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What is Qi? Part II
In What is Qi? Part I, we took a look at the
historical development and cultural similarities between Chinese, Indian and
Greco-Roman theories of the causes of illness and how illnesses were
treated. As I noted, the methodologies
were somewhat different but the concepts were very much alike. The idea of humors or certain fluids within
the body combining with the elements of nature had much to do with the states
of health and illness in all three systems.
Although here in the West, scientific discoveries
eventually took us away from the naturalistic view of illness into a more
mechanistic view of the body and the causes of disease, science is now moving
us full circle back to that holistic model.
To answer our question of what is qi (chi), we must for the moment separate from medical science and
instead look at a theoretical area of science - the quantum theory - and in particular realativistic quantum theory as
opposed to nonrealativistic quantum
theory. Then we must further address this view with what we know of Tai Chi, Qigong and Yogic practices
from an Eastern perspective.
Hopefully, what we achieve will be a holistic
world-view of what is Qi.
First of all, in nonrelativistic quantum theory,
particles are assumed to be neither created nor destroyed, to move slowly
relative to the speed of light, and to have a mass that does not change with
velocity. This corresponds to classical Newtonian physics. In our own physical structures this relates
to the energy produced in the mitochondria of our cells through the digestive,
respiration and oxidative processes that covert food into a form of energy, Adenosine-triphosphate (ATP).
Relativistic quantum theory, on the other hand, applies
to particles that have zero rest mass or travel at or near the speed of light.
For our particular case, the investigation of Qi energy, we will be dealing with one such particle known as a
photon.
In 1900 Max Planck
discovered that heat radiation from a black box is emitted and absorbed in
distinct units, which he called quanta. Planck's law (E = hf, where the Planck constant h = 6.6 x 10-34 and
f is the frequency of the radiation) accurately describes the amount of
energy emitted by a black body in the form of electromagnetic radiation of a
certain wavelength. Black body radiation
is the unique stable distribution for radiation in thermodynamic equilibrium.
In 1905 Albert Einstein explained the photoelectric effect, proposing the
existence of discrete energy packets in light or, what became known, as a photon, a minute energy packet of
electromagnetic radiation. The energies of photons range from high-energy gamma
rays and X rays to low-energy infrared and radio waves, though all travel at
the same speed, the speed of light.
Photons have no electric charge or rest mass and are the carriers of the
electromagnetic field.
In physics, a photon gas is a
gas-like collection of photons that has many of the same properties of a conventional
gas like hydrogen or oxygen which includes pressure, temperature, and entropy
(a thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system's thermal
energy for conversion into mechanical work, often interpreted as the degree of disorder or randomness in the system.) The most common example of a photon gas in
equilibrium is black body radiation as state above.
A massive ideal gas with only one
type of particle (i.e. oxygen or hydrogen) is uniquely described by three state
functions: temperature, volume, and the number of particles. However, for a
black body, the energy distribution is established by the interaction of the
photons with matter, usually the walls of the container. In this interaction,
the number of photons is not conserved. As a result, the chemical potential of
the black body photon gas is zero. The number of state functions needed to
describe a black body state is thus reduced from three to only temperature and
volume.
Now let us look at the big picture
– our biosphere.
In order to get more organized, the Biosphere requires an influx
of 'negative entropy' from external
sources and then releases it back to its environment (the Universe) in order to
conform to the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
So, what is negative
entropy or negentropy?
Well, if entropy is disorder then negative entropy, also called
negentropy, must be order or organization.
All living things attempt to modify their environment for their own
needs by creating what for them is order.
In 1943 Erwin Schrödinger,
Nobel Lauriate in Physics, used the concept of “negative entropy” in his popular-science book What is Life? According
to Schrodinger, a living system imports negentropy
and stores it. Life feeds on negative
entropy. As long as a life form
exists, it creates negative entropy, which we observe as the creation of order.
The creation of negative entropy is a reversal of the law of entropy.
What is the source of negative entropy?
A sun’s energy is highly organized and carried by photons. A biosphere anywhere in the Universe absorbs this energy and then releases it
back to its environment, the Universe, so that the overall balance of energy is
zero. Our Biosphere extracts negative
entropy in the process of exchanging "Hot"
Photons from the black body radiation of the Sun at a temperature of 5800
degrees Kelvin into "Cold"
Photons absorbed by our Biosphere.
Then the black body radiation from our Biosphere and Earth at 280
degrees Kelvin (7 degrees Celsius) flows to the Universe, which is at a
temperature of a cold 3 degrees Kelvin (-270 C, -454 F). This
process is responsible for the mysterious "Life
Force" or Qi.
Another source of 'natural energy' besides the Sun is geothermal
energy. However, geothermal energy is
comparatively minor, since ice caps have formed on the Earth's poles where the
average intensity of the Sun's radiation is low. Therefore, the total balance
of energy for the Biosphere is on average zero for energy from the Sun. This means that the same amount of energy that is
absorbed from the Sun is released into the Universe when the Biosphere is in a
steady-state condition.
Thus we have three thermodynamic structures - the Sun, the
Biosphere and the Universe - with no net energy gain. Instead of accumulating energy, the
Biosphere, when it is in steady-state condition, accumulates negative entropy
or negentropy and increases in organization. This is the difference between the entropy of
absorbed radiation and the emitted radiation at longer wavelengths of photons.
This influx of the negative entropy is the magic "Life Force" responsible for
the organization of organic and non-organic matter into more complex, living
things.
Over time, biological systems have evolved in such a way that they
efficiently extract negative entropy from the black body, photon radiation of
the Sun. But how is this done? How
does Life on Earth steal Qi energy from the Sun?
This is done through a process called photosynthesis. The negative entropy that the Earth has
extracted from the Sun has organized life into a biological pyramid. The most numerous form of biological life –
plants and all photosynthesizing organisms – are at the base of this
pyramid.
With this process the green matter (chloroplasts/chlorophyll) in
plants converts the Sun’s energy to usable energy for the plant’s growth in the
form of highly-structured organic compounds such as carbohydrates. The entropy of the material used in the
process of photosynthesis is decreased due to negative-entropy-driven
structuring of this matter.
Herbivores and carnivores in turn sustain and reproduce themselves
by using the Sun’s energy indirectly through plants in the processes of digestion,
respiration and oxidation discussed above that occurs in the mitochondria of
our cells which release the ATP that transports chemical energy within cells
for metabolism. The ATP is then recycled back into its precursors and the
process restarts, renewing over and over again.
During digestion and the utilization of organic food, energy and
negative entropy is extracted in order to build and maintain higher-level
organisms. Digested food has a much lower energy content and a much higher
entropy as it is returned to the environment in the form of waste matter. Therefore, food Qi is a lower form of energy than primal Qi and cosmic Qi.
However, while it is technically correct, as medical science tells
us, that the human body cannot photosynthesize, it is possible for the human body
to convert the photon gas from the black body radiation of the Sun into usable energy and negative entropy.
The difference is that, unlike plants, we do not have chlorophyll. Instead, our bodies use another substance to
convert the black body radiation from the Sun into Qi energy.
What this substance is, how it is used and the relationship of Tai Chi, Qigong, and meditation will be discussed in What
is Qi? Part III
For Comment and Discussion of this and all our articles, please visit the SoCal Tai Chi Blog
For reference, please see Life
on Earth - Flow of Energy and Entropy by Marek Roland-Mieszkowski, M.Sc.,
Ph.D., Digital Recordings at http://www.digital-recordings.com/publ/publife.html
Negative Entropy and
Sustainability by T. Vijayendra at http://www.bangalorenotes.com/negative_entropy.htm
Also see:
http://www.answers.com/topic/quantum-theory#ixzz1bkLzC5vl
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