RE: jing-luo

[Guest guest]

Once again, an excellent elucidation of a subject, Chris.

 

I think that the metaphorical thinking of Chinese medicine is predictive and

descriptive precisely because it is non-reductive, i.e. holistic. The actual

biology / physics of " qi " and the jing-luo may be extremely complex,

involving things like standing electromagnetic waves, photons, quirks of

quantum physics, chaos / nonlinear theory, etc. The fact that " qi " seems to

be pervasive, powerful, and yet also invisible and difficult to detect with

scientific instruments point to a multi-systemic / multi-leveled and

overdetermined origin of the qi phenomenon, and, consequently, of

acupuncture and the jing-luo themselves. I like to think of " qi " and its

" pathways " as an emergent phenomenon, like consciousness, of all the

activities and interactions of the biochemical & psychoemotional substrate

of the human system. I'm skeptical that we'll discover a " fluid " or a

" substance " or discrete anatomical structures, because, even if we did,

would that really explain all that we know about acupuncture and its theory?

Or clinical outcomes? Or the variety of (apparently) equally therapeutic

styles/schools of acupuncture? I also don't think we'll discover " qi " to be

a 5th electromagnetic force, or something along that line. I think any

discovery will involve a new scientific paradigm hitherto unkown that could

somehow bridge physics with consciousness to explain phenomena occurring at

the shrouded margins of current scientific theory.

 

 

-Ben

 

 

Benjamin Hawes, MAOM, Lic. Ac.,