Health Beyond Civilization

The Chinese, among others, have developed a philosophical framework to understand health based on the notion of qi, or vital energy. It can constitute a very useful set of metaphors to use in organizing the cultivation of one’s own health.

According to the Chinese, the three most basic types of energy related to physiology, termed the “Three Treasures,” are:

• Jing, or innate essence
• Qi, or vital energy
• Shen, or mental energy

Jing can be considered potential energy. It’s the “battery charge” we come into the world with, the genetic and inherited and ancestral influences. Some people are born with a lot of jing and they don’t have to do much to be or stay healthy; they can eat anything and do anything and still be running circles around you. Other people are born with very little jing, and they are sick from day one, and maybe even have some disabilities.

Potential energy is useless, though, unless it’s converted into something usable. In physics it’s kinetic energy; in Chinese medicine it’s qi. This is all of the things for which we use up the charge on our batteries: All of our basic physiological functions, like eating and digesting and moving around; all of our ways of interacting with the world, like walking and talking. Pretty much everything, really, is based on the flow of qi.

Finally, even kinetic energy is useless unless there’s something to direct its movement and make it purposeful. That’s the shen, the mind and the emotions.

Though placed in distinct categories, functionally they all flow into each other. Pushing yourself until your qi is depleted and you’re really tired will affect your ability to function mentally and make you irritable and moody. Thinking and worrying too much will, likewise, affect your physical energy, maybe disrupt your digestion.

(Confusingly, the word “qi” has a kind of amorphous definition in Chinese. It can be used very specifically, as in this context of the Three Treasures; but it can also be used generally, to refer to all three of the Treasures.)

To some extent, jing can’t be changed. It’s your genetic destiny, and no matter how hard you try, you can’t change your genes, you can’t change your birth traumas, you can’t change your ancestry or ethnic origin or race. At the level of the jing, then, it’s important to identify who you are, and know what your strengths and limitations are; not as a chain, but as a baseline. Something to know and to accept.

Qi, though … Qi can be cultivated. It can be seeded and gardened and grown.

Why is this important? Because from the point of view of qi, a person is unhealthy because of two basic reasons. Either the energy is not flowing properly, i.e. it’s stuck somewhere; or there’s just plain not enough of it.

Hence, the basic principles of becoming healthier are:

1. Build energy
2. Circulate energy

Pretty simple, actually.

Like a growing plant, the energy you grow in your body depends on a variety of influences. We’ve already briefly touched on the digestion, the importance of quality food entering the system; and on breathing. Basically, all of the common sense practices that you’ve heard of, which we’ll discuss in more detail later, can be seen in this light as attempts to provide a better environment in which to grow your qi. Sleeping regularly and enough. Drinking enough water. Exercising enough. Moving your bowels regularly.

If you’re willing to accept the idea that qi is more than just a metaphor, there are also things you can do to build qi. The Chinese have a whole category of these exercises, called qigong; but the Chinese don’t have a monopoly on this. Yoga is another widely known set of practices that have its roots in energy cultivation.

I’d like to encourage people to start treating their bodies as a garden, to start adjusting their physiological environment to cultivate energy. This can do a world of good for the health.

And this is important, too, because it goes beyond just physical health. In fact, in modern civilization, many of us have ready access to quality food and rest but are destroying our health nonetheless — and how? Through stress. Through damaging the shen.

The mind and the feelings are intimately related to the physical body, and these absolutely need to be considered as part of the garden of energy. If you start looking for energy “leaks,” you’ll find them not only in poor sleeping or diet habits, but in your behavior and mental habits. What good is it if you rest well and eat well, if you smoke two packs a day? And, what good is it if you rest well and eat well, but you use a lot of energy worrying about your job or fantasizing about revenge or something like that?

Moderate your diet, your sleep, your sexual habits. And moderate your thought life and your feeling life.

At this point it begins to look like you’re supposed to live like a monk. Not necessarily so. Obviously, life happens. But think about this: What is your energy for, anyway? In other words, why are you alive? What is the purpose for which you were born, to have all of this jing and qi and shen to use up?

This is the orienting principle of your energy. Discover that purpose, then organize your garden around it. It’s like saving money. Why save money, why put hard-earned wages into a bank account to sit? Not to deprive yourself of enjoyment. Not because someone says you should. But because you want to be happy and live a fulfilling life. Part of that means having enough money/energy to weather the hard times, the low periods. And part of that means you’re working towards something.

And believe me, if you’re interested in the transition to a less “civilized” life, it will take a lot of energy. Even now we see gas prices skyrocketing. What will happen when you have to bike or walk more? What’ll happen if air conditioning and heating become so expensive to be out of reach? What’ll happen if we’re all forced to grow or hunt or gather our own food? You’ll need more energy. And energy shifts like that aren’t just about more physical exertion, they’re about changes in daily habits, which flow over into a change in general lifestyle. Changing habits is often not very fun; we’re addicted to oil, we’re addicted to a lot of things in our cushy little society — and that means a period of withdrawal. In any addiction, it takes willpower and hence energy to make it through to the other side.

So, cultivate your energy in yourself, and use it to build yourself — physically, and everything else too — so that by the time you’re called on to use it, you’re ready.

(And also remember: An excess of moderation … is not moderate!)