I walked through our local Arboretum this morning amazed at the diversity, the endless adaptivity of the trees. I try to recall the names of the most intriguing but whenever I do, I remember Richard Feynman’s father warning him that he should never confuse knowing the name of something with knowing about it. Take Qi. Right now people are so concerned about the definition. But there are so many things we know the names of and very little else. Love, for instance. Or inertia. Or the evolutionary origins of certain chemical reactions in the body such as blood clotting.
Qi moves in you whether you believe in it or not. It is, according to one non-definition, the same Qi that manifests in the Aboretum’s banksia ( Plantae/Angiosperms/Eudicots/Proteals/Proteaceae/Banksia) is the same Qi everywhere, like stardust, and nothing we can think of—including that which thinks—can be anything else.
Sometimes I become concerned that this obsession—that everything is either scientific or not—is a kind of superstition. (Some people call it “scientism”.) It’s too much like how we react when something horrible occurs for which we have no reason, such as a school shooting. We make up the causes because causes soothe us. I guess I’m a realist. I can’t abide such superstition. My real world is composed of things I do know and things I don’t know. Both are honored because both are true.
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Entelechy and Jing
What is this? Definitions first. Entelechy is the implicit tendency that every living being contains to realize its true nature. And Jing is a Chinese medical term. It has several meanings. One is, in a very literal sense, sexual fluids. But in a broader sense it is the part of us that knows how to reproduce itself. By implication then it is the patterning in the DNA that understands how to differentiate cells, how to heal a wound for example.
Many people today are disconnected from their true self and confused about their purpose in life. They are looking for a way to reclaim authenticity and a compass that can keep them on track. Qigong can help us with this. It trains us be attentive to the expression of our own Jing.
Though not a familiar word, entelechy is a more familiar concept because it permeates our western culture. For instance, we can easily understand the idea that an acorn implicitly knows how to become an oak tree. It is much harder for us to understand the Chinese view of Jing as a source of life direction. Qigong practice may be a way for us to learn to see that.
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Qi is the energy of life in all its forms.
Millions of people practice this ancient art: a way of life, of stress reduction, of finding contentment and of learning about yourself. Yet it’s all based on a word that most people can’t even define. Of course we shouldn’t let that bother us too much. We live our lives reacting to, chasing, pondering and hoping for all sorts of things we can’t define. You know that. Be honest. Can you really define the love you have for your mate or the hopes of a life that matches your aspirations? Defining things is nice and important but too many people have a superstitious—yes superstitious—belief in definitions. If they don’t have one they feel hollow or insecure.
For instance there is no acceptable definition of Qi as of yet. This does not mean it is “unscientific”. It means quite the opposite. The guy who rushes out and creates a definition with all the currently popular ideas and words such as “bioelectric energy” or “somatic auras”, “biological electrical field” and other guesses is indeed performing a sort of a service but only if the guess is a good one. On the other hand real honesty demands that when you don’t absolutely know something you admit it. The finest minds we have in physics admit that super-string theory, though possible, is not necessarily plausible.
Look, you know you are alive, right? The DNA of a dead person is the same as a living one but there’s a vital something missing. Possibly a soul, definitely life. You know that, and you feel it. Just as we cannot define love, humor, beauty, serenity, truth and a thousand other things that make our life worth living so we have a thing called Qi, the essence of our life energy. Looked at rationally it isn’t a thing at all. It is a combination of factors which were identified three thousand years ago by the Chinese sages. Unlike just about every other culture on the planet the Chinese never developed their own origin myth. They borrowed these from other cultures because, in the truest sense, the Chinese never saw a beginning or end to the universe.
But they recognized its energy, its pulsing life. As you practice Qigong, keep this in mind. A definition of the chemical components of your dinner would be interesting but what helps the most in the actual enjoyment of the food is to relax and experience it. Who knows? if you focus your intention you might develop into a gourmet of life.
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