Energy (esotericism)

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Proponents and practitioners of various esoteric forms of spirituality and alternative medicine refer to a variety of claimed experiences and phenomena as being due to "energy" or "force" that defy measurement or experimentation, and thus are distinguished from the scientific form of energy. [1] [2]

Contents

Claims related to energy therapies are most often anecdotal, rather than being based on repeatable empirical evidence, thus not following the scientific method. [3] [4] [5]

There is no scientific evidence for the existence of such energy, [2] [1] and physics educators criticize the use of the term "energy" to describe ideas in esotericism and spirituality as potentially confusing. [6]

History

Concepts such as "life force", " qi " and " élan vital " existed from antiquity. In the 18th century, Franz Mesmer ignited debate with his theory of animal magnetism. Attention to vitalism grew in the 18th and 19th centuries. Interest continued into the 20th century, largely fuelled by adherents of the New Age movement. [1] [2]

As biologists studied embryology and developmental biology, particularly before the discovery of genes, a variety of organisational forces were posited to account for their observations. German biologist Hans Driesch (1867–1941), proposed entelechy, an energy which he believed controlled organic processes. [7] [ unreliable source ] However such ideas are discredited and modern science has all but abandoned the attempt to associate additional energetic properties with life. [7]

It is not the scientific concept of energy that is being referred to in the context of spirituality and alternative medicine. As Brian Dunning writes:

That's all that energy is: a measurement of work capability. But in popular culture, 'energy' has somehow become a noun. "Energy" is often spoken of as if it is a thing unto itself, like a region of glowing power, that can be contained and used. Here's a good test. When you hear the word "energy" used, substitute the phrase "measurable work capability". Does the usage still make sense? Remember, energy itself is not the thing being measured: energy is the measurement of work performed or of potential... Thus, this New Age concept of the body having an "energy field" is fatally doomed. There is no such thing as an energy field; they are two unrelated concepts. [8]

Despite the lack of scientific support, spiritual writers and thinkers have maintained ideas about energy and continue to promote them either as useful allegories or as fact. [9] The field of energy medicine purports to manipulate energy, but there is no credible evidence to support this. [3]

The concept of "qi" (energy) appears throughout traditional East Asian culture, such as in the art of feng shui and Chinese martial arts. [10] Qi philosophy also includes the notion of "negative qi", typically understood as introducing negative moods like outright fear or more moderate expressions like social anxiety or awkwardness. [11] Deflecting this negative qi through geomancy is a preoccupation in feng shui. [12] The traditional explanation of acupuncture states that it works by manipulating the circulation of qi through a network of meridians. [13]

Locations

There are various sacred natural sites that people of various belief systems find numinous or having an "energy" with significance to humans. [14] The idea that some kind of "negative energy" is responsible for creating or attracting ghosts or demons appears in contemporary paranormal culture and beliefs as exemplified in the TV shows Paranormal State and Ghost Hunters . [15]

See also

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<i>Qi</i> Vital force in traditional Chinese philosophy

In traditional Chinese culture and the East Asian cultural sphere, qi, also ch'i in Wade–Giles romanization or chi, is believed to be a vital force forming part of any living entity. Literally meaning "vapor", "air", or "breath", the word qi is a polysemous word often translated as "vital energy", "vital force", "material energy", or simply as "energy". Qi is a mythical concept in traditional Chinese medicine and in Chinese martial arts. The attempt to cultivate and balance qi is called qigong.

The meaning of spirituality has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape of man", oriented at "the image of God" as exemplified by the founders and sacred texts of the religions of the world. The term was used within early Christianity to refer to a life oriented toward the Holy Spirit and broadened during the Late Middle Ages to include mental aspects of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reiki</span> Pseudoscientific healing technique

Reiki is a Japanese form of energy healing, a type of alternative medicine. Reiki practitioners use a technique called palm healing or hands-on healing through which, according to practitioners, a "universal energy" is transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the patient, to encourage emotional or physical healing.

Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Where vitalism explicitly invokes a vital principle, that element is often referred to as the "vital spark", "energy", "élan vital", "vital force", or "vis vitalis", which some equate with the soul. In the 18th and 19th centuries, vitalism was discussed among biologists, between those who felt that the known mechanics of physics would eventually explain the difference between life and non-life and vitalists who argued that the processes of life could not be reduced to a mechanistic process. Vitalist biologists such as Johannes Reinke proposed testable hypotheses meant to show inadequacies with mechanistic explanations, but their experiments failed to provide support for vitalism. Biologists now consider vitalism in this sense to have been refuted by empirical evidence, and hence regard it either as a superseded scientific theory, or, since the mid-20th century, as a pseudoscience.

Spiritual is the adjective for spirit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feng shui</span> Chinese traditional practice

Feng shui, sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is an ancient Chinese traditional practice which claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term feng shui means, literally, "wind-water". From ancient times, landscapes and bodies of water were thought to direct the flow of the universal Qi – "cosmic current" or energy – through places and structures. More broadly, feng shui includes astronomical, astrological, architectural, cosmological, geographical and topographical dimensions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orgone</span> Pseudoscientific concept by Wilhelm Reich

Orgone is a pseudoscientific concept variously described as an esoteric energy or hypothetical universal life force. Originally proposed in the 1930s by Wilhelm Reich, and developed by Reich's student Charles Kelley after Reich's death in 1957, orgone was conceived as the anti-entropic principle of the universe, a creative substratum in all of nature comparable to Mesmer's animal magnetism (1779), to the Odic force (1845) of Carl Reichenbach and to Henri Bergson's élan vital (1907). Orgone was seen as a massless, omnipresent substance, similar to luminiferous aether, but more closely associated with living energy than with inert matter. It could allegedly coalesce to create organization on all scales, from the smallest microscopic units—called "bions" in orgone theory—to macroscopic structures like organisms, clouds, or even galaxies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odic force</span> Hypothetical vital energy or life force

Odic force was a hypothetical vital energy or life force believed by some in the mid-19th century. The name was coined by Baron Carl von Reichenbach in 1845 in reference to the Germanic god Odin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aura (paranormal)</span> Parapsychological and spiritual concept

According to spiritual beliefs, an aura or energy field is a colored emanation said to enclose a human body or any animal or object. In some esoteric positions, the aura is described as a subtle body. Psychics and holistic medicine practitioners often claim to have the ability to see the size, color and type of vibration of an aura.

Biofield may refer to:

Energy field may refer to:

Energy medicine is a branch of alternative medicine based on a pseudo-scientific belief that healers can channel "healing energy" into a patient and effect positive results. The field is defined by shared beliefs and practices relating to mysticism and esotericism in the wider alternative medicine sphere rather than any sort of unified terminology, leading to terms such as energy healing or vibrational medicine being used as synonymous or alternative names. In most cases there is no empirically measurable energy involved: the term refers instead to so-called subtle energy. Practitioners may classify the practice as hands-on, hands-off, and distant where the patient and healer are in different locations. Many schools of energy healing exist using many names: for example, biofield energy healing, spiritual healing, contact healing, distant healing, therapeutic touch, Reiki or Qigong.

Quantum healing is a pseudoscientific mixture of ideas which purportedly draws from quantum mechanics, psychology, philosophy, and neurophysiology. Advocates of quantum healing assert that quantum phenomena govern health and wellbeing. There are different versions, which allude to various quantum ideas including wave particle duality and virtual particles, and more generally to "energy" and to vibrations. Quantum healing is a form of alternative medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qigong</span> Chinese system of coordinated posture and movement, breathing, and meditation

Qigong, is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts, qigong is traditionally viewed by the Chinese and throughout Asia as a practice to cultivate and balance the mythical life-force qi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorpuncture</span> Scientific alternative medicine practice

Colorpuncture, cromopuncture, or color light acupuncture, is a pseudoscientific alternative medicine practice based on "mystical or supernatural" beliefs which asserts that colored lights can be used to stimulate acupuncture points to promote healing and better health. It is a form of chromotherapy or color therapy. There is no known anatomical or histological basis for the existence of acupuncture points or meridians, and there is no scientific support for the efficacy of colorpuncture.

Qigong, the Chinese practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and martial arts training, has a history that extends back more than 4,000 years. Contemporary qigong is a complex accretion of the ancient Chinese meditative practice xingqior "circulating qi" and the gymnastic breathing exercise daoyin or "guiding and pulling", with roots in the I Ching and occult arts; philosophical traditions of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts; along with influences of contemporary concepts of health, science, meditation, and exercise.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Stenger, Victor J (Spring–Summer 1999). "Bioenergetic Fields". The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine. 3 (1). Archived from the original on 2016-05-08. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  2. 1 2 3 Smith, Jonathan C. (2010). Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 268–274. ISBN   978-1405181228.
  3. 1 2 "energy – (according to New Age thinking)". The Skeptic's Dictionary. 2011-12-19. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
  4. ↑ "Some Notes on Wilhelm Reich, M.D". Quackwatch.org. 2002-02-15. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
  5. ↑ Jarvis, William T. (2000-12-01). "Reiki". National Council Against Health Fraud. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
  6. ↑ Arias, A. G. (August 2012). "Use and misuse of the concept energy". Latin American Journal of Physics Education. 6 (1): 400. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.669.3285 .
  7. 1 2 Bechtel, William; Richardson, Robert C. (1998). "Vitalism". William Bechtel's Web. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
  8. ↑ Dunning, Brian (22 April 2014). "Skeptoid #411: Your Body's Alleged Energy Fields". Skeptoid .; Also see Dunning, Brian (11 October 2006). "Skeptoid #2: New Age Energy: An examination of energy, as new agers use the term". Skeptoid .
  9. ↑ Jonas, WB; Crawford, CC (March 2003). "Science and spiritual healing: a critical review of spiritual healing, "energy" medicine, and intentionality". Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 9 (2): 56–61. PMID   12652884.
  10. ↑ Latham, Kevin (2007). Pop Culture China!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 285. ISBN   978-1851095827.
  11. ↑ Van Norden, Bryan W. (2011). Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy. Hackett Publishing. p. 98. ISBN   978-1603846158.
  12. ↑ Leonard, George J. (1999). The Asian Pacific American Heritage: A Companion to Literature and Arts. New York: Garland Publishing. p. 204. ISBN   978-0203344590.
  13. ↑ Lawson-Wood, Denis; Lawson-Wood, Joyce (1983). Acupuncture Handbook. Health Science Press. p. 133. ISBN   0-8277-1427-0.
  14. ↑ Ivakhiv, Adrian (24 February 2007). "Orchestrating Sacred Space: Beyond the 'Social Construction' of Nature" (PDF). Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture . 8 (1): 11–29. doi:10.1558/ecotheology.v8i1.1642. ISSN   1363-7320 . Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  15. ↑ Fahy, Thomas (2010). The Philosophy of Horror . Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. p.  77. ISBN   978-0813125732.
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