@Yimpa haha, no. One of the hardest and least profitable days ever
Luckily, or not. Today is a surprise off day for the camp. I am enjoying contemplating with ChatGPT and Claude about western models of the nervous system and human energy system and Chinese model of Qi. It’s the same body we are coming at it come different angles. Very different models.
They are also developed via different approaches.
Many Toaist ideas come from meditative traditions where modern science doesn’t. Chinese medicine is more holistic and focusing on balancing the whole. For this reason Qi is a broad word for the bodies aliveness/ Homeostatic nature.
There is clearly energy in the body if we require electrolytes and have a complex electrochemical nervous system, a beating heart, the ability to move around and be alive, that we can be tired or full of energy. That we have different emotions that effect how we move, stand, sit, breath, facial expression, choice of words and vocal tone, cognitive behviour..
But, thought art what about hormones, calories, neurons, pH and Alkaline, cells, mitochondrial, blood, nerves, etc don’t these things disprove Qi because we can observe them and not Qi?
We take for granted this divine homeostatic intelligence and animating capacity if the human organism. It’s been doing this for millions of years with no end in sight… made of infinite intelligence and Consciousness. The highest will.
Does physical reductionism disprove Qi? No.
I would argue not at all. Traditional Chinese medicine is a a holistic practice focused on balancing the whole. It involves things like preventative maintaince through healthy balanced living. It sees the human as part of nature and that all of life has this force flowing through it. When we balance this force we can live in health and harmony.
All these reductionist elements do not disprove of a life force. Because all these components come together to keep you alive. What is all the breathing, digesting, absorbing, emitting of heat, heart pumping, hormones, biochemical reactions, electrochemical reactions, and nerve signals, and consciousness and thoughts and emotions and feelings, and life!
All that, and viewing it as a single process and looking to create balance in this system… a useful meta term for it all is Qi.
We all have to agree that when we live healthy life styles we are generally healthier and that the body has a natural tendency to stay alive and be healthy when in the right conditions. This homeostatic tendcy of the body animating capacity is Qi.
All these newly developed reductionist, materialistic, mechanistic views on the human body are extremely insightful and important. But, I do not see them as opposing Qi. You could even have the lens that the physical manifestation of such a complex being and the energy it has to keep living for millions of years is something special. How did the first heart start beating? It’s very mysterious. That, without some kind of force that runs through life we would just be rocks and dust, and water.
Traditional Chinese medicine doctors were not reductionist.
There goal was to maintain and restore balance too the whole body. So, they developed a different map than a reductionist one.
The idea of Qi, is a useful one for such a holistic framework that sees each organ and part of the body as essential components in the body’s homeostatic ability and also that the body has an animating capacity… it can move around and think and stuff. Viewing the whole body as a totality and looking at health this way is way of looking at health and wellness.
Western science has taken a more reductionist approach.
There is strengths and weaknesses to different approaches.
