I wrote in an earlier entry that the Chinese understand a human being as a radiating field of energy contained in a larger unified field of energy comprising all things known and unknown to humanity. The Chinese call this field the Heaven and Earth. In order to understand chi kung you need to understand what a human being looks like from a Chinese perspective. I will attempt to explains that now. Bear with me and extend your patience and kindness during my explanation. Thankfully there are enough books and websites were you can find better and more detailed explanations. I urge you who are interested to do that.
The Chinese call the five senses the five liars. This means that the senses conceal much more than they reveal about the nature of existence. The senses seem to indicate that a human being is a solid and independent creature with clearly defined boundaries internally and externally. Nothing could be further from the truth. Thus the name the five liars.
Western scientists and especially the physicists are beginning to help bridge the gap between Chinese and western understanding of life and creation. If you asked a physicist or a classical Chinese scholar to describe a human being there would be many similarities in there descriptors. Both would describe a human being as a vibrating field of energy totally connected and interdependent with all creation. Unfortunately western medicine has yet to acknowledge and act on the reality of what the physicists understand. When they do the manifestations of that understanding will be both incredible and wonderful.
So now I will give my interpretation of a human being from a chi kung perspective. First, I would like you to imagine the Earth as a radiating sphere of energy. Earths energy is constantly flowing in all directions out into the universe. Now imagine space filled with innumerable radiating Fields of energies constantly flowing in all directions and interacting with each other. Now imagine that universal ocean of energy constantly interacting with the energy of the earth. You can now see that Earth energy effects or changes the Universe and is in turn effected or changed by universal energy.
Now where are we in all of this? We exist as a field of vibrating expanding energy where earth vibrations meets vibrations from the Universe. We are neither purely of the Earth or purely of the Universe. We are both and we are at the same time uniquely ourselves. We are in the same relationship with the heaven and Earth as we are with our parents and grandparents back through the generations. We are inseparable from them and yet we are uniquely ourselves. Thus the Chinese say that a human being is a child of Heaven and Earth.
It is no exaggeration to say, we are more than a combination of our parents genes or organic earth and Universal star dust. We are the living vibrating energy of the earth and stars and all creation. We are a beautiful part of the dance of creation. In fact we are the dance and the dancer we are our little self and at the same time we are literally the ONE. It don't get better than that. (smile)
So when we do not let our senses mislead us we can begin to see and feel how incredible we are and how inseparable we are from all creation. How you relate to a physical body with clearly defined borders is very different than how you relate to a field of energy. If you want to strengthen a weakened physical body most western doctors know what to do. But how do you strengthen a weakened energy field? Most western doctors would not have a clue. That is where Chinese medicine shines. Pun intended.
