The Force vs Ki! or is the force Chi?

Intrinsic energy, Chi, Ki, Qi and a half dozen other spellings.

The force seems to grant power and is itself power. And appears to have a will of its own.

Chi Seems simply be a part of the whole. From what I understand it is both Life and Generated by life force, It can be used to heal(Acupucture and pressure point manipulation), and used as a weapon (Seeing a 16 year old punch through a brick, by focusing Chi into his fist and striking it)



Besides the fact that the force is Scifi/fantasy and Chi involving real world belifes. Are they different? are they the same?

Well, I am pretty you can't choke someone with Chi, or divinate the Future either.


But im not so convince you can divinate the future with the force, case the emporer didn't "For See" his trip down the reactor shaft now did he?

 

Maybe you can't choke someone with Chi, but I can.

I see them as different but I have nothing to back up the claim, its just opinion.

 

They are probably one in the same imo.

 

The Force is the Force. It isn't related to anything we know in our world.

 

Pshhhhh. I see some pretty damn obvious relations. They may not have been intended...but they probably were.

 

Ki/Chi gives users in some universes the power to destroy planets ala Death Star. It wins.

 

indeed.

 

I say again: Psshhhhhh. Lets not turn this into a Star Wars vs. Dragonballz argument.

 

This is a very interesting thread to me that doesnt look like its going to get very serious treatment so i'll try to jump start it.

Heres some quotes from the wikipedia entry for Ch'i/Ki/Qi :


Qi, also commonly spelled ch'i (in Wade-Giles romanization) or ki (in romanized Japanese), is a fundamental concept of traditional Chinese culture. Qi is believed to be part of everything that exists, as in ?life force? or ?spiritual energy,? It is most often translated as ?energy flow,? or literally as ?air? or ?breath? (for example, a term meaning ?weather? is tiānqì, or the ?breath of heaven?).

Qi in martial arts:

Qi is a central concept in many martial arts, particularly the Neijia or internal arts, which include Tai Chi Chuan. It is also central to Qigong, a non-martial form. In the Japanese arts, Ki is developed in Aikido and given special emphasis in Ki-Aikido. These forms include exercises intended to develop the students' Qi or Ki. Often these involve some form of testing such as the unbendable arm, here one student holds his arm out in front of him and another student tries to bend it. If the first student tries to use physical muscle force to keep his arm straight, he will quickly tire and the arm will be quickly bent. The student is instructed to relax and extend his qi, which is supposed to increase the arm's resistance to bending.

In the internal arts, whether qi exists is normally not questioned by practitioners; it is frequently regarded as a phenomenon inexplicable by words alone, necessitating physical practice to develop understanding. It may be considered a mixture of the following: strong visualising techniques; complete relaxation (which can affect the way muscles function), improved posture, and use of breath. Some schools also add a metaphysical aspect, claiming that qi can come from the Tan t'ien (or one point in Ki-Aikido), a location in the lower abdomen, and circulate around the body. The concept can be extended to include Ching Sheng Li or external energy which comes from heaven and earth.

There are qigong masters who claim to be able to manipulate their students from a distance with qi. Such demonstrations are often frowned on by many practitioners as stunts and not in keeping with the arts. One classic story concerns two opponents who held each others hands before a fight, while doing so each felt the others qi and the one with the weaker qi resigned without a blow being struck.

Similar concepts in other cultures:

The concept of a life-energy inherent in all living beings seems to be a fairly universal archetype, and appears in numerous ancient religions and systems of metaphysics (in addition to having been borrowed by George Lucas's science-fiction films).


Quotes from the Wikipedia entry for The Force:

In the fictional Star Wars universe, The Force is a binding, metaphysical and ubiquitous power that is the object of the Jedi and Sith monastic orders. An individules strength in the force is only based on there strength of mind. As the strength in the mind is unlimited, then the force has as much energy as the entire universe.

Real World Parallels to The Force:

The concept of the Force in Star Wars may be predicated on Qi or Shakra, invisible energies believed to help who can manipulate it to achieve feats greater than what they could do naturally.

 

Good stuff. I knew most of that, but i'm too lazy to round it all up and post it here.

 

Wu Xhia = Jedi. Watch Hero and tell me this isn't so.

 

Relations are irrelevant. Just because something had a real-world prototype doesn't mean it's actually the same.

 

Like trying to compare apples and oranges.

 

they are simillar,but not identical.

 

Bwaaa?

 

And Many Qi philosphies state that anyone can use ki, as long as they have the will to learn.

The force can only be used by force sensitives

 

Also, Qi is divided into Yin and Yang... which represent, most basically, Empty (Yin) and Full (Yang). Stillness and Action. The Force is divided into the Dark Side and the Light Side, which, apparently, represent Evil and Good.

I put emphasis on apparently because the more I've learned about Qi (I've been studying the concept in my Tai Chi classes), the more I think the Force's duality can be framed the same way. If the Dark Side is Action and the Light Side is Stillness, it wouldn't upset anything that's stemmed from the Force directly in Star Wars- and I think it would explain some things that Dark=Evil, Light=Good doesn't work for.

For example, how is the creation of life, arguably the greatest good of all, a Dark Side power?

 

Perhaps it's because as Palpatine said himself the dark side abilities are considered by many to be "unnatural". So by extension creating life by unnatural means is perhaps what makes it dark side, especially if you create a life to serve your own purposes and such.

I'm sure dark siders wouldn't create life simply to observe the beauty and wonder of it, I would guess that there would be an agenda behind it.

 

Very insightful...

 

But the principle on yin and yang seems to Me, place an importance of balance. One canot exist (Properly without the other). Ying is not inherantly good and Yang is not inherantly bad.

If this was true then, The force and Ki are diffrent because well the LS and DS do not seek balance, but eachothers destruction...Well their followers do.

Darksiders are always trying to destroy or corrup Lightsiders. Light siders are always trying to reform or destroy darksiders. Neither are willing t except the others existance.

 

indeed.