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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
how can you explain qi?	betty	Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Question: Many people have experienced the existence of this energy going through their body which they call qi. Manipulation of qi is said to clear blocked arteries and meridians in the body and solve many health problems. My sister can will her qi to go to certain parts of her body to clear blockages. Although I am very suspicious of qi, I believe it exists but do not understand what it is exactly. What are your views on this? Qigong is taking on great popularity in the alternative medicine arena and nearly everyone who practises this said it has helped in their health. My sister has become very New Age after she has learned qigong and has also acquired higher sensitivity to spirituality e.g experiencing the Holy spirit, or sensing illness in others.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Betty: I use to be a practitioner of this sort of thing. I too believed I could "feel", and my patients reported that they could "feel," these blockages of energy in the meridians that run throughout the body. I too believed that clearing these blockages could facilitate health and even cure illness. I was wrong. There is no such thing as energy flows through the body in meridians. It does not exist. There is no such thing as "qi" or "chi" and the rest. This is all based on Oriental Cosmology that is inconsistent with not only the Christian worldview and cosmology, but is at odds with science as well. There are at times some positive effects of some of these alternative techniques, such as acupuncture, but legitimate effects are very limited. Acupuncture, for example, as been shown to control pain. But traditional methods are just as effective. But, the idea that if one clears "blocked" energy one will get well is pure poppycock. This "clearing" of blocked energy is part of a cosmology that believes that the energy flows in our bodies must be in tune, and in balance not only within our bodies but within the universal plasma, the universal energy. This is a cosmology without a god, but rather a universal force, or plasma, or unconsciousness, or flow, or whatever various people want to call it. The ancient Orientals invented this elaborate schema based upon what they knew about the universe at the time. They did not have the Revelation of God as we do today in the Bible and Sacred Tradition, nor did they have the insights of biology, chemistry, physics, and medicine that we have today. They did the best they could with what they had. The Chinese folk medicine stumbled upon many sorts of remedies, that through trial and error, they discovered had real effects on health. Many of those herbs and plants form the chemical basis of our drugs today. The ancient Chinese also stumbled across the fact that if certain structures in the body are stimulated certain effects will result. This is why pain control is effective in acupuncture. Although I do not know all the bio-chemical details, the stimulation of certain structures in the body will cause the release of natural pain killers. This has nothing whatsoever to do with imaginary meridians in the body or any other sort of mysterious "energy flow." This effect is purely natural and can be scientifically verified. Depending on the "alternative" technique, there can be real but very limited effects. When those effects are real they can be scientifically verified. As for the rest of any effect that "appears" real, such things are most likely a placebo effect. This placebo effect is when the mind perceives improvement when there is actually none, or the mind over matter sort of thing where there may be some real healing based upon the person believing it to be so, a faith healing as-it-were. When this happens, if there is a real effect, that is, a real improvement in health, this can be documented in a scientific way even if we do not understand fully the mechanisms that facilitated the healing. But none of this is because of energy flows through the body that need to be "cleared" of "blockages." That is just plain nonsense. A Christian ought not to get involved with these practices and philosophies. The philosophies are incompatible with Christianity and the practices are based upon those unChristian philosophies and upon unscientific and unsubstantiated postulations. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

how can you explain qi?

betty

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Question:

Many people have experienced the existence of this energy going through their body which they call qi. Manipulation of qi is said to clear blocked arteries and meridians in the body and solve many health problems. My sister can will her qi to go to certain parts of her body to clear blockages. Although I am very suspicious of qi, I believe it exists but do not understand what it is exactly. What are your views on this? Qigong is taking on great popularity in the alternative medicine arena and nearly everyone who practises this said it has helped in their health. My sister has become very New Age after she has learned qigong and has also acquired higher sensitivity to spirituality e.g experiencing the Holy spirit, or sensing illness in others.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Betty:

I use to be a practitioner of this sort of thing. I too believed I could "feel", and my patients reported that they could "feel," these blockages of energy in the meridians that run throughout the body. I too believed that clearing these blockages could facilitate health and even cure illness. I was wrong.

There is no such thing as energy flows through the body in meridians. It does not exist. There is no such thing as "qi" or "chi" and the rest.

This is all based on Oriental Cosmology that is inconsistent with not only the Christian worldview and cosmology, but is at odds with science as well.

There are at times some positive effects of some of these alternative techniques, such as acupuncture, but legitimate effects are very limited. Acupuncture, for example, as been shown to control pain. But traditional methods are just as effective.

But, the idea that if one clears "blocked" energy one will get well is pure poppycock.

This "clearing" of blocked energy is part of a cosmology that believes that the energy flows in our bodies must be in tune, and in balance not only within our bodies but within the universal plasma, the universal energy. This is a cosmology without a god, but rather a universal force, or plasma, or unconsciousness, or flow, or whatever various people want to call it.

The ancient Orientals invented this elaborate schema based upon what they knew about the universe at the time. They did not have the Revelation of God as we do today in the Bible and Sacred Tradition, nor did they have the insights of biology, chemistry, physics, and medicine that we have today. They did the best they could with what they had.

The Chinese folk medicine stumbled upon many sorts of remedies, that through trial and error, they discovered had real effects on health. Many of those herbs and plants form the chemical basis of our drugs today.

The ancient Chinese also stumbled across the fact that if certain structures in the body are stimulated certain effects will result. This is why pain control is effective in acupuncture. Although I do not know all the bio-chemical details, the stimulation of certain structures in the body will cause the release of natural pain killers. This has nothing whatsoever to do with imaginary meridians in the body or any other sort of mysterious "energy flow." This effect is purely natural and can be scientifically verified.

Depending on the "alternative" technique, there can be real but very limited effects. When those effects are real they can be scientifically verified.

As for the rest of any effect that "appears" real, such things are most likely a placebo effect. This placebo effect is when the mind perceives improvement when there is actually none, or the mind over matter sort of thing where there may be some real healing based upon the person believing it to be so, a faith healing as-it-were. When this happens, if there is a real effect, that is, a real improvement in health, this can be documented in a scientific way even if we do not understand fully the mechanisms that facilitated the healing.

But none of this is because of energy flows through the body that need to be "cleared" of "blockages." That is just plain nonsense.

A Christian ought not to get involved with these practices and philosophies. The philosophies are incompatible with Christianity and the practices are based upon those unChristian philosophies and upon unscientific and unsubstantiated postulations.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.