[a letter to my QiGong instructor]
Dear XXXXXXX,
Regarding the key political issue behind the objection to Kavanaugh (women’s rights), from an entirely ‘scientific’ point of view, what is ancient TCM’s [Traditional Chinese Medicine’s] view on when humans are endowed with individual awareness – shen or consciousness?
I assume the presumption is that we acquire all three human aspects (jing, chi & shen) [form, energy & consciousness] simultaneously – that seems consistent with the TCM calendar calculating age from conception.
Is that same ‘scientific’ argument applied at the end of life? In other words, when do we lose our shen, the intangible aspect of ourselves?
Specifically, if a human body is no longer physically or energetically independent, does it still have shen? That answer is easy: yes! Everything is infused with shen. If a rock has consciousness, so does a human body regardless of its condition.
While Western medicine says it’s OK to pull the plug on someone in a vegetative state, from a yogi’s point of view, someone in a vegetative state is actually, literally in the penultimate yogic state – in which their consciousness has nothing to be aware of other than itself – and the eternal aspect of each of us rests in the awareness of itself.
So from a wholly objective, non-judgmental, scientific (as opposed to heartfelt) point of view, a yogi’s position would be: no abortion; no pulling the plug.
But that’s obviously not a practical application of yogic theory. Yogis come from the heart.
Just wondering what the ancient Chinese thought about the beginning and end of shen.
Thank you, Skip 🙏
