Experimental scientists want to \u2018prove\u2019 the effect of acupuncture by using their experimental scientists\u2019 schemes. What has come out of the experimentation with acupuncture is that it works\u2026 sometimes.<\/p>\n
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Even so, if one doesn\u2019t care exactly what<\/em> works, then the case seems to be in favor of the needlers\u2026 sometimes. However, if one goes deeper into it, it becomes equally clear that in any case <\/em>it doesn\u2019t matter where the needles are inserted. It\u2019s enough if someone sticks them somewhere. This is sticky indeed. Meridians don\u2019t matter. Moxa doesn\u2019t matter. Theories don\u2019t matter but for one thing: their being \u2018very respectable\u2019 theories.<\/p>\n \u25ca\u25ca\u25ca<\/p>\n To me, such theories are not respectable at all.<\/p>\n Wow.<\/p>\n \u25ca\u25ca\u25ca<\/p>\n So what works? Look at the situation. You even don\u2019t have to look further than that. Keep at the situation. What works is the situation, the complete pattern: needles + needler + the poster on the wall with a very ancient-looking old-and-wise-guy + a whole bunch of expectations coming from who-knows-where + hope + etc. I think it\u2019s obvious: this is not just about some needles.<\/p>\n \u25ca\u25ca\u25ca<\/p>\n In case you think I will make autosuggestion pop up at this moment, you are very right. This said, it\u2019s done. But I also want to look specifically at two things about the needling itself, namely: where it came from and where it went to. I want to go right through the eye of the needle.<\/p>\n \u25ca\u25ca\u25ca<\/p>\n Where it came from.<\/em> The Chinamen who developed acupuncture must have been extremely sophisticated in their observations over many centuries. They inserted needle after needle and saw what worked and what did not. They kept all this wisdom in their ancient books and passed it on to their successors, who themselves made more observations, wrote more books, etc. Very good!<\/p>\n \u25ca\u25ca\u25ca<\/p>\n However, they did not<\/em> see that epidemics of hepatitis swaying through the East were due to the lack of hygiene with which the needles were inserted in one yellow fellow after another. So actually\u2026 I\u2019m not impressed at all by their supposed sophistication. I even think that my previous sentence proves quite the reverse. That shouldn\u2019t be a surprise. Experimental science is very hard now. It was too hard then.<\/p>\n \u25ca\u25ca\u25ca<\/p>\n Where it went to.<\/em> When the needles were transported from Eastern minds to Western thinking, they became senseless material pieces of metal. The meridians became something like electricity cables. The Eastern \u2018Chi\u2019 that is so central to acupuncture, became a kind of Western energy that is still not measurable but \u2018will soon become so\u2019.<\/p>\n \u25ca\u25ca\u25ca<\/p>\n I dare say: this has nothing to do with the ancient art of acupuncture, in which the needles weren\u2019t needles but \u2018symbols\u2019 in the form of needles. It\u2019s always the same mistake. If one doesn\u2019t see content, one only sees form. But form without content is nothing. It\u2019s not even form. Tell me: of what<\/em> would it be form?<\/p>\n \u25ca\u25ca\u25ca<\/p>\n The West has truly made a big mess of this.<\/p>\n \u25ca\u25ca\u25ca<\/p>\n