Concept of Chi
Alexander Liss
The Concept of Chi is broadly used in
Eastern thought, medicine, martial arts, etc. It is known in Western thinking
and used on its fringes, under terms as “energy” or alike, but it is not a part
of Western scientific thinking. Acupuncture and achievements of martial artists
and monks are attributed by practitioners to mysterious Chi. Western scientists
studied phenomena, but found neither a matching set of concepts, which could
explain phenomena scientifically, nor the way to fit this foreign concept into
the building of Western scientific knowledge.
This is unfortunate, because there are
useful arts of treatment of illnesses, control of own body etc. which are
taught with extensive use of this concept. Practitioners of Eastern arts can
reproduce remarkable phenomena at will, hence this is something that could be
and should be a part of scientific study. The Concept of Chi should be
interpreted according to traditions of Western thought in such study.
Absence of consistent Western conceptual
basis in this area is detrimental to development of Western thought.
A remarkable example one could find in a
popular television show “Dog Whisperer”, where a dog psychologist Cesar Millan has to resort to use of term “energy”, for the lack
of a better term, to describe interactions between dogs and humans. One could
sense that using a term Chi, he could explain his ideas better, but it is
understandable why he does not want to use it – this would pull him into
endless discussions, when he simply wants to organize relationships between
pets and their owners and make a good show on the way.
Following is dedicated to explanation of
Chi in terms of Western thought. This should open the door to use of this
Concept in Western culture.
When one describes effects of Chi, one uses
images of Flow - Chi is flowing. However this flow is different from flow of
energy; this is similar to flow of information. It is a kind of “conversation”.
In a human body there is perpetual
conversation between the brain, muscles, organs, etc. via nerves and hormones.
Some patterns of this conversation are
healthy other patterns are manifestation of a disorder.
Some
patterns of this conversation allow focusing of activity of muscles; some allow
proper automatic reaction of the body in a situation, which changes too quickly
for a mind to make proper decisions, etc.
Classification of patterns of this
conversation (Flow of Chi) according to tasks at hand provides tools to its
understanding and control.
Flow of Chi in one’s body is not perceived
consciously. Also, there are no models in biology yet, which consistently
measure electrical and chemical signals in the body as a part of information
processing system. Hence, it is difficult to study and master the control of
Flow of Chi.
However, even a superficial analysis of an
information system could detect simplest patterns as positive feedback, cycle,
etc.
In
a positive feedback pattern, a small external signal leads to growth of
activity in some subsystem driven exclusively by the nature of the system.
In
the cycle pattern, there is perpetual flow of information in some subsystem,
when there is practically no external signal and there is no need for such flow
to support functioning of the system.
These
patterns of Flow of Chi often manifest themselves as important phenomena.
There is one other not conscious perpetual
communication, which fits neatly into the Concept of Chi - communication
between living things.
Even between conscious beings, the vast
majority of communication is done via poses and movements of the body, and
poses and movements of the face. Between animals or between humans and animals,
this not conscious communication is the main form of communication.
Generally, there is perpetual communication
between all living beings, to some degree.
Even more, a living creature is a complex
symbiosis of creatures of different type (for example bacteria in the person’s
intestine is in symbiosis with the person’s body). There is perpetual exchange
of information between these symbiotic creatures.
Hence we arrived to an obvious, but unusual
in Western thought idea, of a Concept of Chi as a system of perpetual
information exchange between living beings, where we study and control patterns
of such exchange.
For practical uses, one wants to know
stable patterns of the information flow and how to flip the system from one
pattern into another.
In treatment, one wants to flip from a sick
pattern into a healthy one.
A martial artist wants to flip:
·
own body
pattern from a standard one into a focused and alert one
·
body of
an opponent from a healthy one into a disabled one
·
the
pattern of interaction between warring members of the group from a chaotic into
one with predictable outcome, where opponents are disabled
The concept could be used to guide various
useful transformations:
·
to flip
a group of pets and their owners from a pattern, where there are problems for
pets and humans into a pattern where behavior of pets and owners is safe,
healthy and satisfying
·
to
improve the group dynamics in family, or at work
·
to
enhance the rapport between a performer and spectators
The Concept of Chi allows for a concise and
simple description in many seemingly unrelated areas.
Elsewhere on this site, Depression is described
as a result of a particular vicious cycle in a body, which involves brain,
muscles, nerves and hormonal system. With the Concept of Chi, explaining of the
main idea of treatment is easy – there is a sick pattern of information flow in
the body, which is not caused by external events, but by deficiency of the
system. To treat it, one needs to flip from this pattern of flow into a stable healthy
one. In this case, flipping is done with a particular form of exercise. This
exercise is easy and could be done at any moment one detects a sick patter of Flow
of Chi.
Cesar Millan
defined a healthy pattern of Flow of Chi in a group of human owners and pet
dogs, where owners play a “calm assertive” role of a “pack leader” and dogs
play a “calm submissive” role of “pack followers”. He is confronted with a bad
pattern and he has to classify it and find a transition from the bad pattern to
a healthy one.
He eliminates main obstacles to such
transition and teaches owners how to flip into a healthy pattern of Flow of
Chi.
Long time ago, most likely in
This is used for treatment. Still the
diagnosis (detection of the class of the bad pattern) and deciding on the type
of transition is art, which is difficult to learn (training takes 20 years).