Contributing to the future of Chinese Medicine

"As an Emulsifier" a paper by Kelsey Dixon, NYCTCM student

 

"How will you contribute to the future of Chinese Medicine?"

 

I find the question asked of me with increasing frequency as I prepare to graduate. The teachers and mentors who have gifted me their patience and wisdom wait to see if I will use it well, my family and friends are hopeful, but clearly not sure, that I will succeed in any measurable way, and yes, my own heart/mind- shen?- which loves and believes in this medicine so deeply, remains anxious to see if I will truly be able to find a way to make a career out of using it to dispel disharmony and heal others, but also to give back to it, to somehow, someway repay some portion of the goodness it has brought to my life.

            The TCM that exists in the United States of America is, in some ways, childlike, having progressed past the novelty of its infantile stages and the tremendous growth of early childhood, and now entering its adolescence, and the struggle to blossom to its fullest potential while maintaining its roots. It is an old and sacred medicine reborn within a young and eager culture- a culture still, sometimes awkwardly, undecided as to how to approach and integrate this strange new paradigm. At times, the impending pressure upon becoming a practicioner of this healing art can seem intense.

            But then: I must laugh at myself, a good, kind, soulful laugh as I remember some of the Taoist principles I hold dear:

Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear. Who can secure the condition of rest? Let movement go on, and rest will gradually arise.¹

 

I see the beauty in this couplet, and moreover, the truth.

            Regardless, I am American, and my impulse is to dive right in and see what I can do about that mud, or else to scurry around, competing in the rat race, determined to earn rest in an indeterminate 'future.' As James Truslow Adams puts it in Epic of America, the book that first named the legendary 'American Dream':

 It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.²

 

There is much to be admired in Mr. Adams' philosophy. It has fostered throughout the United States a distinct and profound respect for the power of a single individual and his striving, and Americans have, in a way that often seems to result directly from this striving, made some outstanding achievements.

It is also a striking contrast to an opinionated couplet of Lao Tzu's:

There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity greater than to be discontented with one's lots; no fault greater than the wish to be getting. Therefore, the sufficiency of contentment is an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.³

 

            Reviewing the words of wisdom from the 'sages' of both ancient Chinese culture and contemporary American culture, the irony of TCM in America is obvious. In TCM, we have a paradigm of health based on a worldview that holds passivity and acceptance, and harmony within a greater whole, in highest esteem. The American Dream, on the other hand, is fundamentally about individuals distinguishing themselves, about challenging the status quo and seeing the way things ought to be rather than the way things are.

            A basic concept in western science serves as a good analogy for the challenge practitioners of TCM in America face. In chemistry, there exists a principle referred to as 'Like dissolves like.' In order for a solute- salt, for instance- to dissolve within a solvent- water-, both solute and solvent have to have a similar fundamental makeup. A non-polar substance-oil, for example- will not dissolve in a polar substance- water; rather, the two will fail to integrate, and the oil will remain forever a sort of aberration, separate from and awkwardly floating apart from the solvent. The challenge of integrating TCM into American culture, without sacrificing the fundamental nature of either solute or solvent, should not be underestimated.

            It is in fact, such a challenge that one might write it off as impossible, if not for what becomes unmistakably apparent upon further consideration- that is, that Chinese Medicine, with exactly its foundation is precisely what American culture needs. The seeming conflict is in fact what makes the two such a perfect fit, yin and yang, yang and yin.

            The search for a way to bring our two substances together, despite the conflict in their fundamental natures, is clearly worthwhile. Returning to our analogy, and further delving into principles of chemistry, we discover a way around immiscibility- an emulsion! An emulsion is a mixture of two unlike substances that do not spontaneously form a solution. Energy input is required to successfully blend the two substances, and even after the necessary shaking or stirring, the new mixture remains unstable. In order to create a stable, lasting mixture, an additional substance- an emulsifier- is needed.⁴ An emulsifier interacts with both components of the mixture, and thus serves as a sort of bridge, holding together like and unlike, so that they may unite in something new.

            As I prepare to begin my career this fall, it is my humble goal to contribute myself, with a solid background in western medicine and a deep respect for eastern medicine, as an emulsifier. In the fourteenth chapter of The Classic, Qi Bo tells Huang Di, "To completely heal a person, acupuncture, herbs and these other modalities are only one aspect of the treatment. You must also come into synchrony with the patient in many other ways..."⁵ May I, in providing a bridge from culture in need to treatment needed, be a healer who would make Qi Bo proud.

1.    Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching, trans.  James Legge. (1891) Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 39, Ch. 15

2.    James Truslow Adams, Epic of America (Little, Brown and Company, 1931).

3.   Lao Tzu

4.  Ira N. Levine, Physical Chemistry (McGraw Hill Higher Education, 5th Ed., 2001).

5.  Huang Di, Neijing, trans.  Maoshing Ni. (Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc. 1995). Ch. 14.