09/02/2025
Thich Nhat Hanh, a noted Buddhist philosopher, recently stated: "The main affliction of our modern civilization is that we don't know how to handle the suffering inside us and we try to cover it up with all kinds of consumption."
Let's take a closer look at the substance of Thich Nhat Hanh's insightful statement. The natural state for us humans is to be happy, but life often has other plans for us that can upset our happiness: our responsibilities at work, our relationships, our health and just generally meeting our basic needs and wants can cause us unhappiness or 'suffering' as Thich suggests. So what do we humans do then? We look for ways to make us happy even if it's just for a little while. How do we do that? The ways are many and as varied as the individuals we are.
We get a hint when we investigate the concept of 'consumption'. Stated straight out, how many people do you know who overeat to the point of acquiring diabetes or other physical issues, how many people do you know who drink alcohol or take recreational or even prescribed drugs to the point of addiction? How about over spending by excessive buying of material goods, cars, boats, houses, clothing, jewelry, you name it. Or do some apply to you? Many people think that acquiring material goods will make them happy, which they do for a little while until the novelty passes, just as alcohol or drugs too provide a short 'I'm happy' boost. To retain that moment of pseudo happiness we buy more 'stuff ' or take more and more alcohol or drugs until there are money problems or addictions which in turn often lead to other issues, both physical or emotional which cause us stress. Chi Kung was established centuries ago as a tool that individuals could use to deal with the stresses of their time, but it is also an effective tool for modern times as well . It's often asked, how does Chi Kung work? What makes it effective?
Chi Kung considers that everything is a form of energy. For example, we humans are energy beings, so are trees, animals, insects, grass and sunshine, essentially everything in existence. We humans are imbued with electrical energy which engages our hearts and brains, mechanical and chemical energies engage our digestive system and so on. Our emotions also have distinctive energies; happiness energy is different from anger energy, feeling peaceful is different from feeling unsettled and so on. All of these energies are part of us and are unavoidable in life. We can spend a lifetime striving to be happy and positive, but life often has different plans for us and negative energies emerge to overwhelm the happy, joyfull pleasant ones we like. Over time negative energies keep repeating themselves creating habitual negative energy patterns that not only can, but will over time create physical, emotional or mental problems for us. For such times Chi Kung can be a very helpful tool to manage and/or avoid negative energies. Through knowledge and practice one learns how to transform negative energy patterns into positive energy patterns. you are welcome to join us on Sundays at 11:am.
