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Glossary
Of Terms - U
UNIVERSAL LAWS: Mental laws set
into motion at the time of creation, coinciding with natural law and
working out of the psychology, emotions and psychic levels of the human
mind.
UNIVERSAL
LIFE FORCE: A vital
force or energy that transcends time and space, permeates all things
in the universe and upon which all things depend for health and life.
It is known by many names in different cultures, som e of those names
follow.
Prana:
The Hindu name from a Sanskrit term usually translated as "life force",
"vigor" or "vitality". To the Hindu, prana is the divine power
that acts in the
akasha
which is where the
universe is manufactured through the power of prana. It is
the soul of energy, the essence of all motion, force and power in all
things. It permeates all matter, animate and inanimate; however, it
is NOT matter itself. Probably the nearest thing it can be said to be
analogous to is electricity. When material substance reaches the end
of its life cycle, it is resolved back to prana.
The personal prana is in
constant touch with the universal pranic energy and the chakras,
especially the spleen chakra, are focal points
for transforming universal energy in the body's energy system.
Although manifested in the breath,
prana is NOT breath. It is related to the element of air and
motion. The control of the flow of prana through breathing
is central to yoga. In Tantric yoga it is used
to raise latent psychic powers.
Healthy people have an excess of
prana, while sick people are depleted in it. It may be transferred
from a healthy body to a sick one by the laying on of hands.
Qi
(Ch'i)
is the Chinese term literally meaning "breath", "gas" or "ether". It
has never been clearly defined. It was developed into a metaphysical
principle by various Chinese philosophers as far back as Lao-Tzu (551
B.C. to 479 B.C.?) Who allegedly authored the Tao Teh Ching and
conceived of it as a dualistic principle which evolved into the concept
of yin and yang. Yang is light, the sun,
the active/dry/masculine principle. Yin is earth, the dark,
the passive/wet/feminine principle. From this arose the concept of Five
Elements in Chinese medicine as well as the basis of the I Ching.
Yang energy enters the body by flowing downward from the heavens;
yin, upwards from the earth converging at a point in the lower
belly about two (2) inches below the navel deep within the body where
this life force can be converted into spiritual energy creating physical
heat.
The earliest descriptions of qi
in relation to health and healing date back to the Han dynasty of 206
B.C. to 220 A.D. There it is described in 32 different forms. Since
all life is in a constant energy exchange with qi, illness
results when the exchange is restricted, depleted or out of balance
and if it ceases entirely, the organism dies.
It flows through the body in 12
meridians and through eight (8) psychic channels in the body, thus,
playing a key role in the purification of vital energy. The term is
always found in descriptions of Taoist exercises and breathing techniques.
Ki
is the Japanese term for qi which was introduced into Japan
between 710 A.D. and 1185 A.D. and was absorbed into the Shinto beliefs
about nature and its "life force".
With the rise of the Samurai class,
the concepts of ki began to undergo dramatic changes and became
a part of the warrior's discipline of courage, will power, vigor, conserving
energy and even prolonging breathing as a matter of life and death.
In this guise it had a two-fold
nature: (1) the unifying principle between the individual and the universe,
and (2) the expression of breath-powers. Victory depended on ki.
Mana is the term used by the Huna in Hawaii. It has three (3) primary forms
functioning in one of the three (3) "selves" in every individual. Mana,
the basic life force, operates in the subconscious (the Low Self) and
builds and maintains the physical body. Mana-mana operates
in the conscious (the Middle Self) and is creative will power and manifested
thought and emotions. Mana-loa operates in the superconscious
(the High Self) and is high-voltage energy containing the power of compassion
to be harnessed for instantaneous healing and miracles.
The flow of mana through
the body is in waves and layers forming a figure 8 and emanating from
the solar plexus flowing down one leg and back up to the opposite shoulder
with the pattern reversed on the back. Through breathing and visualization,
mana can be converted from a lower to a higher level.
Od/Odic
Force is
a term created by Baron Karl von Reichenbach (1788-1869) which describes
a subtle substance emanating from all things in the universe including
the stars and planets. It streams from crystals and can be observed
by clairvoyance as luminous radiations similar to the aurora borealis
and can be felt as hot or cold. It is believed to be affected by breath
and fluctuates during day and night and before and after meals.
Reichenbach, a chemist and metallurgist,
conducted hundreds of experiments with sensitives who were not Spiritualist
mediums, and published his findings in 1845 to make a scientific case
for the
Universal
Life Force. His findings
were rejected by the scientific establishment and endorsed by mesmerists,
magnetic healers and Spiritualists.
In 1882, the Society for Psychical
Research studied the "Reichenbach Phenomena" and validated many of his
claims.
Orgone
is a term for a vital force or primordial cosmic energy that permeates
all things and exists as a biological energy, is blue in color and can
be demonstrated visually, thermically and electroscopically with a Geiger
counter. The term was coined by Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957), a student
of Sigmund Freud and a psychoanalyst. Reich believed it was the basis
of sexual and psychosomatic neuroses.
He developed a device called the "Orgone Accumulator" which was suppose to concentrate orgone for therapeutic purposes. He reported positive results of its use on
cancer patients; however, the Food and Drug Administration tested the
device and found it worthless. Reich was then enjoined from manufacturing,
distributing or using the device and the term "orgone" in his
writing. He refused and was fined and imprisoned, where he died. The "Orgone Accumulators" were destroyed and his books burned.
Bioenergy
is an Eastern European concept of the
Universal
Life Force. The term
itself was borrowed from Wilhelm Reich who was the first to use it to
describe the life energy within the body. It is seen to tie all things
together and may be controlled and directed by personal will. The Eastern
European healing disciplines use this energy. Both the concept of bioenergy
and its use has been of great interest to researchers in the Soviet
Union and Czechoslovakia in particular. These researchers claim that
they are able to store the energy in generators.
It is said to radiate from the human
bodies and is associated with psychic phenomena such as
psychokinesis
(PK).
It has not been decided whether it is external to the body and channeled
through it or whether its origin is within the body.
The term itself has been applied
in healing by Czechoslovakian researcher Zdenek Rejdak to a touch method
that is purported to be based on the concept of prana rather than Reich's concept
of bioenergy. This technique involves the transmission of vital
energy from a healer to a patient whose own energy field is depleted
and out of balance through the "biocurrents" in the aura and can be
done at a distance similar to the modality known as
Reiki.
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