It has already been demonstrated that Force abilities and proficiencies manifest in people before any Jedi training. What does most Jedi instruction consist of? Clear your mind. Focus. Do or do not, there is no try. I am not sure what other instruction would be involved in levitating a rock.
Luke was very unfocused. He was sheltered by his aunt and uncle and was not very self reliant.
To me this is the sort of retrofitting I was talking about earlier. Both Anakin and Luke were presented to us as having immense talent, with Anakin having the greatest Force potential that had ever been recorded. Only now they seem barely average compared to Rey, who masters Force abilities in an instant, and by what was shown to us already stands on equal ground with Ben Solo in a matter of days. And so because of this the very talented Luke suddenly was always very unfocused, and the concept that any novice in the ways of the Force lacks focus and control no matter how great their talent is conveniently ignored, as is Lucas’ premise that any Jedi in training will face the temptation of the dark side, as their powers develop.
I’ll repeat the quote from Lucas I posted a few months ago with regards to the Force:
“The Force is really a way of seeing; it’s a way of being with life. It really has nothing to do with weapons. The Force gives you the power to have extra-sensory perception and to be able to see things and hear things, read minds and levitate things. It is said that certain creatures are born with a higher awareness of the Force than humans. Their brains are different. The Force is a perception of the reality that exists around us. You have to come to learn it. It’s not something you just get. It takes many, many years…Anyone who studied and worked hard could learn it. But you would have to do it on your own.”
There’s just no denying Rey’s sudden mastery of the Force is completely inconsistent with what has previously been established. Of course it’s up to each of us to decide whether this is an issue in the overall enjoyment of the films, but it seems rather silly to pretend like no such inconsistencies exist, or to retcon continuity by arguing the Chosen One, and his son never were that talented to begin with.
Rey is none of those things. She is very focused and extremely self reliant. She is confident and believes in herself.
I would agree with the self-reliant part, but I would not say that she’s all that confident, or believes in herself. She searching for an identity, and freely admits she doesn’t understand what’s happening to her. Her running off to save Kylo from Snoke is as brash and reckless as Luke’s attempt to save his friends from Vader’s clutches in TESB, only somehow Luke ends up hanging upside down below a city in the clouds minus one limb praying to be saved, while Rey conveniently escapes in Snoke’s shuttle, and arrives in time to save her friends with an awesome display of the Force.