…so in light of the germ theory of disease and its implications, is there any room for ancient chinese medicine?
Well, not if it’s intention is to cure people of their ailments at least, since it is incredibly clear that the germ theory of disease has managed to identify much more that imbalances in spirit ever did.
Can we say clearly then that there is likely no such thing as a spirit?
Not the one above, that film, unfortunately, exists, although any movie that’s rated ‘two thumbs up’ should probably be looked at with about as much scepticism.
Well, it depends how you picture a spirit, if it exists outside a testable realm there is absolutely no way we can ever prove or disprove its existence, however, if you believe there is evidence that the spirit exists, then surely that evidence is testable, and therefore we would have the ability to test its plausibility.
It just so happens that when people have strokes, or brain damage, and lose certain bits of their personality, that would imply that the spirit, if it exists, does not contain our personality, and that our personality, language etc. are a phenomenon with its root in neurology rather than spirituality.
With that in mind, what is left for a spirit to encompass?
Just the simple fact of being alive?
Because in that case, when does something gain a spirit?
Single celled organisms?
Viruses?
Only humans?
It can’t be just me that sees this reasoning as rather convoluted, with the boundary of when we can say something is alive infinitely blurry, when, if ever, would the concept of a spirit manifest?
And back on the subject of medicine, if chakra, or qi, was indeed the source of our ailments, would it not make sense that techniques based on the manipulation of these techniques would produce more than just a placebo effect? Would surgery or drugs disturb this pattern due to their workings on a biochemical and physical basis?
Due to the fact that science based medicine has done wonders for human health since the inception of the germ theory of disease into our culture, and that the efficacy of alternative practices is much less than viable, can we not postulate that one method of treating ailments is superior to the other?
And could it be the one that has actually been proven to work?
This is not to say it’s not possible for different interpretations of the spirit to be correct, however implausible they may be considering what we know about the universe so far, but that these aspects surely have been long put to bed, and the fact that they still (ironically) haunt modern culture is more than disturbing considering the wilful ignorance it takes to ignore the mounting evidence to the contrary.
