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There are various kinds of energies in the universe. Everything has its own kind of energy. The basic and original unified energy is the one that created the universe, the world, and every thing in the world. From the beginning, this unified universal energy has combined with our human energy to maintain our vitality and support our activities.
The courses of Universal Chikung are designed to teach people, how to effectively gather and inhale these universal energies, and how to combine or integrate them with our human energy, then how to control and apply this integrated or unified energy, so as to enhance our physical power and increase our productive ability.
Similar to the various kinds of energies are various kinds of spirits. One kind is internal, which is in our body. We may call it human spirit. The others are external. They are the universal or natural spirits, the heavenly spirits, other humans’ spirits, other lives’ spirits, things and affairs’ spirits. From the beginning, these external spirits keep on joining with our internal spirit, to influence our character and guide our behavior.
The courses of Universal Chikung and Chitao teach us how to effectively and honestly use the influence of human mind and heavenly or natural spirit to improve ourselves, and how to effectively and righteously influence the human mind and natural spirit to improve other people and the whole world. Through the elevation of people’s personality and nature’s quality, we can increase our intelligence and creativity, upgrade our industrial and agricultural productivity, improve our social condition and natural environment, and thus create happiness and prosperity.
Throughout chikung history, quite a lot of schools have adopted spiritual methods. Some practice it simply or naturally, some practice it psychologically or scientifically, some practice it mystically or religiously. Universal Chikung selects their essences and practices it collectively.
Although some people think the religious portion is unscientific, even superstitious; we believe most of the religious faith and spiritual thoughts have scientific cores, only they are cloaked in celestial clothes. You can’t judge the color of the pearl by the look of the oyster’s shell. Things that are unknown today may be known tomorrow. Psychology has long been changed from being metaphysical into physical or scientific. Many people now believe spirit is also scientific and materialistic. I believe we will soon discover and prove religion’s scientific and material nature. We now are discovering and proving religious faith and spiritual thought can be combined with scientific practice.
Religious beliefs originated from human imagination. Inheritance made these beliefs a part of human nature. Human imagination and nature themselves may be considered scientific and materialistic. Nearly all people, in the whole world, for thousands of years, have believed in religions. (Though some believe it secretly or occasionally.) So that, one cannot say religious faith are all nonsense, religious people are all fools. One cannot turn all humans around with a slap of his hand, and drive all deities away with a kick of his foot.
Everything has its range and limit. Vast as the universe is, it also has its range and limit; as has science. Science is neither all-inclusive nor almighty. It can explain only a limited portion of the universe’s phenomena. Everything has its opposite part. Opposite to science there must be a nonscience. Beyond the scientific world, there must be a nonscientific world, a "religious" world, a spiritual world, a supernatural world; yet, they are one world.
Religion and science also can be considered as a yin and a yang, the two coexistent poles of an indivisible whole. Maybe they have a relationship just as our body and mind.
Universal Chitao and Chikung believe that most religions have their good points and great power. They can accomplish many things that modern science or other powers cannot. So they are good for chikung practice. We think that with the help of religious faith, it can be easier to integrate people, nature, and supernatural.
In chikung, the word "chi" not only denotes the energy alone, it includes also mind and spirit. More broadly, it includes matter as well. It’s a substance in four forms or four substances in one form. Chikung is really a practice or training process toward the effective integration and application of all the four elements, so as to benefit human beings.
Some chikung schools emphasize energy’s integration. Some schools emphasize spirit’s integration. Universal Chikung believes the four kinds of integration are equally important. We further emphasize the combining of the four integrations into a more balanced and powerful unification.
We believe that enhancing and balancing of matter, energy, mind and spirit; enhancing and balancing the relationship of human to human, human to nature and supernatural; are essential to a better life and a better world.
Actually, the aim of Universal Chitao and Chikung is to unify and harmonize energies and spirits, nature and humankind, nations and peoples, religion and science, time and space, matters of all kinds; so as to build a better life and world, further advance to a heavenly life and world.
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* To be continued at Book Foreword-C
