"Spiritual" Qigong
The following story has been told many times and in many different ways, in different languages, in different parts of the world and throughout human history. The following rendition is as simple as I can make it. It is included here because it explains what is meant by the Qigong concepts of Pre-birth and Post-birth Chi and is also the basis of what is often known as "Spiritual Enlightenment".
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In the beginning, there was the Self. There was the One Self, and nothing but the Self.
The Self was All One. The Self was all-one. The self was al-one.
In its aloneness the Self considered itself. There was nothing else to consider, since the Self was all there was.
The One Self looked at itself and, in the looking, became two: that which was looked at, and that which was doing the looking.
In looking, there was here and there, and there was movement between the here and the there. In movement, there was vibration, there was energy; and where there was energy, there were limitless possibilities.
And the voice of the One Self sang out the One Song, the One Verse, the Uni-Verse, and an infinite richness of light and heat and sound vibrated into being. Within this great sea of potential, each tiny note trembled and sped, emerged and dissolved and united with others in great patterns and harmonies to give rise to suns and stones and butterfly wings and the concepts of space and time. And the Onesong, in all its glory, was still One, and the Self was still the One Self, and all things were simply aspects of that One Self.
But being is not the same as experiencing; in order to experience anything, it is necessary to express it. For example, creativity is only experienced when it is expressed through the act of creating something.
Although the Self could never divide itself or become anything other than Self, the infinite shifting patterns within itself created opportunities to express its ideas and to experience them by shifting the position through which it observed the whole.
It could observe from the perspective of a galaxy or a garden snail. It could experience the totality of its whole being, or reflect upon the qualities of a rose through the senses and mental processes of a child.
And, being a child, it could imagine that those senses and mental processes were all it was, and forget its totality for a while. It could believe itself to be limited and small within an infinite playground, and be awed by the presence of something vast and seemingly other than itself.
It could do that for a whole lifetime, or for many lifetimes, or perhaps forever. But there was a sadness in that, because a tiny being within a limitless universe could feel helpless and small and insignificant and thereby lose its sense of meaning and purpose in life.
So, like a traveller in a strange land leaving signs on the road so that he could always find his way back home, it left clues to remind itself of its true identity and in each lifetime it played out the Great Game, the solving of the mystery of "What Am I?"
And the game itself provided meaning and purpose and enjoyment; and when the mystery was solved within a lifetime, that embodiment lived out its remaining years in full awareness of its identity as both a small, separate being and as its whole, universal Self, and this state of awareness became known among human beings as "Enlightenment."
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The one, universal Self is known by many names, and one of them is Tao. Its energy is sometimes known as pre-birth chi, and the part of that energy field or life force that animates a particular individual throughout its lifetime is called post-birth chi.
The Chinese internal martial arts, Qigong, meditation and the various disciplines of Yoga can all serve as paths to enable the Self in each of us to remember its true identity, to re-member: just as a finger re-members when it is stitched back onto a hand and becomes a fully-functioning part of a living body once more. Or, more accurately, when a finger that was never cut off in the first place but imagined itself to be going it alone, starts to wise up and check out its actual place in the grand scheme of things, or as a wave realises it's true identity as ocean.
In my opinion, any religion worth its salt should also serve this purpose. When the questions we ask from early childhood have not been answered by our parents or teachers, it would be good if we could go along to our local church or temple and ask for a bit of guidance and clarification, or at the very least open discussion and debate, without being led astray, misinformed or tangled up in a load of symbolism, ritual and political propaganda.
Sadly, some of the world's major religions appear to have lost their way, believing as some of them do that the universal Self (if that is their concept of God) is somehow separate from us and can be jealous or angry with us, lay down the laws by which we live our lives and then dole out suitable punishments and rewards after we have died. It is not necessarily acknowledged that we create Heaven on Earth or Hell on Earth by the way we treat each other and our planet in the here and now.
To some, we are all born "sinners" and must "atone". Interestingly, the word "sin" was originally an archery term meaning "missing the mark". And when you look at the word "at-one-ment" perhaps you can see that it is actually the religions themselves which have "missed the mark" and perhaps need some assistance to find their way back and be "at-one" with the universal Self they profess to worship.
The Song of Hsing Yi talks about this "Grand Space" (WuChi) from which man is born, a place where there is "no fighting and no competition", this place that the Yi (mind) can reach when it is still and thoughts die away like the muddy waters of a turblent stream as it merges with a vast, crystal clear river and is absorbed into the great flow. "Wu and Wey rivers not dividing". They were never really separate in the first place.
As Jesus is reputed to have said: "Be still and know that I am God": not "Know that I, Jesus, am God", though that was also true, but that the "I" in each of us is that One Self, since it can't be anything else, otherwise God would not be omniscient but would have to acknowledge the existence of something outside itself and different from itself - us!
To "love thy neighbour as thyself" is a natural consequence of knowing that neighbour to be your Self. The word "namaste", and the palms-together gesture that normally accompanies it, is used to indicate that the Self in you recognises and acknowledges the Self in the person in front of you as being one and the same. (Some yoga teachers use this a lot but seem to have misinterpreted its meaning as the individual self (ego) in one person saying "Hi" to someone else's.)
If it is true that we are all one, and if we were all to become aware of this, there would be no reason or excuse for war or the kind of atrocities which continue to fill our newspapers and TV screens on a day to day basis.
It is sad to hear that so many people are afraid of being still, calming the mind and just being present in the here and now (see
Meditation). This can also be called "looking within" but it does not refer to introspection and mulling over thoughts (which is a major cause of depression - see
Mind Matters) or to a zombie-like blankness which leaves you open to hypnotic suggestion. It is just allowing the mind to fall still while being completely alert and awake, with a wider awareness and with a greater capacity to think clearly and engage effectively with reality than is the normal state of affairs as we go about our day to day lives. Not everyone considers this to be desirable.
Indeed the practice of falling silent and simply being has been actively discouraged in some parts of the world, at different times. For example, in a recent Radio Four programme, it was mentioned that silence was taught in British schools until the fourteenth century, but was dropped when it was recognised that it encouraged people to become too intelligent, autonomous and able to think for themselves! This was a fearsome thought for the political and religious leaders of the day!
Things don't change much. You will no doubt have heard of the thousands of Qigong practitioners who are currently being imprisoned, tortured and executed for practicing certain types of Qigong, mostly still meditation. (Check out the Amnesty International website for further information about this)
People who can still the mind and lower emotional arousal can think more rationally and are less easily manipulated and exploited by the media, governments and the advertising industry.
In the field of psychology, it is recognised that when the mind is emotionally aroused, the logical brain takes a back seat and the emotional brain does the thinking, which is often illogical and sometimes pathological. (See the APET model on the HUman Givens Institute website). Calming down is a prerequisite of the route back to to mental health and well-being, and the ability to help people to relax is a key skill for any psychotherapist.
What is not so well known is that, when both emotional and rational thoughts settle, one can step further back still. When you reach your "inner self" you may be surprised to find that it is not the quivering, insecure little "inner child" that you imagined it to be and strived so hard to hide and protect: rather, that Self in you is the same Self in all men and in the whole of creation and is more powerful than anything you might previously have conceived of. Though of course, if what you are looking for is power for its own sake, you are never likely to find it. That's the paradox.
What to Avoid
Cults, gurus and other unscrupulous individuals or organisations who use the internal focus of Qigong as a hypnotic induction to get you to do what they want you to do. Some so-called "meditation" teachers can achieve the same by getting you to visualise scenes or empty your mind prior to filling it with their suggestions.
It is not just the fields of qigong and meditation which are potentially subject to misuse in this way.
These days, a cult's initial emphasis is more likely to be on "professional development", "self-cultivation" or "business training" rather than anything overtly religious or "alternative", but the results can be the same.
Beware of "self-development" programmes involving:
* "getting together like-minded people" for long hours of discussion and training
(sleep deprivation and brain washing),
* lots of hugs and cuddles, team games and mutual back patting (or subtle
humiliation and ridicule if you disagree with the group or its charismatic
leader),
* "reducing attachments" to your family and friends
* parting with large amounts of money
* being sent away eager to convert as many other people as possible to your
new way of thinking.
There are some useful warning signs to look out for listed on Wikipedia and various other websites.
Reputable qigong or meditation practitioners won't be frightened of answering questions, will have your best interests at heart and won't expect you to remortgage your house to pay for your "teaching/therapy/training" (though also be aware that some cults may use free sessions to get you in the door). In general, keep your feet on the ground, your eyes open and your running shoes on!
If you have found this page interesting, you might like to check out g's new website which, drawing upon the wisdom of ancient sages and the insights of modern scientists, sets out to explore what we can really know about