What the Bleep do we know?

WESTERN SCIENCE TAKES THE QUANTUM LEAP TO T.C.M.

by ALDA NGO

"Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world. The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same. Every wonderful sight will vanish; every sweet word will fade, But do not be disheartened, The source they come from is eternal, growing, Branching out, giving new life and new joy. Why do you weep? The source is within you and this whole world is springing up from it."
- Jelauddin Rumi

Ever since the introduction of Eastern Medicine into the Western world, there has been a recognizable tension between the two practicing communities in the Western medical arena. Because Western medicine is the current mainstream, Traditional Chinese Medicine is often analyzed from this conventional paradigm.

However, although there has been some success in the elucidation of the mechanisms behind the effectiveness of acupuncture from a Western scientific point of view, there has been great difficulty in the overlapping of the two differing ethno-scientific systems of knowledge. ‘Science,’ as a principle of the systematized observation of phenomena, is inherently a function of the observer and his/her perceptions of reality, which are in effect a function of their cultural paradigm. So far, the degree to which T.C.M. could be measured and thus validated has been limited when examined through a Western scientific lens.

Both forms of ethnomedicine hold their own powers and limits and if they are to be effectively integrated in the modern medical climate, a major attitude shift is imperative. Quantum physics may be the bridge to this shift, and the current movie, What the Bleep Do We Know? successfully explains and dramatizes this quantum leap.

Western science has become the modern-day religion in that it is believed to be an absolute, unquestionable truth. It assumes a position of objectivity, when in fact Western scientific thought has been subject to different phases and fads based on the theories of different scientists through time.

It was only in 1893 that the chairman of physics at Harvard University declared it a scientific fact that the universe was purely material, and that the most basic unit of matter was the physical atom, which obeyed Newton’s Laws ( Lipton ). However, as technology advanced, it was within ten years that scientists discovered that the universe was actually made up of energy: protons, electrons and neutrons.

Moreover, more recent advances in quantum physics have further deconstructed the old ‘solar system’ atomic model of a high density nucleus containing protons and neutrons being orbited by electrons - into a probability field of ‘bits of information’ popping into and out of existence. Quantum physicists are now describing reality as amorphous, mysterious, and ultimately boggling to the human mind. Quantum physics is the science of possibilities that points toward a universe that is somehow dependent on immeasurable consciousness.

In this way, as this theory points towards the inherent subjectivity of reality, it discredits the ‘objectivity’ of the very Western scientific method from which it stems. The irony of the roots and results of quantum physical theory emphasizes the limitations of Western scientific perception based on linear trajectory. This trajectory continuum of thought curves back on itself and returns from a dual Cartesian incisive perspective to a more non-dual Taoist unified one.

Quantum physical theory, which points toward an ultimately mysterious and interconnected unity, is derived from the Western scientific method. The three reductionist axioms that are foundational to this scientific method are Aristotelian logic, quantifiable experiment, and causal reasoning.

These axiom roots, which embody reproducibility; quantification; analysis; uniqueness; no contradiction; and causal reasoning have respective opposites: uniqueness; qualification; holism; vagueness; ‘life’; and interweaving final reasoning. As these opposites clearly exist in the direct observation of life and reality, they call attention to the ontological limit of the roots of the Western scientific method. However, all that exists outside of the limits of this method can be systematically understood in quantum physical theory as well as in Taoist thought.

Taoism has been defined as a process of stripping “ off layer after layer until only the essential remains, but it is not to be equated with the static” ( Cooper 13)

Whereas Aristotle states, in black and white: ‘A cannot not be A’; Taoism states that A is composed of both yin and yang: equal and opposite, interdependent expressions of an all-encompassing circle of unity, and both containing the seed of its opposite. Taoist sage, Lao Tzu states that “to be bent is to become straight; to be empty is to be full; to be worn out is to be renewed; to have little is to possess” (Kaptchuk 139). In the movie What the Bleep, Professor of Systematic Theology, Dr. Miceal Ledwith points toward the deconstruction of black and white concepts by recognizing that from within the quantum field of possibilities, there is no right or wrong, there is only that which evolves and changes.

Taoism has been defined as a process of stripping “ off layer after layer until only the essential remains, but it is not to be equated with the static” ( Cooper 13). In What the Bleep, reality is stripped down from static materiality to a mysterious dynamic quantum probability field of ‘bits of information’, likened to thought, or Consciousness which only collapses into patterns of reality that the observer ‘creates’.

This dynamic probability field essentially embodies all that which exists in a kind of primordial unity. Indistinguishable to the Tao it could further be described as, the ‘First Cause’, the ‘Ineffable’, the ‘Absolute’, the ‘Ultimate Reality’, the ‘Portal of Mystery’, the ‘Cosmic Order’, the ‘Suchness’, the ‘Great Transition’, ‘Heaven’, the ‘Powers that Be’, ‘God”, or finally, the‘Spirit of Cosmic Change – the eternal growth which returns upon itself to produce new forms’ ( Cooper 11).

The profound paradigm shift that quantum physics bridges from ‘objective’ fixed duality to relative fluctuating non-duality finally creates a Western scientific portal through which Traditional Chinese Medicine can be wholly recognized and validated. In the discussion of quantum physics and health, What the Bleep brings up a number of points that are congruent with Eastern philosophy,as an ethno-science, and thus T.C.M. theory.

The stunning results are that upon exposure to loving words, water crystals form beautifully complex and colorful snowflake patterns.

The movie portrays the works of Japanese researcher and Doctor of Alternative Medicine, Dr. Masaru Emoto, who photographs water crystal formations after subjecting them to different focused intentions. With the use of highly soluble and permeable micro cluster water, magnetic resonance analysis technology, and dark field microscopes, Dr.Emoto’s experiments reveal the relationship between consciousness and the structure of reality. His photos show that different water crystal formations occur upon freezing when the same water samples are exposed to different intentions.

The stunning results are that upon exposure to loving words, water crystals form beautifully complex and colorful snowflake patterns. In contrast, when they are exposed to negative thoughts, the crystals form dull, incomplete and asymmetrical patterns. Dr. Emoto recognizes water as the most receptive element in nature and suggests that since the human body is made up of approximately 80 percent water, these results imply that mental and emotional awareness are directly connected to physical health and reality.

Congruently, the T.C.M. Five Element Theory collapses the expanded concept of archetypal laws of natural elements onto the relative landscape of human form. This theory creates a systematic language that simultaneously refers to the human condition, the universe at large, and their inter-relationship. Specifically, this theory demonstrates the nature and interconnectedness of specific emotional and physiological states as phenomenological occurrences no different from the seasons.

In agreement with Dr. Emoto, this theory also recognizes that water is the most ‘yin’ of the five elements. These yin qualities are associated with winter, the darkest and coldest of seasons, when the natural world contracts, retreats, hibernates, and stores. Water flows downward and archetypically embodies inwardness and receptivity. It is associated with the T.C.M. kidney energy system, which is in essence the foundational root of all other organ systems. It embodies the connection between structural form and consciousness as it plays a key role in the production of marrow, which is connected to bone and the ‘brain’ ( the Sea of consciousness ). It is also associated with essence, pre-heaven constitutional energy, as well as growth and reproduction. Doctor of Psychiatry and Chinese Medicine, Dr. Leon Hammer explains that “ kidney energies are the inherited energies that unite past, present, and future and bind all three, in the individual person, to cosmic forces, to the mysteries of the Universe “ ( Hammer 104 ). The interconnection of awareness with physical reality in the quantum field is demonstrated by Dr.Emoto’s intentionally formed water crystals and paralleled in the understanding of water from T.CM. Five Element theory.

Another parallel in What the Bleep is when biochemist, neurologist and Doctor of Chiropractics, Dr. Joseph Dispenza explains the biochemistry between individual cells and neuro-peptides. These neuro-peptides are released from the hypothalamus in response to the interrelationships between the biological organism, and its thoughts. These thoughts are subject to a complex web of memories and learned behavioural conditionings, ultimately creating particular perceptions from the vast quantum field of infinite possibilities. Dr. Dispenza explains that when a cell has been continually bombarded with the same particular neuro-peptide associated with a specific conditioned (or ‘chosen’) emotional state, it becomes essentially addicted to this peptide. Simultaneously, other un-stimulated receptor sites become ‘de-sensitized’. Subsequently, when the cell divides, the resulting daughter cells have more receptor sites for the given neuro-peptide and less receptor sites for nutrients like minerals and vitamins. This is concurrent with the T.C.M. concept that an excess of any emotion will primarily affect the liver energy system. Because this system is principally responsible for smooth flow of qi, disharmony will manifest in qi stagnation. Elementally, liver is associated with wood, which in imbalance can inevitably ‘overact’ on earth. Earth is associated with the spleen and stomach system, which rules digestion, post-heaven energy, assimilation and nourishment. The biochemical model of the emotionally ‘addicted’ cell rendered unable to nourish itself is analogous to the T.C.M. model of impaired digestion as a result of wood overacting on earth due to liver qi stagnation resulting from excessive emotions.

In the movie, What the Bleep do We Know?, the discussion of quantum physics and its implications toward physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health opens a window via Western scientific theory through which Traditional Chinese Medicine can finally, without compromise, deservingly shine. Hopefully this is the first quantum leap that T.C.M. will take towards accessibility in the conventional Western medical system.


BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arntz, William; Chasse, Betsy; Vicente, Mark. A Lord of the Wind Film: What the Bleep Do We Know? Captured Light Industries: 2004. www.whatthebleep.com
Cooper, J.C. Taoism: The Way of the Mystic. Wellinborough: The Aquarian Press, 1972.
Hammer, Leon M.D. Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies: Psychology & Chinese Medicine. Barrytown: Station Hill Press, 1990.
Kaptchuk, Ted J. The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine. Chicago : Congdon & Weed Inc., 1983.
Lipton, Bruce H. Eastern Medicine and Western Science: The Grand Convergence. http://www.tcmabc.org/article_GrandConvergence_BLipton.htm