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David Skaggs wrote:
Someone (parent, teacher, sensei) teaches you right action that influences your mind to right thinking.
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Well, that certainly is one path to right action. But, to get taught, you need to have a mind open to their teaching: and so, I contend that right action begins with a mind receptive to it, in the first place.
But this is getting a bit off the track. So, let me loop back a bit...
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David Skaggs wrote:
My opinion, when "energy" gets to be overused there will be a new word or phrase to describe the same old, same old.
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Sorry, but I feel that this is a cop-out. Lanaguage is supposed to define, not blur. An overused word means nothing, and conveys less.
If a teacher exhorts his students to "extend positive energy:" what is s/he telling you to do? Raise your arms higher? Breathe more deeply? Focus on the infinite?
As an Aikido instructor: I am trying to achieve realizable goals. "Fuzzy" terminology, IMO, only works to confuse and muddy the concepts.
I also noticed this when a teacher once suggested a student "move his hips" more. Now, what did that mean? What she really wanted him to do was to shift his center of gravity from one leg to the other, in the midst of a movement. But, the teacher relied upon shopworn terms that were vague.
IMO, vague terms more often hurt, than help.