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Energy in spirituality, refers to a widespread belief in an inter- or intra-personal forces, for which no empirical evidence has been found. Believers assume spiritual energy to be of a different type than those known to science, and therapies involved are often classed as alternative medicine.

The concept of spiritual energy

Various ideas pertaining to spiritual energy have been postulated in various cultures, prominent amongst them are:

• The Christian idea of the soul, spirit or Holy Spirit
• The traditional Chinese qi
• The Indian Chakra, Shakti, Prana or Kundalini
• The Japanese idea of Reiki
• The New Age/paranormal aura
• The "orgone" of Wilhelm Reich
• The morphogenetic fields of biologist Rupert Sheldrake
• The Odic force of chemist Carl von Reichenbach
• biofields
• The Islamic way of "Ruqeeyah"
• The energy of magic
• Theta or "life force" in Scientology

Premise of energy therapies

The various approaches, "energy therapies" are typically based on the premise that since energy is considered to be all prevasive, therefore there can exist methods by which energy can be manipulated in order to heal human body; even though the present knowledge of science may not be sufficient to understand it. Practitioners of such techniques, who claim the ablility to heal the human body, hold this belief. Various forms of mysticism often associate "bad energy" with disease, and "good energy" with health and healing powers. Most theories claim the ability to actively influence one's "energy." ^{[citation needed]} Reiki in Japanese culture claims to manipulate the qi (ki) through the laying-on of hands. Other methods like Yuen purport to transmit "energetic force" without physical contact.

Biofields

A biofield is claimed to be "a massless field that: (a) is not necessarily electromagnetic, (b) surrounds and permeates living bodies, (c) affects the body, and (d) possibly is related to qi" ^{[1] [2]} Although scientists and physicians remain skeptical as to its existence, alternative practitioners claim that humans have a field external from their bodies that strongly affects actions and feelings. They believe biofields can be degraded by EMF frequencies and electronic screens such as radio waves, television and computer screens, and can lead to disease, overstress, and fatigue.

The National Institutes of Health has issued a statement on the subject of biofields: '"The biofield has defied measurement to date by reproducible methods. Therapies involving biofields are based on the concept that human beings are infused with a subtle form of energy. This vital energy or life force is known under different names in different cultures, such as qi in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), ki in the Japanese Kampo system, doshas in Ayurvedic medicine, and elsewhere as prana, etheric energy, fohat, orgone, odic force, mana, and homeopathic resonance. Vital energy is believed to flow throughout the material human body, but it has not been unequivocally measured by means of conventional instrumentation. Nonetheless, therapists claim that they can work with this subtle energy, see it with their own eyes, and use it to effect changes in the physical body and influence health."' ^[3]

Scientific validation

Theories of spiritual energy are not validated by the scientific method, thus are dismissed as non-empirical beliefs by the scientific community. Claims of spiritual energy producing empirical results are therefore often considered to be pseudoscience or quackery.

Claims related to energy therapies are most often dubbed as anecdotal, rather than based on empirical, evidence. The history of such claims about spiritual energy (most often dubbed as pseudoscientific) is long. Many people have attempted to gain credibility by associating with forms of energy that were poorly understood by scientists. In the 1800s, electricity and magnetism were in the "borderlands" of science and the subject of considerable electrical quackery. In the 2000s, quantum mechanics and grand unification theory provide similar opportunities for empirical claims of spiritual energy being physically manifest.

"Spiritual energy" is often equated with empirically understood forces. For example, some believers in the "aura" equate it with electromagnetism, claims that have not yet been supported by experiment. Believers support their claims by arguing that electromagnetic fields are used in standard medical procedures, such as radiation therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation and magnetic resonance imaging. However, these techniques involve the use of large electrical and electronic devices to manipulate magnetic fields and the physiological mechanisms by which these techniques affect the body are well-understood, quantified and have been supported by repeated experimentation. Scientists therefore dispute the claim that the body's magnetic fields can be affected by touch or psychic intervention.

The confusion results from a disagreement over what constitutes "energy." Proponents of energy therapies argue that all matter is also energy. Scientists do not dispute this fact as first proposed by Albert Einstein in his theory of relativity. Where scientists and energy therapists come into conflict is with the idea that some energies are not measurable and can be manipulated psychically or unaided by technology. In order to distinguish between the energy used in techniques such as MRI and TMS (electromagnetism) and other unquantifiable "energy," the NIH has proposed the distinction between veritable (measurable) and putative (unmeasurable) energy.^[3] Some alternative therapies, such as electromagnetic therapy, use veritable energy, but make claims that are not supported by evidence.

The healing effects of acupuncture on the human body are widely recognized by scientists. For example, acupuncture is available on the National Health Service in the UK and its efficacy is accepted by the National Institutes of Health.^[4] However, there is some disagreement about its mode of action. While some accupuncturists say that its mode of action is by virtue of manipulating the natural flow of energy in human body, scientists argue that it works physiologically by blocking or stimulating nerve cells and causing changes in the perception of pain in the brain.

Followers of scientology believe spiritual energy can be quantified using an e-meter; the legitimacy of such a claim is disputed. The e-meter in fact measures the well-understood Galvanic skin response. Other proposed treatments, such as magnet therapy are considered ineffective until it is demonstrated that they beat the placebo effect (see Franz Mesmer). Several people, for example, the magician James Randi have for many years (as of 2004) offered one million US dollars to any person capable of repeatedly detecting psychic energy fields. No one has demonstrated this ability in a controlled situation. (see The $1 million challenge)

References

1. ^ "Ongoing Problem with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine" from Skeptical Inquirer magazine, September, 2003
2. ^ "Dictionary of Metaphysical Healthcare Unnaturalistic Methods"
3. ^ ^{a b} The 'National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (October 13 2006). Energy Medicine Overview.
4. ^ Get the Facts, Acupuncture, (2006). National Institute of Health. Retrieved on March 2, 2006.

See also

• Alternative medicine
• The Celestine Prophecy
• The Force (Star Wars)
• Therapeutic touch
• Electrical quackery
• Vitalism - a general term for a force that animates living things.

External links

Critical

• Skepdic: Energy Healing: Looking in All the Wrong Places

Supportive

• The teachings of Bruno Groening
• "Psychic surgery" From a practitioner's viewpoint (Chapters 32 & 33 of Memoirs of an Artist as a Masseur by Valentino Zubiri)

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