Beyond Needles: Why Philosophy Still Matters

When considering acupuncture, it is common for one’s searches to be met with a barrage of information and literature about the basis of acupuncture as a practice based in science. As true, important and informative as this all may be, I feel it does little to convey the essence of acupuncture from a palpable, felt sense perspective.

Philosophy is all too often dismissed as an aesthetic paraphernalia rather than a functional component of medicine; a purely mental undertaking that, whilst perhaps of some use when confronting matters like mental health or cognitive issues, would have little purchase in material reality. In this article, I shall attempt to convey my best interpretation of acupuncture’s philosophical aspect, and why engaging with this side of Chinese Medicine can assist in yielding some of its deeper and more substantial benefits.

A few years ago I travelled throughout China to observe the practices of acupuncture, tai chi and qi gong in their native environment. What struck me, particularly amongst the older generations, is the degree to which many of the themes and ideas detailed in daoist classics, such as the Tao te Ching and the Book of Chuang Tzu, radiated through them; in their basic postures and conduct. A certain sense of majesty, not necessarily derived from their position in life in a typical sense. I doubt very much that they were each devout students of these texts, but none-the-less the virtues described within had percolated into their being.

For thousands of years in China, leaders in thought had assembled, re-assembled, whittled away, chiseled and refined at their developing consensus around the fundamental nature of reality. The most basic level of this understanding presents as the all-recognised symbol of yin and yang: a dynamic interplay of opposites that underpins all of nature.

As matter condenses and differentiates, the world becomes ever more complex. The human body, perhaps the most superlative expression of this complexity, still abides by the same simple laws of duality. Early clinicians, steeped in this worldview, were able to transpose their metaphysical insights onto the body, recognising in its rhythms and patterns the same principles that govern the cosmos.

Unlike the Abrahamic and Dharmic traditions, which structure their wisdom through the prism of prophets or scripture, Daoism is more intimately aligned with the telluric undulations of nature itself. Acupuncture, shaped by this Daoist essence, is thus well positioned to observe and influence the body’s natural cycles — offering a practice where philosophy and physiology converge.

This silent transmission I feel works seamlessly compared against verbal lecture. In a similar vein to a good novel being an approachable vehicle for a moral princilple, acupuncture serves as a silent ambassador; conveying an energetic message in the very language of the tissues and marrow that it is intended to remedy. This is not consequence of a practitioner having a profound personal connection with these principles, but instead arises through the integrity of the models of acupuncture assembled through its rich history.

My worry is that, although the progress of acupuncture within the scientific paradigm is wonderful and necessary to demonstrate its empirical effects, that science’s best physiological explanation does not then end up asserting itself as the sole determining factor of acupuncture’s mechanism; the accepted version of contemporary acupuncture becoming increasingly corrupted of its origins, leaving so much of it’s profundity dormant.

My hope is that, contemporaneous to a deepening of scientific literature, the classical origins of acupuncture find room to flourish and are met with appropriate recognition within the space of Chinese Medicine. Perhaps acupuncture can truly take its seat in the west, as a utility, Imparting the influence of the ineffable peace held so dear in the east to a society so greatly in need.