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Of course, Richard Feynman (a gem-you-whine actual physicist) did famously say, " It is important to realize that in physics today, we have no knowledge of what energy is."* That's not to say it's occultly "mysterious" or (gods forbid) a useless concept. It's just saying that to say "X is energy" is not particularly enlightening. At most it might mean "X has observable effects." (Define "observe" as you like.) The etmology of "energy" is roughly, "that which does work." I.e., has effects we perceive. So to say spirits are energy says little more than that spirits manifest themselves. Which we already knew before describing them as energy.
* Jennifer Coopersmith, who agrees with Feynman, elaborates, "The concept of energy is here to stay. It is not sufficient for a concept just to be mathematically defined, measurable,and leading to consistent results—it must also get used. There is no doubt that ‘energy’ meets these requirements. We have shown that the physics and the mathematics move forward together, but it is impossible to tell where the mathematics ends and the physics begins, and vice versa. This is the real message of Feynman’s allegory and the reason why energy is such a slippery concept: the ‘blocks’ are the real thing, energy, and can be measured (in Joules); and they are also nothing more than the mathematical formulae ½ mv 2 , ∫ F . d r , mgh , ½ kT , ½ CV 2 , qV, mc 2 , and so on." (Energy, the Subtle Concept. The discovery of Feynman’s blocks, from Leibniz to Einstein )
* Jennifer Coopersmith, who agrees with Feynman, elaborates, "The concept of energy is here to stay. It is not sufficient for a concept just to be mathematically defined, measurable,and leading to consistent results—it must also get used. There is no doubt that ‘energy’ meets these requirements. We have shown that the physics and the mathematics move forward together, but it is impossible to tell where the mathematics ends and the physics begins, and vice versa. This is the real message of Feynman’s allegory and the reason why energy is such a slippery concept: the ‘blocks’ are the real thing, energy, and can be measured (in Joules); and they are also nothing more than the mathematical formulae ½ mv 2 , ∫ F . d r , mgh , ½ kT , ½ CV 2 , qV, mc 2 , and so on." (Energy, the Subtle Concept. The discovery of Feynman’s blocks, from Leibniz to Einstein )