Now, let us turn our attention to the relationship between acupuncture and climate change. The word “climate” in Chinese consists of two characters. The first one is 天, which means “sky” as well as the set of natural laws that govern how Earth and celestial bodies are in relationship with each other.
The second character is 氣. Guess what, it is the Qi. So to the Chinese, climate represents the Qi, the immaterial overlay of nature, all the “stuff” that the materialistic and reductionist Hard Reality science has invalidated, ignored or subjugated as “secondary” properties!
Not only were the ancient Chinese aware of Qi, the immaterial medium that connects between different parts of a body and speaks the intelligence of the body; they also recognized that nature, just like our human body, communicates between its different parts through its own Qi, the climate pattern!
If we choose to perceive nature as an intelligent system, then climate is its language. When I listen, I hear that Climate Change is nature’s way to communicate to us: “Stop your obsession with the power you have wielded through Hard Reality science. Pay attention to the Soft Reality. It is real in its own way too!”
The Qi of nature and the Qi of a human are inter-connected. In Chinese medicine diagnosis, we would use the atmospheric factors to describe the quality of Qi in a person, such as heat, cold, dampness, and dryness. And each of these atmospheric factors is associated with a spectrum of emotional quality as well.
In Chinese language, the character Qi, 氣, is also associated with psychological and emotional qualities ranging from bravery, determination, compassion to resentment, ill intention and wrath. Qi is simply the non-dualistic potential, able to express itself through all spectrums of subjective experience. In other words, the climate of nature and the climate of our subjective, emotional experience is a continuous whole, with one influencing another.
Maybe quantum physics just started to break into areas of knowledge that would one day provide us with logical explanations of how the internal climate and the external climate continually influence each other. For now, we know that climate change is calling humans to collaborate at an unprecedented scale and depth. It is calling us to embark on an incredibly challenging journey.
Theecologist
