Chi
Chi is a life force that is supposed to permeate and animate the universe. It is a concept of Chinese philosophy. In the times before western science became the predominant explanation for the phenomena of the observed universe, the concept of chi provided a theoretical construct which served to explain observed nature.
One of the fundamental questions asked by man is what separates living creatures and makes them different from inanimate objects. The qualities of metabolism and motion are seen in many natural objects. Living creatures must take in food and water and must breathe air in order to survive. It is a simple assumption to suppose that there is some substance in the food and air that serves to animate living creatures. This life force is named chi and has had important consequences in man’s interpretation of the physical world.
Chi was seen in the motions of the planets, in the movements of clouds and water, and in the animations of creatures. The concept is very similar to the modern concept of energy. Chi was seen as a subtle fluid which flowed throughout nature and which was tapped by anything in motion. It was postulated that chi flowed in the meridians of the human body, and that disruptions in this flow caused disease. Much of Chinese medicine was based on restoring the natural flow of chi with herbs or acupuncture needles.
In the modern world the theories of chi are usually discounted because chi or subtle energy can not be directly observed or measured. If chi is thought of as being the energy of a system, then this difficulty disappears. The entire modern world runs on energy, and as a system it can be seen as a living entity. Certainly society is composed of a myriad of seperate living beings who all co-exist on planet earth.
While the concept of chi might be seen as an outmoded model for the ways the universe works, the exercises and therapies developed using the theory of chi still provide a valid source of health and vitality in the modern world. Simple, easy, repeated motions might not draw chi from the universe, but they do provide therapeutic motions for the health of a body. Exercises such as tai chi and chi gung are still practiced by many people.
Because a theory has been superceded by modern understanding does not mean that the observed results of applying this theory are invalid. There may be better, more scientific understandings of disease and health and motion in the modern world, but the theory of chi still holds as a practical understanding for how things operate in the universe.
