In last Friday’s blog post Ask Grand Master Lu: Spirituality we talked about what it means to be on a spiritual path and how that relates to health and healing. We also discussed three important spiritual concepts for improving metabolic function and overall health. They are:
- The energetic frequency of the unconditional love of the Universe, or God, gives our world and all living things vitality and creativity. Read more.
- Ultimately there is only Unity.
- There are no accidents. Everything happens for a reason.
Over the rest of this week, we’ll unpack each of these concepts.
Everything is Oneness
Unity is an immense concept. Under our daily reality, everything is energy. Everything is connected. This vital energy or Qi has consciousness and purpose, just like you. The quantum field itself is Qi – alive with possibilities and probabilities, dynamic patterns in constant flux.
Ancient Qigong masters understood the nature of this energy thousands of years ago. You are connected to the infinite number of galaxies in the universe, and to the sun, the moon and the stars. Your body is part of nature. You are connected to every individual in your life, past, present and future, as well as your beliefs and emotions. Your organs have an energetic relationship with each other and with your Qi and Blood. Your mind is connected to everything at the same time.
Most religions and spiritual practices speak of one God, and Oneness in relation to the Spirit. Chinese culture calls this concept ‘Tao’. Taoist masters understood Oneness thousands of years ago. Advanced science has also proven – from the micro to the macro level – that there is only inseparability, only Oneness. Thanks to modern science, we understand what happens when we penetrate physical objects into this reality. We find nothing! There are waves and particles, but no basic building blocks of nature. Everything is connected; nothing exists in itself. There is only a dynamic realm of interpenetrating waves of possibilities and probabilities.
Everything visible and invisible in this reality is connected, from the subatomic to the galactic. Almost everything in our lives is based on these theories. While oceans of words have helped us understand Oneness intellectually from a scientific and spiritual level, TCM has used the word ‘Qi’ to describe this same phenomenon for thousands of years. It may be a different vocabulary, but scientists, spiritual leaders and enlightened Qigong masters all point to the same phenomenon of Oneness.
Multidimensional Qi
Qi can be understood multidimensionally in the human body. It covers its physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects. TCM understands that there is Universal Qi; it says that your body has Qi; your meridians are made of Qi. Qi unites all things. Qi is comparable to the energy field that quantum physics describes. Both disciplines understand that energy consists of force or power; everyone understands that this energy carries information and messages. Qi has a deeper meaning; it is movement and messages, intention and consciousness.
The principle of Yin-Yang and the Five Element Consciousness Framework allow practitioners to apply the concept of Oneness for prevention and creating better health by achieving balance at the body, mind and soul levels. For thousands of years, Taoist philosophy has described the individuation or creation of energy patterns arising from Oneness this way: “The ‘one’ split into two. Two created three. Three became an infinite number of things.” Everything starts from Unity.
Mutual relationships
Any form of relationship disruption is associated with less healthy metabolic function. All relationships in your life are connected. Illness and illness can be understood in terms of imbalances. Deep down they identify a problem with Unity. When everything is seen as separate, circumstances arise. Unity allows you to see that circumstances reflect relationship problems. Love changes everything. On a spiritual level, you have somehow become separated from the unconditional love, acceptance and compassion of the Universe’s love. Everything comes from the same source; yet this source lovingly allows different things to be expressed individually.
Nature is the best example of the manifestation of the love and unity of the mind. Nature knows how to work together. All trees know how to work together. Otherwise there would be no forests. Animals would not coexist in the same environment. Nature provides a beautiful image as it moves through the seasons to demonstrate the concept of unity and cooperation. It depends on how we want to see this.
Nature is a vast web of positive interrelationships between Qi, animals, plants and people. If we can apply this concept to healing, we will have an easier understanding of events and situations that we in our culture call illness and disease. We will gain a better understanding of food, nutrition and vitamins and the things we ask of our bodies. We will no longer see these as separate, isolated actions or things. We will stop believing the myth that things just ‘happen’ to us.
See connections
Separation is based on classical Newtonian science, where atoms are considered the smallest possible particles and time and space are separate entities that flow in only one direction. Today we know more. Our entire world is built on relativity and quantum mechanics. Things we take for granted – from X-rays to CT scans, from mobile phones to satellites – have their origins in modern physics and quantum theory. We cannot continue to operate as if Unity does not exist. Everything is connected.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, it took several weeks for a letter to reach a foreign country. Now the Internet delivers email in seconds. In our world, when one event happens, social media reports the details faster than official news sources. Modern science has helped us break many concepts and see many things from a completely different framework. Can you embrace this way of seeing Oneness in your life?
For example, in the healthcare field, instead of simply getting vitamin D from an external source, I hope you will at least ask yourself, “Why is my body suddenly lacking this element when I could create it before? What is happening here? What has changed in my internal or external relationships that is now preventing me from producing vitamin D?”
Life is about love
Ultimately, life is about love. It’s about faith, trust, compassion and acceptance. These qualities ensure that my patients, and I, can change. We can look at nature and its emotions; wind, rain, trees, plants all have emotions. They all express themselves in this dimension by manifesting the highest level of their metabolic function. Life depends on love. Health is in life. When we talk about health, one of the ingredients, one of the areas that we should not neglect, is creating healthy changes. Health is much more
than the absence of disease. If we really want to make significant progress in the field of chronic conditions, the most essential breakthrough we can make is to love ourselves and recognize that we are lovable and loved. The whole concept of Oneness is: “As above, so below. As external, so internal.”
Excerpted from Digesting the Universe by Nan Lu, OMD with Ellen Schaplowsky