TWO

The Nature of Subtle Energy

CURRENT SCIENTIFIC THEORY holds that all substances of our physical and chemical world are made from the chemical elements listed in the periodic table of elements, first formulated by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. The modern periodic table starts from the lightest element--hydrogen--and advances through progres-sively heavier and heavier elements, like lithium, carbon, magnesium, calcium, chromium, iron, silver, and gold, then further to radioactive uranium, finishing with the elements like copernicium (atomic number 112), and so on, which are artificially created by nuclear bombardment and very shortlived. As we examine the influence that subtle energy has on numerous substances, it is important to note and remember that all elements, and thus all substances in the billions of galaxies in our universe, are combinations of only three stable elementary particles: the proton, neutron, and electron. If subtle energy can be seen to affect these subatomic particles, then it has potential to play a role in everything in the universe.

The discovery of dark matter and dark energy dramatically changes our view of the universe and our understanding of what modern science is capable of investigating with the equipment it currently has. According to the latest calculations, only 4 percent of the universal mass-energy is occupied by atomic matter and electromagnetic energy. This 4 percent is the only part of the universe where scientific equipment is able to take measurements.

We need to realize that the immeasurable substance and energy of the other 96 percent of the universe is right here, on Earth, around us, and as James Trefil said, “. . . whistling by your ears, but you can’t hear it.”1 In this situation, we should expect that scientists would be asking questions like:

- Can it be that some unexplained phenomena observed by science are related to the actions or influences of dark energy?
- Does dark energy have something in common with the life force recognized by all Eastern cultures, but which, as of yet, remains also not measurable by modern science? In other words, does the chi, or prana, of Eastern philosophy and medicine, or subtle energy in modern terms, present some range of dark energy?
- Being part of nature, are we, human beings, influenced by this all permeating, universal substance and energy? More than that, is it possible that dark matter and dark energy participate in the construction of the human structure and play a significant role as the life force in our well-being?

Let us remember that, for thousands of years, yogis have spoken about the existence of the subtle bodies of the human structure and their crucial influence on the functioning of the physical body. What are these “bodies” made of? To answer this question, we need to look into the picture of the universe as described in ancient traditions.

In most ancient traditions, our material universe is thought of as having originated from a world of creation that contains all the algorithms for the process of materialization of all things. The process of creation of physical matter, according to such ancient cosmologies, happens through several steps. In each step, a new world is created, with its own laws governing the substances and energies of that world and their interaction. Some modern thinkers are in agreement with this point of view. Dr. Ervin Laszlo writes: “The physical world is a reflection of energy vibrations from more subtle worlds that, in turn, are reflections of still more subtle energy fields. Creation, and all subsequent existence, is a progression downward and outward from the primordial source.”7

In other words, the universe is constructed of a sequence of worlds, each one made of a successively grosser, or denser, substance. The substance and energy of each of these worlds are created from the previous, subtler world, which many have called the etheric world, or the subatomic world, in terms of modern science.*
*We will talk more about this ancient picture of the universe, and its relation to modern scientific theories, in the next chapter.

According to ancient and modern day seers, the substances of each world are represented in the human being as sophisticated structures, or bodies, communicating with each other and with the physical body. The substance of the etheric or subatomic world, which is closest to the physical world, comprises the etheric body that contains the acupuncture meridians and energy centers called chakras.

In light of the current scientific hypothesis about dark atoms, this idea about subtle bodies suddenly does not sound so mystical, esoteric or off the charts. We know that all periodic table elements, which form the basis of our chemical-physical world, were created inside the stars from the most abundant atom of our world, hydrogen. Is it possible that interactions between dark hydrogen atoms create more complex dark atoms? If so, we must remember: where there are atoms, the formation of molecules is possible; where there are molecules, the formation of sophisticated structures can be expected. In fact, it is logical to assume that structures of the subtle bodies can be made according to the same general principle, just as our physical body is made from substances of our world.*
*We need to note here that the structure and functions of the subtle bodies and their influence on a human being’s physical body have been described in great detail by some seers.9-13

The basic components of our physical body are not any different than the components of everything else in the physical world. All inanimate objects and living organisms are made from periodic table elements. What makes living creatures different from each other and from the soil of the Earth is the difference in their structures. So, the question becomes, is it not possible that dark atoms create various structures in the world of subatomic, or dark, matter and some of these structures also exist within the human body? Of course, you cannot find a discussion of these heretical questions in modern scientific literature. Nevertheless, we will see from the analysis of some experiments conducted in compliance with rigorous scientific methodologies that these questions have real merit.

Our discovery begins with an analysis of the experiments conducted by the renowned qigong master, Dr. Yan Xin, M.D., on changing the half-life, or radioactive decay rate, of the element americium known as isotope Am-241. Radiation is a natural phenomenon, a fixed quality of certain elements, isotopes, and atoms that we cannot change just as we cannot continue to heat water and at the same time prevent it from boiling. If a human being were to able to change radiation levels, it would be like heating water and preventing it from boiling. It would mean that humans can interfere in natural processes using “dark energy.”

Started in 1987, the experiments involving Dr. Xin were part of a long-term research project of the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University in Beijing. Chinese scientists researched the various effects produced on substances by subtle energy, or chi (qi), projected by Dr. Xin, who is also a chief physician in Chongqing, in the Sichuan province of China. Over time, more than sixty scientific articles were published that report on the many amazing phenomena observed in these experiments.14 This research clearly demonstrates the reality of the effect of the subtle energy (chi) on chemical and physical processes in our world.

These experiments were supervised by nuclear physicist Dr. Lu Zuyin, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who wrote a book about this research.15 Dr. Zuyin writes: “The work with Dr. Yan Xin is characterized by careful and rigorous procedures, the use of the most modern and accurate laboratory equipment, and the involvement of other faculty members to form an expert, scientific team.”14 Chinese scientists working in the United States were part of this team. They published an article about the results of the experiments with Dr. Xin, describing in detail all of the equipment and the methods of measurement.16 Nonetheless, the mainstream scientific community totally ignored this outstanding research that, if it were analyzed, could open new horizons for science.

The effect of external qi emitted by qigong master Dr. Yan Xin about 3 m away on the count rate of gamma (γ) ray decay of Am-241. Note the decreases in count rate during the qi-emission sessions. The error bars in the figure do not include the uncertainty due to the reposition of the Am-241 radioactive source.

The experiments that are important for our discussion--that is, altering the half-life of Am-241--were repeated many times. In these experiments, Dr. Zin projected chi over short, long, and ultra-long distances (from two thousand to ten thousand kilometers) towards the Am-241 radioactive source. The decay rate was measured by counting gamma rays and alpha particles (helium nuclei) emitted by Am-241. Dr. Xin’s chi transmission changed the decay rate of gamma rays by up to 10 percent, and alpha particles up to 12 percent. Not only was he able to do this from a great distance, he was able to decrease or increase the decay rate at will! In one series of experiments, the decay rate was changed from +9 to -11.3 percent. In another series, changes were from +6.7 to -12 percent.16

Somehow Dr. Xin mentally programmed energy to do the job.

It is important to note that even the strongest electrical or magnetic fields cannot influence the decay rate of radioactive elements. This means that the nature of subtle energy, or chi, is quite different than the nature of the electromagnetic field. Like dark energy, chi cannot be detected by regular scientific equipment. Nevertheless, the chi directed by Dr. Xin dramatically changed something inside the nuclei, which consist of protons and neutrons.

The only logical conclusion is that chi interacts with the particles that make protons and neutrons, quarks, or the even tinier particles, subquarks, which make up quarks. It means that subtle energy, like dark energy, belongs to and acts in the subatomic world. This suggests that subtle energy represents some range of the immeasurable universal energy that modern science calls “dark energy.”

According to mainstream science, the decay rate of a radioactive element is governed by one of the fundamental forces in the universe, known as the weak force. The weak force modifies the character of particles, for instance, converting neutrons into protons. During this conversion, the nucleus emits an electron. This process is called betadecay. If subtle energy can change that decay rate, it means that subtle energy, or chi, is able to alter the weak force, one of the basic forces of the universe.

We don’t know whether subtle energy changes decay rates by changing the properties, and therefore the interaction, between quarks and subquarks, or by directly influencing the weak force. In any case, the ability of subtle energy to alter the action of the weak force means that subtle energy may be the fifth fundamental force of the universe, in addition to the four fundamental forces known to science, which are electromagnetic, gravitational, strong force, and weak force. In later chapters, we will discuss other experiments confirming this statement.

Another earth-shattering conclusion comes from the fact that Dr. Xin is a famous healer. As both a medical doctor and a qigong master, he uses his ability to manipulate chi in his healing practice with great success. He studied Western science at both Mianyang and Jiangyou medical schools, and he graduated first in his class at Chengdu Institute of traditional Chinese medicine. When he began his healing practice in 1982, he quickly became known as “the miracle doctor,” because his treatments were so quick and effective, and he became famous within China for his ability to cure difficult health problems. This led to his collaboration with scientists to document his abilities under controlled conditions.14, p.84

These healings by Dr. Xin illustrate that the same type of subtle energy--this “fifth force” that affects subatomic particles inside the nucleus--may also affect human health! In the Western world, more and more progressive health care professionals are using various modalities of what is generally called “energy medicine” or “vibrational medicine” in their practices. These healing arts that have been known for centuries include laying-on-of-hands, psychic healing, spiritual healing, reiki, and therapeutic touch. There is evidence of laying-on-of-hands as far back as ancient Egypt, as documented in Ebers Papyrus, dated 1552 BC. The Greeks used hands-on-healing in their Asclepian healing temples. The Bible references Jesus laying-on-of-hands and saying, “These things that I do, so can ye do and more,” implying that everyone could do this.17 Currently, some hospitals offer healing touch courses for nurses, and the book, Touch for Health, by John and Matthew Thie,18 is popular among energy medicine practitioners.

In the past two centuries, new healing therapies that use these immeasurable energies have been introduced, such as homeopathy and structured water. Subtle energy may very well be the source of the demonstrated healing effects of such therapies.*
*We will discuss experiments supporting this supposition in Chapter 4.

The distant healing effects of prayers, recently validated in scientific double-blind studies,19 also cannot be explained without consideration of subtle energy. The subtle energy that plays a role in energy medicine must have the same nature as the energy used by Dr. Xin in his experiments. In other words, it is reasonable to argue that energy medicine actually uses the universal energy belonging to the subatomic world that occupies 96 percent of the universe.

There are many experimental results demonstrating the effect of subtle energy on living organisms. In the first decade of this century, Professor Joie Jones (1941-2013) did some astounding research at the University of California, Irvine. Professor Jones investigated “pranic healing” (prana is another term for chi). Jones presented his research at the National Institutes of Health Think Tank Working Group Meeting on BioField Energy Medicine, held in Bethesda, Maryland in 2006.20,21 His presentation included the following:

Here we present a summary of our studies of pranic healing conducted over the past decade. Pranic healers, using techniques established in China thousands of years ago, were able to mediate the effects of gamma radiation on cells in culture. Treatment of cells with pranic healing, both before and after radiation, increased the survival rate from an expected 50 percent to over 92 percent. Such enhanced survival rates were independent of the distance between the cells and were not changed even when the cells were shielded from all electromagnetic radiation, including X-rays and gamma rays. In addition, using fMRI, we have measured neuro-physiological changes in subjects treated by a healer. Shielding both the healer and the subject from all forms of radiation had no effect on the results, even when the two were separated by a great distance. Clearly these findings are difficult to explain in terms of the standard scientific paradigm.

This research has an extraordinary message. We know what gamma radiation does to cells: it severely damages them, tearing the DNA to pieces. If subtle energy, or chi or pranic, healing is able to restore cells after this kind of damage, we can understand why traditional Eastern medicine calls this energy the “Life Force!”

Like in the experiments of Drs. Xin and Zuyin, the healing effect observed in the research conducted by Jones did not depend on the distance between the healer and the subject. It means that subtle energy does not obey the same law as electromagnetic energy. According to the InverseSquare Law, electromagnetic energy diminishes with distance.

This observation illustrates a fundamental contradiction between the experimentally detected properties of subtle energy and the expectations of modern science about the behavior of any energy field. The strength of all energy fields known to science diminishes as you move away from the source of the field, whether that is an electrically charged object, in the case of an electromagnetic field, or a massive object, in the case of a gravitational field. In the current scientific paradigm, there is no place for the effects of subtle energy to be independent of the distance from its source. Claude Swanson illustrates this void in his book Life Force, the Scientific Basis, where he quotes the response of a theoretical physicist to Dr.Xin’s experiment on altering the radioactive decay rate of Am-241 from a distance of two thousand kilometers: “There is no way I can believe it, even if I have seen it!”22

The amazing, and sad, fact is that, even after discovering that dark matter/dark energy occupies 96 percent of the universe and that modern scientific equipment is only capable of taking measurements on the remaining 4 percent, mainstream science still adheres to the principle proclaimed by British astrophysicist Arthur S. Eddington: “No experiment should be believed until it has been confirmed by theory.”

The attitude of mainstream science towards the properties of subtle energy is reflected in mainstream medicine’s attitude towards energy medicine. The unexplainable--and therefore unacceptable--properties of subtle energy also show up in observations of its actions in the human body. Frontier researchers have observed how subtle energy functions in the acupuncture meridians. These experiments illustrate how important information on the interaction of subtle energy with the human body can be obtained when scientists follow the principle: replace fear of the unknown with curiosity.