Hermetic Bodywork

Discussion on the three big Chinese internals, Yiquan, Bajiquan, Piguazhang and other similar styles.

Re: Hermetic Bodywork

Postby BruceP on Tue Jun 11, 2019 3:30 pm

Involuntary bio-chemical and physical response is as good a place as any to broach the idea of 'hermetic bodywork' with one's own personal reckoning and on their own terms. Introducing macro-micro whatevers and fractal principles by which the ideas can be explored is really simple on a physical/internal level. It gets bogged down in the words, but the practice of those really simple methods gives every individual their unique understanding and insight.

It becomes a mess when someone tries to expand on the simplicity and profundity of the personal experience/understanding while trying to sell you something.
BruceP
Great Old One
 
Posts: 1953
Joined: Sat May 31, 2008 3:40 pm

Re: Hermetic Bodywork

Postby TrainingDummy on Tue Jun 11, 2019 8:37 pm

robert wrote:Sir Isaac Newton is a beacon of reason in a world awash in opinions.


Have you not read Newton's works on medieval alchemy? Newton was a great mathematician, but he was super big on woo. Now I'm totally down on woo, but even in his own time Newton was criticised by his peers for supporting weird shit.

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/browse
User avatar
TrainingDummy
Great Old One
 
Posts: 603
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:08 pm

Re: Hermetic Bodywork

Postby robert on Tue Jun 11, 2019 10:54 pm

TrainingDummy wrote:Have you not read Newton's works on medieval alchemy? Newton was a great mathematician, but he was super big on woo. Now I'm totally down on woo, but even in his own time Newton was criticised by his peers for supporting weird shit.

I can't say I've read many of his works, but I wouldn't say he was a hermeticist if he wasn't influenced by alchemy and hermetic philosophy.
The method of practicing this boxing art is nothing more than opening and closing, passive and active. The subtlety of the art is based entirely upon their alternations. Chen Xin
robert
Wuji
 
Posts: 741
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:32 am

Re: Hermetic Bodywork

Postby everything on Wed Jun 12, 2019 3:57 pm

BruceP wrote:
It becomes a mess when someone tries to expand on the simplicity and profundity of the personal experience/understanding while trying to sell you something.


yup the scientists can't even explain the "woo". when some person tries to do it for marketing reasons, people don't like it.
amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong
/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /
“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science
User avatar
everything
Wuji
 
Posts: 8262
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 7:22 pm
Location: USA

Re: Hermetic Bodywork

Postby origami_itto on Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:00 pm

robert wrote:
TrainingDummy wrote:Have you not read Newton's works on medieval alchemy? Newton was a great mathematician, but he was super big on woo. Now I'm totally down on woo, but even in his own time Newton was criticised by his peers for supporting weird shit.

I can't say I've read many of his works, but I wouldn't say he was a hermeticist if he wasn't influenced by alchemy and hermetic philosophy.

He was definitely influenced by alchemy and hermetic philosophy, even translated some major works and had writings on the emerald tablet.
The form is the notes, the quan is the music
Atomic Taijiquan|FB|YT|IG|X|
User avatar
origami_itto
Wuji
 
Posts: 5033
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2016 10:11 pm
Location: Palm Bay, FL

Re: Hermetic Bodywork

Postby TrainingDummy on Thu Jun 13, 2019 2:54 pm

robert wrote:
TrainingDummy wrote:Have you not read Newton's works on medieval alchemy? Newton was a great mathematician, but he was super big on woo. Now I'm totally down on woo, but even in his own time Newton was criticised by his peers for supporting weird shit.

I can't say I've read many of his works, but I wouldn't say he was a hermeticist if he wasn't influenced by alchemy and hermetic philosophy.


I've just realised a bias and evolution of my thinking on such topics. I've unconsciously taken the stance that the study of "weird shit" (alchemy, astrology, esotericism) is mostly non-rational, but is a gateway to certain types of creativity that can occasionally surpass "if-then-therefore" types of thinking, especially when the the two are paired. Therefore, in my bias, Newton isn't a genius because he is rational, he's a genius because his creativity allowed him to surpass the other thinkers of his time who were more comfortable with an academically safer approach.

Essentially, I'm now seeing rationality and creativity as a dialectic, with the middle point being a place of inspiration to frog-leap one's current understanding of a topic.

Cool and thanks.
User avatar
TrainingDummy
Great Old One
 
Posts: 603
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:08 pm

Re: Hermetic Bodywork

Postby I-mon on Thu Jun 13, 2019 4:30 pm

TrainingDummy wrote:Essentially, I'm now seeing rationality and creativity as a dialectic, with the middle point being a place of inspiration to frog-leap one's current understanding of a topic.

Cool and thanks.


Huzzah!!!
User avatar
I-mon
Great Old One
 
Posts: 2936
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 12:19 am
Location: Australia

Re: Hermetic Bodywork

Postby robert on Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:40 pm

TrainingDummy wrote:I've just realised a bias and evolution of my thinking on such topics. I've unconsciously taken the stance that the study of "weird shit" (alchemy, astrology, esotericism) is mostly non-rational, but is a gateway to certain types of creativity that can occasionally surpass "if-then-therefore" types of thinking, especially when the the two are paired. Therefore, in my bias, Newton isn't a genius because he is rational, he's a genius because his creativity allowed him to surpass the other thinkers of his time who were more comfortable with an academically safer approach.

Essentially, I'm now seeing rationality and creativity as a dialectic, with the middle point being a place of inspiration to frog-leap one's current understanding of a topic.

I see it a little differently. I think it's important to consider the historical context. I'm pretty sure chemistry was developed after Newton. If you were interested in natural philosophy in Newton's time you would be an alchemist. Through experimentation we get a better understanding of how nature works. If you take the historical creation of taiji of around 1650 and asked people about the working of the body in the west many people would say something something like the mind directs the soul and the soul moves the body. People believed that the soul or an elan vital was responsible for movements of the body. It wasn't until a number of years later that Volta and Galvani discovered that electricity made muscles move. In 1600, 1650 thinking that the soul or a vital force moved the body wasn't woo. Rejecting what we know about the brain and the nervous system today and choosing to believe that the soul or a vital force moves the body is woo (or religion). My opinion.
The method of practicing this boxing art is nothing more than opening and closing, passive and active. The subtlety of the art is based entirely upon their alternations. Chen Xin
robert
Wuji
 
Posts: 741
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:32 am

Previous

Return to Xingyiquan - Baguazhang - Taijiquan

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 23 guests