robert wrote:It's interesting that this was a post by Rhen.
https://rumsoakedfist.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29082&sid=e7de785050577c5ff423a43564090bd5#p501931
The post links to a paper by CP Ong and the abstract says ... The paper puts forth the proposition that the manifestation of Qi in Taijiquan is primarily the cognitive perception of fascial tension in the functional efficacy of bipedal balance for performance.
Numerous lay and medical practitioners of Chinese needling therapy (acupuncture)
rely on the Western metaphysical construct of energy and blood circulation by meridians/
channels. This scheme was put forth by Georges Soulié de Morant in 1939 in his
rendering of the Chinese vessel theory of cardiovascular circulation of vital substances.
This idea is contrary to the historic facts of Chinese medicine, as well as to known anatomy
and physiology. Soulié de Morant interpreted the Chinese character “qi” (air and
vapor) as “vital energy” and “jing” (longitudinal) as “meridians.” He believed meridians
were: “an additional circulatory system having no relation to the nervous, circulatory,
or lymphatic systems.” Later in his life, Soulié de Morant concluded that the vascular
system actually supplied blood and energy to all the body cells. Converting potential
energy sources to “vital energy” was thought to be in the realm of metaphysics. It has
been known for some time that energy production within the cells involves oxidation
of glucose to convert ADP to ATP which then fuels cellular processes. The energy-meridian
misconceptions need to be replaced with physiologically correct understanding
to best serve public interests and to provide a solid basis for valid research.
Soulié de Morant’s main problem was his representation of qi (氣) as “energy” for “lack of a better word” [18,21, p.46]. Almost of the all misunderstanding about Chinese medicine revolves around the ubiquitous use of this character qi to mean energy. This misconception continues to be used despite the historical facts as previously noted herein. Unschuld [5,9] notes that: “the core Chinese concept of qi bears no resemblance to the Western concept of ‘energy’.” Schnorrenberger [22] also notes that qi: “is certainly not equivalent to the Western term ‘energy’.” Soulié de Morant expected that his energy would somehow be revealed by science. His notion of energy came from the belief that qi was identical to the Hindu concept of prana and different
from nervous flux [18; 21, pp. xii, 46]. He considered prana to mean “vital energy” and supposed that this idea was introduced into China along with Buddhism from the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D.” [18, 21, p.71]. Contrary to Soulié de Morant’s assumption, the Chinese theory on the cardiovascular circulation of air and blood was established at least 600–700 or more years before the introduction of Buddhism into China.
4–1What is energy?
In this chapter, we begin our more detailed study of the different aspects of physics, having finished our description of things in general. To illustrate the ideas and the kind of reasoning that might be used in theoretical physics, we shall now examine one of the most basic laws of physics, the conservation of energy.
There is a fact, or if you wish, a law, governing all natural phenomena that are known to date. There is no known exception to this law—it is exact so far as we know. The law is called the conservation of energy. It states that there is a certain quantity, which we call energy, that does not change in the manifold changes which nature undergoes. That is a most abstract idea, because it is a mathematical principle; it says that there is a numerical quantity which does not change when something happens. It is not a description of a mechanism, or anything concrete; it is just a strange fact that we can calculate some number and when we finish watching nature go through her tricks and calculate the number again, it is the same. (Something like the bishop on a red square, and after a number of moves—details unknown—it is still on some red square. It is a law of this nature.) Since it is an abstract idea, we shall illustrate the meaning of it by an analogy.
It is important to realize that in physics today, we have no knowledge of what energy is. We do not have a picture that energy comes in little blobs of a definite amount. It is not that way. However, there are formulas for calculating some numerical quantity, and when we add it all together it gives “28”—always the same number. It is an abstract thing in that it does not tell us the mechanism or the reasons for the various formulas.
everything wrote:It seems weird because we have an every day understanding.
I feel energized or tired. I add fuel to my car and it can produce motion.
Yet we don’t understand “internal” and “Qi”, and scientists can’t define “energy”.
Adler wrote:The concepts of qi and yin-yang are well-known enough not to require much explanation here. Suffice it to say that qi, or psycho-physical stuff, is the substance of which all existing phenomena are constituted, including all the phases of matter, energy, mind (xin) and even the various forms of spirit (shen). The term is used in both a general sense, referring to the primordial stuff of which all things are composed, and more specific senses. For example, Zhu Xi uses both general and specific senses in one sentence, in reference to the human body: "The pure qi is qi [here meaning something like "breath"]; the turbid qi is matter (zhi)."(8) It is convenient, although over-simplified, to think of qi as a fundamental vapor that can condense into solid matter and disperse into finer and finer forms. It is much like the aer of the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Anaximenes, who claimed that it (like qi) was the fundamental substance or nature (physis) of all things.(9)
everything wrote:We seem to know very little even when the actor who played Captain Kirk can actually go to space.
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