What is Qi? Continued
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Another broad concept is that Qi in its primordial state, is an integrated form of material, energy and information. This has huge implications for health care, scientific research, everything, even for the way we communicate with people, animals or plants. Note that Qi has been studied in a different reference system from modern science and that the material form mentioned here is different from the normal physical existence we know as material.
Photo: Our body is more than what we perceive superficially. A radiography
reveals the delicate structure of an infant's body.
Source www.radrounds.com
According to Qi theory, our physical body is a very condensed form of Qi, and therefore also has material, energy and information. When health care modalities talk about 'energy work', it is Qi they are working with. But Qi is more than energy.
The Qi extends beyond our physical body and is one way we can pick up information from other people as I mentioned on the first page. Have you ever wondered why, when you pick up not so good information from someone, you want to increase the distance even by just a foot or two? The information you have picked up is not in your imagination. It is an objective reality.
Qi theory also states that human consciousness can control Qi and is itself a very refined form of Qi. The placebo effect would be a manifestation of that relationship. Saying from the placebo effect that 'it’s all in the mind' holds some truth, and the effects are no less real than those induced by the drug treatment. Modern science routinely measures the placebo effect, but has not identified its mechanism, or the way to control it and use it to our benefit. A much simpler example of the relationship between consciousness and Qi would be our ability to sense someone watching us from behind, or to spot a person staring intently at us from within a crowd. What we are sensing is the person’s Qi directed at us. Our Qi follows our mind and our gaze.
Until modern science develops suitable paradigms to study Qi and its relationship to human consciousness, the best way for me to investigate it, is with my own life. This is another reason why I am studying the REN XUE system for the study of human life and practicing Qigong.
A description of Qi theory that has sufficient detail to understand the basis for Yuan Gong and REN XUE can be found in Yuan Tze’s book Voyage to the Shore Part I.