Author's note: A special thanks to Jamin Nichols, AP, whose assistance made this article possible.
In the course of writing my most recent book on the san jiao (triple burner), I had the occasion to become increasingly familiar with a frequently misunderstood aspect of both classical and contemporary Chinese medicine.
Several books [Hara Diagnosis: Reflections on the Sea: (Matsumoto & Birch); The "Mystical" TCM Triple Energizer: Its Elusive Location and Morphology Defined (Louis Gordon); and Acupuncture and the Extracellular Matrix: Exploring the Mechanism of the San Jiao (Dr. Jamie L. Davis)] all make an extensive argument for a system of morphological cavities called couli, into which and through which the triple burner distributes fluid and energy. Connective tissue, including fascia, is invoked as the sites of these couli in explaining the operation of the triple burner.
As commented in my book, there is no morphological evidence of "couli" or more importantly, any need for such a construction (fascia) in Chinese medicine in which energetic concepts (qi) have sufficed for every other entity in the medicine.
This is in sharp contrast to the other 11 Zang-Fu that are described in ephemeral analogue language called qi. Whereas they are each ascribed in anatomical terms, this is a virtual relationship, not "real."
For this reason, my biomedical colleagues call Chinese medicine a "pseudo-medicine." If a phenomenon cannot be measured by a machine, it does not exist. Let us see how "pseudo" it is.
Qi and Dark Energy
Qi has never been measured by a machine. Endless attempts have been made before and during my lifetime, and will continue to be made. There is another phenomenon in the universe that has never been measured by a machine: dark energy.
It is important and necessary to refer to a report by three astrophysicists about nine years ago who won the Noble Prize. Essentially, they said that 27 percent of the universe is dark matter that can be measured. Less than 5 percent of the entire universe is solid matter and constitutes the entirety of what we call reality.
However, the remainder is dark energy that is almost 70 percent of the universe and has never been measured. There are two phenomena, only two in the universe, with which I am familiar that have not, as I have said, been measured. In other words, phenomena that we can see, touch and measure (evidence-based) constitute less than 5 percent of what exists.
We cannot see and measure qi. However, those of us who follow the "ancients" to this day, work with qi, which has no concrete, measurable existence except as detectable with our hands (touch), eyes (sight), ears (sound), tongue (taste) and nose (odor) with our senses.
So, let us follow the astrophysicists and explore the universe in their terms, particularly dark energy, that I propose on Earth is what Chinese medicine refers to as qi.
NASA on Dark Energy
More is unknown than is known. We know how much dark energy there is because we know how it affects the universe's expansion. Other than that, it is a complete mystery. But it is an important mystery. It turns out that roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest - everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than 5% of the universe. Come to think of it, maybe it shouldn't be called "normal" matter at all, since it is such a small fraction of the universe.1
One explanation for dark energy is that it is a property of space. Albert Einstein was the first person to realize that empty space is not nothing. Space has amazing properties, many of which are just beginning to be understood. The first property Einstein discovered is that it is possible for more space to come into existence. Then one version of Einstein's gravity theory, the version that contains a "cosmological constant," makes a second prediction: "empty space" can possess its own energy.
Because this energy is a property of space itself, it would not be diluted as space expands. As more space comes into existence, more of this energy-of-space would appear. As a result, this form of energy would cause the universe to expand faster and faster.
Unfortunately, no one understands why the cosmological constant should even be there, much less why it would have exactly the right value to cause the observed acceleration of the universe.
Fear of The Unknown
Since Homo sapiens descended from the trees to walk upright and through a series of mutations beginning around 70,000 until about 30,000 years ago, we have wiped out almost every one of the several other of the Homo genus and since, many of the large mammals on Earth. About 10,000 years ago when we stopped foraging and settled down to become an agricultural species, we began to compete with other shades of Homo sapiens for land and to kill each other in ever-increasing, devastating fashion. Why?
The large mammals were food, but what about the rest? The other members of the Homo genus were not serious competitors. Why are we perpetually killing each other?
I suggest that when we came down from the trees and mutated to the large brains we now have, about 70,000 years ago we developed an awareness that may have been formerly unavailable to other species, something that we call awareness of the cosmos.
With that awareness came the realization of our location in a vast array of entities that we called planets, a sun and moon and finally, stars over which we had no control. I postulate that the initial response was fear; profound, unsustainable fear.
Editor's Note: Part 2 of this article appears in the November issue.
Reference
- "Dark Energy, Dark Matter." NASA Science: www.science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy.
Dr. Leon I. Hammer began a study of Chinese medicine in England from 1971-1974 with Dr. J.D. Van Buren. In 1974, he began following a Chinese master, Dr. John H. F. Shen, in New York City weekly for eight years, emphasizing what is now referred to as Shen-Hammer Contemporary Chinese Pulse Diagnosis. In 1981, he spent four months studying TCM in Beijing, China. In 2001, he helped found Dragon Rises College of Oriental Medicine (DRCOM) and recently also the COM Foundation, which owns DRCOM and promotes his contribution to the medicine called COM (Contemporary Oriental Medicine). He is also an author of eight books and over 40 articles on the subject of Chinese medicine. Learn more about his work and background at http://comfoundation.org/leonhammermd.html.