Sanity Check Posted November 30, 2023 What I know (or don't know) of taoism and chi I stumbled across randomly or by accident for the most part. As far as I can tell, the human body generates an energy field. (Aura?) This field interferes with perception of energies like chi as external energy. Normally the bodies energy field is powerful and vibrant. External chi cannot penetrate this field to reach the body where it can be sensed and felt. In the course of daily life and extremely bad choices, I did things which weakened me physically and spiritually. This had a side effect of weakening my bodies energy field to an extent where I might have been able to sense chi. If my experience is accurate, the composition of chi is something like a cross between smoke and water. I should mention that I didn't come to this conclusion purely from being physically and spiritually weak. The results I got can't be replicated with that alone as far as I know. There were other factors that played a role I shouldn't talk about. Maybe this can be useful to someone. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maddie Posted November 30, 2023 3 hours ago, Sanity Check said: What I know (or don't know) of taoism and chi I stumbled across randomly or by accident for the most part. As far as I can tell, the human body generates an energy field. (Aura?) This field interferes with perception of energies like chi as external energy. Normally the bodies energy field is powerful and vibrant. External chi cannot penetrate this field to reach the body where it can be sensed and felt. In the course of daily life and extremely bad choices, I did things which weakened me physically and spiritually. This had a side effect of weakening my bodies energy field to an extent where I might have been able to sense chi. If my experience is accurate, the composition of chi is something like a cross between smoke and water. I should mention that I didn't come to this conclusion purely from being physically and spiritually weak. The results I got can't be replicated with that alone as far as I know. There were other factors that played a role I shouldn't talk about. Maybe this can be useful to someone. So as an acupuncturist I'll give my take on what I think qi is. Qi simply means energy. When it comes to the human body it takes energy to make things happen. So what today we would call digestion, back in ancient China they would often refer to as stomach qi. When we eat our body turns the food into glucose and sends it to our cells. When we breath our lungs extract oxygen from the air and send it to our cells. When these two come together in the mitochondria of the cell and make ATP our cells use this as energy to do what they do. Qi just means energy. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sanity Check Posted November 30, 2023 57 minutes ago, Maddie said: So as an acupuncturist I'll give my take on what I think qi is. Qi simply means energy. When it comes to the human body it takes energy to make things happen. So what today we would call digestion, back in ancient China they would often refer to as stomach qi. When we eat our body turns the food into glucose and sends it to our cells. When we breath our lungs extract oxygen from the air and send it to our cells. When these two come together in the mitochondria of the cell and make ATP our cells use this as energy to do what they do. Qi just means energy. If you could touch and feel Qi with your fingertips. It would resemble smoke or a liquid in terms of its density, shape and motion. Look @ my user name. Take what I say with a grain of salt, if needed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maddie Posted November 30, 2023 (edited) 36 minutes ago, Sanity Check said: If you could touch and feel Qi with your fingertips. It would resemble smoke or a liquid in terms of its density, shape and motion. Look @ my user name. Take what I say with a grain of salt, if needed. If we are talking about touching qi then I will apply many grains of salt 🤭 🧂 But then again "qi" is what causes your finger tips to move and what causes your nerves to feel it. So I guess we do feel qi. Edited November 30, 2023 by Maddie 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nintendao Posted December 2, 2023 Daoism does also include a whole other side, of altar magic and spirit communication. Usually disregarded as woowoo delulu in more westernized approaches. Nevertheless is still practiced in much the same way as thousands of years ago. Practitioners learned to transfer qi into the altar or other tools, and even into other realms of existence. How can that energy exist outside the body? It's easy for us to accept electricity leaving its circuit in extreme examples like a tesla coil. Electromagnetic radiation is well understood and gives us wireless communication that even works in vacuum. There's no reason qi can't do the same types of movement. Needless to say the wattage level is so low that current technology can barely detect the external magnetic field of biological sources, let alone decode the infinitesimally intricate signal patterns that may be encoded therein. But it is there. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nintendao Posted December 2, 2023 (edited) Again i’m not saying that qi is strictly equivalent to electromagnetism, any more than oil is to water, but both are technically liquids. Alchemy maybe more akin to a campfire, where chemicals stored in the wood are oxidized, yielding radiation in the form of heat and light. By using different materials and physical arrangements, such as to promote better air flow, a fire can be made to work more efficiently, or in novel ways. This is legit physical process and imagination need not have anything to do with it, other than to help in “leading the ox” Edited December 2, 2023 by Nintendao mobile editing mess with font size 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
