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16: ALIGNMENTS
By William C Bushell
The new, emerging bioelectricity revolution in the human life and health sciences, to which we have been referring (see, especially, the last two installments, above), has been, in turn, leading to more of an “alignment” between Western and Eastern scientific traditions, especially concerning innate, endogenous forms of human energies, energies which have until recently largely escaped mainstream Western science and culture generally (see previous installments and, eg, Tonov et al 2020; Gong et al 2019; Bushell et al 2009; Bushell et al, in progress). In addition, as a medical/biophysical anthropologist, my knowledgebase includes other nonWestern traditions of energy knowledge/science, including Middle Eastern and African, among others, to which these generalizations also apply (see above, and eg, Katz 1984; Hall et al 2001; Bushell et al, in progress).
These points are raised again here in this series in order to emphasize the importance of a new form of integrative science in this field of study, which can now incorporate extremely valuable methodologies from Western or cosmopolitan science (Bushell et al, in progress), methodologies which can, when appropriately applied, complement those of these other knowledge/science traditions. As we will continue to show, the application of state-of-the-art cosmopolitan scientific methodologies to, for example, demonstrations of extraordinary, adept-level innate energetic phenomena, will bring the true human dimension of the “bioelectricity revolution” to the profound discovery of this endogenous human potential, beyond the present extremely limited focuses on “subtle energy,” biotechnology, and transhumanist agendas (more on these latter to follow in the series).
Specifically, the present author and his collaborating research team have witnessed such kinds of demonstrations by practitioners of special martial arts traditions, such as the Mo Pai (see Olsen 2011; McDuffe, nd) and the Longmen (Pregadio 2014), which include the apparent production of pronounced electrical shocks in volunteers, the production of (small but robust) heat-induced blisters in volunteers, and even the apparent incineration of newspapers – all apparently generated via the hands of the advanced practitioners. In some cases we have been able to subject such demonstrations to rough clinical/experimental conditions (or, in medical anthropological terms, “field clinical conditions”; Bushell et al, in progress).
While these latter demonstrations are (putatively) of a destructive nature, these traditions emphasize that such capacities can be used for both martial, as well as healing – and self-healing – objectives. In installment 14 above, we presented a loose, informal listing of potential positive outcomes to appropriately enhanced bioelectricity, a list for which there was at least some preliminary scientific evidence, of one form or another, which we reproduce here:
- enhanced tissue integrity and viability, across categories of tissues and organs
- optimal healing of wounds and other lesions, and tissue regeneration
- the absence of excessive, destructive levels of inflammation
- the absence of basic oncogenic processes and clinical cancer
- the absence of harmful infectious agents (bacteria, viruses, parasites, etc)
- optimal functional systemic energy levels
- optimal health and functioning
- enhanced longevity (potentially including life and health span)
In future installments, we will be reviewing the new model (Bushell et al, in progress) of adept-level bioelectric/bioenergetic practices and achievements, and their implications for this list as well as other potentially profound forms of enhancements.
References
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Bushell WC, Spector NH, Theise ND. From the global to the local: possible pathways for the transduction of Indo-Sino-Tibetan cognitive-behavioral practices into site-specific, tissue-regenerative effects. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Aug;1172:74-87. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04412.x. PMID: 19735241.
Bushell WC et al, in progress. New and Old Discoveries in Human Performance Science and Human Biology: Adepts, the Interstitium, and New Models in Human Bioelectricity/Bioenergetics.
Funk RHW, Scholkmann F. The significance of bioelectricity on all levels of organization of an organism. Part 1: From the subcellular level to cells. Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2023 Jan;177:185-201. doi: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2022.12.002. Epub 2022 Dec 5. PMID: 36481271.
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Hall H, Don NS, Hussein JN, White E, Hostoffer R. The scientific study of unusual rapid wound healing: a case report. Adv Mind Body Med. 2001 Summer;17(3):203-9. doi: 10.1054/ambm.2000.0314. PMID: 11572849.
Katz, R. Boiling Energy; Community Healing among the Kalahari Kung. Harvard University Press, 1984.
McDuffe J. Bio Electrical NeiGong. Scribd, nd.
Olsen, SA, editor and translator. Tai Ji Quan Treatise: Attributed to the Song Dynasty Daoist Priest Zhang Sanfeng (Daoist Immortal Three Peaks Zhang Series). Phoenix, AZ: Valley Spirit Arts, 2011.
Pregadio F. The Longmen (Dragon Gate) Lineage; Historical Notes. Mountainview, CA: Golden Elixir Press, 2014.
Tomov N, Atanasova D, Dimitrov N. Is the Newly Described Interstitial Network the Anatomical Basis of Acupuncture Meridians? A Commentary. Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2020 Aug;303(8):2169-2170. doi: 10.1002/ar.24114. Epub 2019 Apr 9. PMID: 30874366.
