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qi, lifeforce and molecular machines

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many in the field believe in a lifeforce and equate that with qi. It

is unclear whether the chinese felt this way themselves. The

prepodnerance of the evidence suggests the answer is no. Since qi has

never been one thing, but rather a term used to describe a multiplicity

of functions in CM, I think westerners have introduced a nonchinese

concept into the mix. so be it. this type of thinking clearly fills

an important cultural niche and would not have so dramatically outpaced

either a scholarly or scientific view of CM in the west if it did not

serve a need. We may have to come to terms that the failure of a

scholarly or scientific form of CM predominating in the US is because

those who are drawn to such things typically pursue work in other

fields. We attract mavericks (including myself) who are unhappy with

the status quo of many things. That and our desire to help relive the

sufferings of others is perhaps the sole bond all of us share. From

there, we split into our camps. but back to the lifeforce.

 

So the chinese didn't really believe in a transcendent lifeforce. Some

chinese believed in transcendance of ego and normal rules of life and

death, but the most striking thing many have remarked about chinese

culture is the virtual absence of a predominantly religious worldview,

even in ancient times. Yet some of us do. The hindu concept of prana

is conceived in this way by some hindus, but then India is one of the

most religiously dominated cultures in history. Also, the homeopathic

view of the lifeforce has largely been colored by christian mystics

like Swedenborg and and his followers such as Kent. but hahnemann

himself never wrote in such terms. While he did indeed use the term

vital force, it seems that he meant it to mean the mysterious unknown,

but natural workings of the human body. Nothing supernatural. This is

still a form of vitalism, but not a mystical take.

 

Modernists have completely rejected vitalism. While there are small

group of modern vitalists, they hold no currency in the field and their

arguments are as vacuous as those of creationists. There is no

experiment in biology than cannot now be explained by the function of

what are called molecular machines or cellular organelles. This may

have not been the case when you studied bio 20 or 30 years ago. If

so, you have some catching up to do. similar to claims regarding

creationism, there really is no credible evidence for vitalism. The

one argument I have over and over again is that the difference between

the living and dead body must be some vital force. Because the live

body is chemically the same immediately after death as it was right

before death, yet life no longer exists. This observation thus proves

something ineffable has taken leave. Or does it? When a molecular

machine (say a ribosome) can no longer perform it actions because it's

cell has worn out, accumulated waste and the software to produce new

perfect copies (DNA) has been damaged with age, the body fails and then

it dies.

 

If essence is basically genes, then the chinese idea that the decline

of jing past a point leads to death is perfectly in sync with the

modern idea (if you allow that it is the quality of jing that declines

rather than the quantity per se). And nothing about the decline of

jing really suggests anything about a vital force once there and now

not. Sure, there is no more qi, if there is no more jing. But jing

comes from earth, not heaven and it is the most substantial of the

three treasures (jing, shen, qi). There is absolutely nothing

spiritual about jing and this decidedly physical substance is the

source of qi. Shen is not the source of qi and most chinese docs seems

to regard shen (when considered in the normal sense as mind) to be a

property that emerges from jing plus life experiences, not a direct

emanation from the dao into the human. The fact that shen is what

allows us to look beyond the earth into our minds and thus develop

science and medicine is what aligns it with heaven in chinese metaphor,

not because it issued from there. So the end of life in CM and WM

seems to be nothing more than a running down of physical functioning

until organ activity can no longer be maintained.

 

The concept of qi as vital force seems to be an addition to CM that

brings solace to those who are spiritually inclined to begin with, but

it seems clearly a western idea. As I said, it may be that this latter

approach is the role our profession is destined to play, but a faithful

version of CM usually resonates quite well with modern science and thus

encourages supporting advances in that domain. Especially if our

profession has chosen a decidedly different, yet still worthy, path.

Perhaps even more worthy because the most worthy form of product of the

mind is that which fills a necessary niche. It thus no surprise that

" holistic medicine " arose simultaneously with a resurgence of

fundamentalism. Just two different approaches to dealing with

modernity. In both cases, we often hear that modernity has changed too

fast and mostly for the worse. It seems at times that there are only a

scant few of us left in America who have looked at the preponderance of

the evidence and thus have a much more optimistic view of the future.

Perhaps we can all live side by side. Personally, I couldn't care less

if the country became dominated by fundamentalists who make draconian

rules in their local communities as long as they have no power to

affect public policy on a greater scale.

 

 

 

Chinese Herbs

 

 

 

 

 

 

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