{"id":9153,"date":"2022-07-03T13:23:56","date_gmt":"2022-07-03T13:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/?p=9153"},"modified":"2023-08-06T11:56:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-06T11:56:40","slug":"chi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/healthcare\/chi","title":{"rendered":"Chi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Right to the core, the Chinese concept of Chi is most interesting as a specific cultural view of Compassion.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I write this text with all due respect for all Asian and non-Asian people who think highly of Chi \u2015 as I do. Note also that, historically, there have been Chinese philosophers with quite distinct conceptualizations of Chi, of which this concerns only the one that is arguably most frequently adopted in the West. So, I start with a warning even about this one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

No conceptual \u2013 Western \u2013 concept of energy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people worldwide see Chi nowadays as something that can be controlled and directed towards specific conceptual gains \u2015 something remotely like electricity. That was also how many \u2013 and many others not \u2013 comprehended it even in ancient China. Nevertheless, I see this as somewhat insulting to Chi and those who had\/have a deeper insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chi is unrelated to anything that can be stored in a battery or captured from the universe. It is therefore also unrelated to anything that can be directed energetically in this sense through unique routes in the human body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this prevents an understanding of Chi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real Chi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A better understanding has probably existed since the most ancient time humans thought about it. I join it with the metaphor of a lotus flower and, yes, flower power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Vital life force\u2019 may be a somewhat satisfactory Western translation, but even so, full of flaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In ancient China, it was seen as the universal force that keeps everything (the universe) together and going. In that sense, one might call it \u2018entropy.\u2019 To me, however, that is too impersonal to fit the depth of Chi. The intention was \u2013 is \u2013 to denote something that lies close to the human being. It may be entropy but, at the same time, also the force within life that uses entropy to run counter to entropy itself \u2015 carving a space for life. Like you can use water to clean the dishes, but this doesn’t make ‘the universe’ any cleaner, only the dishes at the detriment of something else. Note that there is no magic in this dichotomy, only science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Everything and nothing\u2019 may be another somewhat satisfactory translation with everything in it \u2015 and nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This together sounds like what I tend to describe elsewhere as Inner Strength<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chi and Compassion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chi has roots in ancient Chinese healthcare and martial arts. This is not only about what happens within a person but also between persons: doctors, teachers, patients, and even adversaries in a fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Yes, there is Compassion even in the last of this list, in several ways.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This makes Chi more like a flow, not like streaming \u2018energy\u2019 \u2013 which could be captured \u2013 but like the streaming itself as a pattern that cannot be captured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compassion cannot be captured. It exists when it exists, and then it doesn\u2019t. For instance, one should not attempt to ‘capture’ Guan-Shi-Yin<\/a>, the Chinese Bodhisattva of Compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acupuncture?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acupuncture concerns the flow of Chi from the universe to (or somehow influenced by) needles, into the human body. A 2021 article (Chinese authors) describes the influence of \u2018non-specific factors\u2019 in acupuncture. [*] I see empathy and placebo in these \u2015 no graspable energy. Putting empathy first<\/a>, in other texts, I go deep into the concept of empathy and toward Compassion<\/a>. Here, we come to Chi again from a different perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This way, I dare ask whether acupuncture transcends Inner Strength\/Compassion, as I did in the medical journal \u2018Fertility and Sterility.\u2019 [**] Scientifically, I haven\u2019t seen any convincing (to me) proof yet. Humanly, I don\u2019t see the need because:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Chi equals Compassion,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

there are two options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n