I have appreciated this thread, but have little to contribute yet. I have been immersed in bonsai for only 4 years, but have been fortunate to spend time with several serious, experienced, bonsai hobbyists. My interactions with them have been great, however they have also demonstrated that so much of what could be considered heresy is time dependent. Some of them are stuck in the era in which they began there bonsai journey. Instead of 30 years of study, some have 1 year of study x 30 years.
I am really looking forward to this book by Mike Hagedorn. His last one was a great read. Maybe he’ll be able to address “heresy” during our current time, and give us a reason to chuckle about how far we’ve come in our techniques and understanding decades from now.
https://crataegus.com/2018/07/27/new-book-bonsai-heresy/