Williams, Bernard O

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Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine Journal Archives (E-Journal)

EditorialSubtle Energies & Energy Medicine  •  Volume 21  •  Number 2  •  Page 5EXPLORING MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF SUBTLE ENERGYBernard O. Williams, Ph.D.The concept Subtle Energy is often assumed to mean different forms of energy more subtle than conventionalphysical instruments can detect.  In this sense, the concept comes from traditions that accept the human abilityto see or feel forces that are not physically measurable.   Subtle energy can also mean finding new understandingof how measurable forces produce effects; for example, processes in which electromagnetism can either produceprofound changes with only tiny forces, or can register profound changes with only tiny forces. Usingelectromagnetism to register profound changes is demonstrated in this issue of our journal with the continuingseries of studies of “Non-touch Energy Healing,” using the AMI (Apparatus for Meridian Identifiation),interpreting the energetic potentials of the acupuncture meridian systems. The image on the cover of this issue shows layering in a piece of pink quartz crystal.  This layering reminds meof the multiple layering of meaning and being we find with subtle energies.In the first sense of the concept Subtle Energy, direct experience provides the primary impulse for studyingthese phenomena.  The experience of feeling the energy of healing was important in shifting the direction ofBernard Grad’s work more than fifty years ago. Lenore Wiand’s Memorial for Bernard Grad in this issue of our journal celebrates the life and career of one ofthe pioneers in our field.  While studying biology at McGill University, Grad became interested in the work ofWilhelm Reich, especially Reich’s proposal of Orgone, a unique form of life energy.  Grad came to consideredReich as one of his mentors.  At about the time of Reich’s death, Grad met the Hungarian healer Estebany, andexperienced “the felt sense of energy healing.”  This experience added entirely new dimensions to Grad’s research,but he carried out his studies of hands on healing discretely, so not to threaten his academic position withcontroversy. Mogens Ehrich proposes in his paper “The Borderline Between two Areas of Research,” that a perceptual andconceptual divide exists between people who sense subtle energy and those who do not, and he proposes thatresearch into healing must adapt to this difference in experience. Ehrich’s proposal grows out of his survey research observations in Denmark.  He found that people who useComplementary and Alternative Medicine are people who accept the existence of an “alleged sensitivity tosubtle energy.”  Ehrich’s survey was published previously in this journal.1Ehrich’s discussion raises interesting issues about how to shape research.  He posits that subtle energy isnonphysical and cannot be directly measured by physical instruments, but it does contribute to directexperience, like what Bernard Grad observed with the healer Estebany.  Ehrich accepts that practical healingprocesses are unique and non-repeatable, and proposes that research by people who do not sense subtle energy,using models that seek repeatability, will fail to correctly observe these phenomena.Ehrich may be correct that traditional subtle energies such as Qi or Prana are nonphysical and unmeasurable,but we can also expect to continue to find more subtle behaviors of conventional forces in places where we havenot previously looked.Colin Ross’s work presents us with examples of looking in new domains of conventional forces to find subtleprocesses.  Previously Ross found simultaneous variation in the brain and heart electrical fields by using EEGinstruments monitoring at the heart.2 In this issue, Ross describes a method for measuring “ocular extramission,”the emission of brain waves through the eye, using a high-impedance non-contact electrode housed insideelectromagnetically insulated goggles. The signals Ross detected are of greater amplitude than EEG signals emerging through the skull, and are similarto the waveforms of frontal brain recordings in overall structure, including the appearance of eye blink andmuscle artifacts in the tracing, but with an absence of heart artifacts.  Ross suggests some possible diagnosticuses of these signals.  He also notes that at the Extreme Low Frequencies of EEG an electromagnetic signal isnot attenuated as rapidly as expected by the inverse square law, and proposes that this “ocular extramission,”might also be involved in ecologically significant signaling.  The ability to sense when we are being starred atmay have evolved through prey species developing a sensory system, based in the skin, for detecting a predator’sgaze.  Traditions of visual curses, such as “the evil eye,” might be based in human interpretation of such a gazesensory system.In addition to finding new phenomena in uncharted domains, conventional forces can also be used to provideobservations of measurable results that can be associated with the use of subtle energies, such as electricalmeasurements used to observe changes in the acupuncture meridian system.Koji Tsuchiya and his colleagues at the California Institute of Human Sciences are continuing their series ofstudies of "Non-touch Energy Healing," using the AMI (Aparatus for Merdian Indentification).  Theypreviously reported on the Pranic Healing protocol for working with cancer.3 In this second paper in the seriesthey observe the use of Reconnective Healing with a person suffering from emaciated lower limbs.  The electricalmeasurements of the AMI are interpreted as showing Qi deficiencies and imbalances in the client’s lower bodybefore the healing session.  The deficiency and imbalances as assessed with the AMI were corrected during thehealing session, apparently by redistributing the person’s Qi.The AMI was developed in Japan by Hiroshi Motoyama, and is one among many methods for using electricalmeasurements to assess the flow of Qi in the meridians.4,5 The Ryodoraku method, also developed in Japan,by Yoshio Nakatani, is a similar system using electrical conductance measurements at acupuncture points.6,7,8Alberto Mazzocchi and Roberto Maglione have used the  Ryodoraku method for their research reported in “APreliminary Study of the Reich Orgone Accumulator Effects on Human Physiology.”  They found the reportedsmall but significant body temperature increase traditionally associated with using the Orgone AccumulatorSubtle Energies & Energy Medicine  •  Volume 21  •  Number 2  •  Page 6(ORAC), and suggest that a typical response may be a slight healing fever.  Buhl and Fischer have previouslysuggested this healing fever response to using the ORAC.9Mazzocchi and Maglione interpret the Ryodoraku measurements to reveal parasympathetic nervous systemactivation, consistent with increased peripheral blood circulation to dissipate the slight heat increase, andconsistent with Reich’s hypothesis that the ORAC could decrease sympathetic nervous system activity andimprove the parasympathetic functioning.  It is fitting to include research on Wilhelm Reich’s controversial work when we are celebrating the life of BernardGrad, who considered Reich to be his mentor. James DeMeo has previously reported in this journal on physicaltemperature anomalies associated with the ORAC.10 In this issue, we are reprinting a little known earlier paperby DeMeo, "Report on Orgone Accumulator Stimulation of Sprouting Mung Beans."DeMeo reports significant increases in seed germination rate, and a 34% growth increase in seedlings kept inan ORAC, compared to seeds kept in a similar enclosure, but not constructed with the layered ORACcomposition. The ORAC treated sprouts were longer, but also contained less sugar and appeared more spindlythan the control sprouts.  The ORAC treated group appeared to be expending more of its sugars in growing togreater lengths. DeMeo discusses the implications of this appearance of spindly growth in comparison to someprior orgone seed growth experiments that had used shorter exposure times in the ORAC.  A wide range ofexperience with the ORAC supports the concept of possible detrimentally overcharge with the accumulator.   To test the possible effect of the slight temperature increases often associated with the ORAC, DeMeo comparedcontrolled enclosures not constructed like an ORAC and kept at a slightly higher temperature (1.5oC).  Theslightly elevated temperature contributed to only a 6% increase in growth compared to seeds grown in a similarenclosure at the slightly lower temperature.  DeMeo concludes that temperature alone is not the sole basis ofthe ORAC contribution to the increase in seed growth. DeMeo also provides an extended discussion of possible processes by which the ORAC might contribute to theobserved effects.  In this discussion he reviews a wide range of serious research, supporting his observation thatthe continuing hostile and derogatory rejection of Reich’s work is inappropriate and untenable. The controversy associated with Wilhelm Reich has persisted long after his death, and Reich’s work continuesto be misinterpreted.  Richard Blasband provides a review of Christopher Turner's book Adventures in theOrgasmatron, How the Sexual Revolution Came to America.  We have published Blasband’s critical assessmentof Turner’s book because of the intense focus Turner gives to Wilhelm Reich.  Blasband gives an extendedsynopsis of Reich’s life and work, to provide the context for his criticisms of Turner’s depiction of Reich.Blasband notes that the popular press has embraced and celebrated Turner’s book, but he characterizes the workas muckraking with “much alleged with little evidence.”  Reich’s work was complex, and Blasband provides aninsightful overview.  His criticisms of Turner’s interpretation of Reich’s work are also complex and bearthoughtful reading and reflection.REFERENCES & NOTES1.  Ehrich, M. Those Who Claim to Sense Subtle Energy Are Also the Typical Users of CAM Therapy, Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine,20, 3 (2009) 7-16.2.  Ross, C., Simultaneous Variation in the Heart and Brain electrical Fields, Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine, 20, 2 (2009) 31-36.Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine  •  Volume 21  •  Number 2  •  Page 73.  Tsuchiya, K. and Motoyama, H., Study of Body's Energy Changes in Non-touch Energy Healing 1. Pranic Healing Protocol Appliedfor a Breast Cancer Subject,  Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine, 20, 2 (2009) 15-30.4.  Nagayama N, Motoyama H., Electrical properties of skin along meridians in the extremities before and after flexible fiberopticbronchoscopy. Subtle Energy & Energy Medicine 17, 1 (2006) 35-48.5.  Nagayama N, Motoyama H., Electrical properties in the extremities along meridians in patients with unilateral pulmonary tuberculosis.Subtle Energy & Energy Medicine 18, 2 (2007) 9-19.6.  Nakatani, Y., An Aspect of the Study of Ryodoraku, Clinic of Chinese Medicine 3. 54 (1956).7.  Nakatani, Y., Skin electric Resistance and Ryodoraku, J. Autonomic Nerve  6, 52 (1958).8. Nakatani, Y., Yamashita, K., Ryodoraku Acupuncture, Royodorku Research Institute Ltd., Tokyo, 1977.9.  Buhl H., Fischer J. Energie! Heilung und Selbstheilung mit Lebensenergie, Ulrich Leutner Verlag, Berlin, 2007.10.  DeMeo, J. Experimental Confirmation of the Reich Orgone Accumulator Thermal Anomaly, Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine 20,3 (2009) 17-32.•  •  •Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine  •  Volume 20  •  Number 2  •  Page 8

EXPLORING MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF SUBTLE ENERGY

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EXPLORING MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF SUBTLE ENERGY

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