’t exist on the inside?
I think Aikidoka that are so restrictive with their art, that are so limited with their art, really do not understand their art, nor the universe. I think the point of the art, the very point of the art, is to lose all lines of demarcation, to find no outside or inside to the art - only the Void of pure potential. I think that is what is meant by "universe." I think that is the only way you personally could become the universe: Become one with pure potential.
I think if you discover a blend here or there, you should look for where else you can apply it. I think you should also look for its reverse and for its inverse too. I think you should keep looking and looking and looking, for more and more and more - more lines to erase and to expose as meaningless.
I think the last thing you should do is limit yourself to Kihon Waza. I think anytime you hear someone saying "Aikido is..." and you figure out that they are referring only to its Kihon Waza or referencing its Kihon Waza, you should stop listening. They are trying to limit you. I think you should not want to be interested in limiting yourself and therefore you should not be interested in them. I think you should not want to be a form specialist. I think you should want to be one with the universe.
To be a specialist brings with it a kind of unfitness for all else outside of that specialization. Obviously, that is what we are seeing all over the place now in contemporary Aikido - unfitness: To be a specialist is the exact opposite of being the universe.