THE LIGHT BULB AND LIFE

An ordinary light bulb is a delicate physical object with nothing particularly striking about it by itself.

When we put electrical energy into it… almost magically light is created. A rainbow of colors is possible in varying degrees of brightness. Together, the bulb and the energy became something beautiful - and useful to humankind.

The human body is much like a light bulb – a delicate and complex physical object. The energy which powers the human body is called ‘life energy’. A human body with no energy running through it is said to be dead; it is called a “cadaver”.

A Tibetan monk once gave a student a set of meditation beads made from bone, then promptly took them back and through them on the ground. He asked the student, “What do you think it would take to have those bones get up and walk around?”. The dumbfounded student couldn’t imagine. Was there some secret mystical teaching about to be
revealed? After a period of silence, the monk said, “Whatever it is that would make those bones get up and walk around, is the same thing that is making your ‘bag of bones’ get up and walk around.”

It takes “energy” to animate a cadaver (i.e. have it get up and walk around). Not just any energy – life energy.

The Western world’s medicine or “science of life” was founded in large part by dissecting cadavers – dead bodies. Much was learned about the mechanics of how bones worked with tendons and muscle tissue, how blood was circulated, that a network of nerves permeated the body, and much more. Anchored in this kind of early research, Western medical practitioners became excellent “mechanics” – trauma experts of the first degree.

What was absent from the cadavers, and what students of early Western medicine couldn’t study, was – life energy. By definition, there is no energy in a dead body. The energy pathways disappeared. How energy flowed in the body remained unknown to Western medicine.

The “science of life”, studied for centuries in the Eastern world, saw human beings as “energy systems”. For example, acupuncture evolved as a direct physical intervention into a body’s electrical grid aimed at balancing out of whack electricity that was creating specific problems in the body. The electrical charge and contents of different foods and drinks all became part of an Oriental medical practitioner’s arsenal of healing tools – hernwas an “electrician” for the body.

Is one way better than the other? No. Each has their place. Sometimes a mechanical intervention is best, other times an electrical intervention is optimum. These two different approaches to healing have been brought together today under the umbrella of “complimentary medicine”.

The challenge with most Western doctors is that they cannot offer a professional opinion about the merits of Eastern medicine simply because they do not have professional credentials on the subject matter. You wouldn’t ask a doctor for professional legal advice – because the doctor hasn’t sufficient legal training to offer a credible legal opinion. So who do you ask about Eastern “energy medicine”?

Sadly, our Western society hasn’t provided broad information to the public about Eastern medicine. Nor do we have visible and credible professional associations for practitioners of energy healing. It’s so loosely regulated by governments that no comfort is found in that arena.

Perhaps the clearest and simplest answer to a Westerner looking at the possibility of using Eastern energy healing interventions as part of an overall healing and health regime is to follow a simple maxim…

“If it works for you, use it. If it doesn’t, don’t use it.” (The same could be said about working with traditional Western medicine practitioners.) In the end, YOU are responsible for your own health. Only YOU can decide what is best for you and your family. There can be no ‘passing of the buck’ to somebody else.