Matthew Weigel wrote:
> > # 11) What is Ki/Qi/Chi?
Ah, the mother of all cans of worms ...
qi/ki/chi/the force/whatever-someone-else-calls-it.
> > I'd rather see a broad-minded examination of the term's meaning and
> > usage, how this accords with specific schools or traditions of
> > martial arts, how this compares with conventional religious
> > cosmologies and metaphysics, etc.
Try to keep religion, cosmology and metaphysics asside.
Ki is complicated enough to define without bringing in the extra luggage.
I practice Aikido and can manage the unbendable arm trick.
I don't even try to explain it to myself (being the analytical & cynical
bastard that I am, I wouldn't beleive it :-) ). It works, and that should
be enough for anyone, but once you try to cloth it in scientifical terms,
the clothing will draw ten times more flak than the subject of Ki itself.
Is it real ? Is it just a subconscious model of balance and concentration ?
Like you said: mechanics and psychology ? Something outside of the realm of
current science ? (if you can't measure it, it doesn't exist).
I don't know, and I doubt anyone _really_ knows. For this sort of subjects
the best answer seems to be not trying to give a definite answer (is this Zen ?).
Like a quantum phenomenon, Ki seems to depend more on the observer, than on the
observee.
> [...] ki (Japanese), and ki (Korean) [...]
^^ ^^
Is it the character set ? :-)
Just say:
"What is Ki ?
Thousands have pondered deeply uppon this question and have all but come to blows.
Apparently, it's one of those things where you have to find your own answer.
Meanwhile the most popular answers seem to be:"
> [...]
> Well, yes and no. The broader opinion that portion attempts to
> represent is that understanding it as ki is inferior, and limiting. In
> that respect, it's important to mention that (some) people think that in
> order to progress, you have to lose your concept of ki.
"Undefinable & inescrutinable"
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