acupuncture and phytotherapy |

As the reader might have noticed I have particular fondness for discussions on the basic concepts of Chinese medicine. Especially when they are maimed by vitalist beliefs. The conversation always ends up in energy and its many esoteric variations that are never completely unbderstood.

Generally when it gets resolved the issue of poor translation of some chinese medicine tecnical terms some of my interlocutors tend to confront me with their personal experiences. These experiences range from feeling “energy points” to “see the energy and the energy channels”…  which are the meridians…, and never described by the TCM as energy channels (technical details!).

Feel the energy of the points is always something I like to discuss. Because people just feel the points they were taught. The points that they curiously never learned should not have much energy to be felt. Obviously, professionals who learn different acupuncture points will only feel the acupuncture points they have learned so that you never quite understand what are the points that really can be felt. On this subject I published an article and even did a professional critique.

This new article focuses on another personal experience: seeing energy. But before we proceed with the energy fantasies let’s talk a bit about the electromagnetic spectrum and human anatomy.

What is the electromagnetic spectrum?

The electromagnetic spectrum consists of waves that self-propagate through space.These waves have different wavelengths. The electromagnetic spectrum is the set of all these waves. You can see the image in the form of an electromagnetic wave, it consists of an electric field and a perpendicular magnetic field.

Depending on the wave peaks are closer or more distant, states that the frequency is higher or lower. For acupuncturists the best way to mentally visualize the frequency is thinking of electric stimulation: the electrical stimulation may be selected to have a higher frequency (wave peaks very close to each other) and feel “hits” or successive lower frequencies and feel “hits” more widely spaced.

the shorter the wavelength the higher the frequency and the longer the wavelength the lower the frequency. The human eye detects only a few wavelengths

The electromagnetic spectrum starts with the lowest frequency wave that is called extremely low frequency and has the English acronym ELF (extremely low frequency).Then there is the very low frequency and microwave radiation (which also served to christen an appliance whose success depends on her behalf: microwave!). Soon after come the infrared, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays (which are the same used in radiography), and gamma rays (used in nuclear medicine studies). Gamma rays have higher frequencies, ie, their wave peaks are very close to each other.

How does the human eye work?

When we see something basically what happens is that the electromagnetic waves (light) is captured by these photoreceptor cells that transform light waves into electrochemical impulses. They are called photoreceptor cells that receive photons (which are particles of light. They are special particles since they have no mass).

However, these photoreceptor cells only receive a particular type of electromagnetic waves. They are prepared to receive electromagnetic waves of specific wavelengths. So when we break a leg we need to make a radiograph. Our eyes do not turn the X-ray electrochemical impulses automatically and can not see our broken bones. So we can see the microwave device but not see the microwave that heats the food.

The wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that humans can perceive is called visible light. We speak of wavelengths that lie between the infrared and ultraviolet.Visible light is not a wavelength. Are several. These wavelengths we call colors. The yellow, blue, green, are wavelengths. So they use terms such as infrared (below red) or ultraviolet (above violet).

What nature teaches us?

Just search on Google or spend an afternoon watching the National Geographic to see that different animals have very different eyes. The human, snake, dog, eagle. They all have different eyes and they all have different vision capabilities. Physiognomy has logic in anatomy. The different anatomies indicate different capabilities of each animal.

It is very important to be aware of the importance of anatomy. The lion has different ocular anatomical structures that allow him to see better at night than humans. Eagle Eye has a different anatomical structure that lets her see at great distances. The man has an eye anatomical structure that lets him see colors and have a large field of view, etc…

See the energy

When someone tells me that sees the energy my first question is: what is its color. Nobody notices that when you set the color of something (in this case the energy can be yellow or bluish green or any variation thereof) is setting his wavelength and say, “it should be visible to everyone because it is the length of wave to which human eyes are adapted.” Which leaves one question: if everyone should be seeing at this wavelength why nobody sees it. It reminds me of the visions of spirits in which people describe the colors of spirits clothes… these colors that nobody else could see. It’s simple to know why most people do not see the energy in color … because there is really nothing to see.

However, there is always some resistance than say she has no color. It is visible but no color can be describe. Thus we speak of a different wavelength than the wavelength of visible light. All right here. The problem is this: if this person actually has the ability to see other wavelengths than visible light, then how is it that has eyes exactly like ours?
Mandatorily would necessarily have photoreceptor cells specific to this wavelength and this would be reflected in the anatomy of the eye. But miraculously has eyes similar to those of any mortal who is only able to see the wavelength of visible light.

Opening minds my dear Lemos

I know, the reader must be thinking: “how does one type just as skeptical ends up as an acupuncture professional?” And it should also be thinking “science does not explain everything!”… “Is it possible that this guy does not have such open-mindedness? ”. Well, the first argument is a bit more to the psychoanalyst than to this article, the second argument is actually a no argument and the third will prove to be false in the next lines. But be careful, open-minded and anarchy beliefs are very different things. Open-mindedness does not imply the absence of a well-informed and skeptical analysis. Rather, the desire to believe is that has nothing to do with an open mind (and any religion serves as proof of what I’m saying!).

There are some arguments that if they could be used to try to counteract what I wrote:

Perhaps the anatomical changes are only at the cellular level and are not observed at first sight

Let us consider this hypothesis. However there are plenty of people who see the energy and wear glasses. To use the glasses they went to ophthalmologist. The optician took exams… I made myself clear? It is quite interesting that people who can see different wavelengths of visible light then need to go to the doctor because they have poor vision in the distance… and the poor ophthalmologist does not notices that their eyes are quite different from any human being minimally normal. And attention: the idea that these anatomical changes do not manifest the macroscopic level is already open mind to break the ridiculous.

Obviously that it´s also necessary to explain how is it possible that people who see the world through the other wavelengths can describe exactly the same way that other people using visible light. Indeed these people would describe a completely different world from ours. There I am being skeptical again.

It may be that the answer is not in the eyes. There may be receptors in the brain and the waves are detected directly by the brain.

This argument also addresses the variation that can get to nature, using examples like the snake or a bat. Let us consider this argument: perhaps the eyes only capture visible light but there are brain receptors that pick up other wavelengths. Maybe.

But this would actually involve anatomical and physiological changes in the brains of people. We returned to the same problem. These differences do not exist. In desperation we also think that as the brain is enclosed in the cranial box receivers can not be seen.

Actually different animals have different cranial boxes for the simple reason that they have anatomically different brains, which means they have different reasoning abilities, hearing, vision, etc…

There’s also technology that allows us to study the brain at work. Obviously it never detected anything of the kind of special receptors for other wavelengths. Also remember that many people are not born with this gift. Develop it through meditation and “energetic workout.” What is interesting is that their anatomy is still the same!

Obviously we can take the easy answer: the science is not ready to study this phenomenon or measure it. But this is no longer open mind. It’s just a lame excuse, not an argument, so we can convince ourselves that our fantasies are real! This is called open-mindedness for the believers.

And the reader can have an open mind to accept the inevitable? Or would you prefer to see auras and energy green and yellow when no one else sees?