Say an experiment has been done……

[winterm]

This experiment is absolutely watertight, there can be no argument with its conclusion:

CHI DOES NOT EXIST!

How would this affect CMA?

I can think of two possible angles:

1) Chi is so interwoven into most CMA that without it the whole thing just collapses,. There’s no longer any point training CMA so we should all go and join the nearest freestyle club.

2) Chi is just a convenient way of explaining the effects of training in CMA. The explanation of why it works might be discredited, but the fact it works has been proved time and again..

Any comments?

I guess the basic question is, what is CMA without chi? Is there any point in doing it if you don’t believe in chi?

This thread is not about whether chi exists or not, so please don’t post anything which says ‘ the experiment couldn’t be done’ or theorize on the type of experiment, (though this could make an interesting discussion).

BTW: hi everyone, this is first post but I've had to lurk on the forum for a while due to problems with my login, hope to contribute some other stuff in the near future...

I’ll post the background to the questions later.
:(

if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's something that walks like a duck and quacks like a duck

[David]

Hi and welcome.

Like your signature might suggest, if you disprove chi, it still exists. Hard science has one way of looking at it and traditionalists have another.

The powers of Kung Fu never fail!
-- Hong Kong Phooey

[winterm]

Hi david

small world - Recently I spent quite a while looking on your website for mantis in my area, (no luck, alas). Seems to one of the best in the UK, especially liked the un-politicalness(made up word)

if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's something that walks like a duck and quacks like a duck

[jon]

Thats a really interesting question and got me thinking as we do a lot of chi gong in our school.
I belive even without chi martial arts would still exist for a lot of reasons not least of which being a form of education both physical and mental.
That and true cma teach humilty and many other moral attributes which are fast failing in our society.
I think that even without chi heck even without fighting or form cma would still be a vaild art in its own right and its strenghts would only continue to grow.
Based mainly on there way of making people feel like they are a part of something thats good for both themselves and the world around them as a whole.
Hey i guess its a rommantic view. I honestly belive that chi is simply what makes us tick. I think about it like this: Our body is simply a lump of meet and blood and other such stuff what makes us pump blood have thoughts, emotions and everything else is energy i think chi is simply a form of that energy to deny it is like denying life exists.

you cant win all the time but you cant always lose either...

[omegapoint]

What experiment are you talking about? Have you ever done any published research yourself? Numbers like perceptions can be manipulated to say what you want them to say. Do you even understand modern A&P, Biomechanics and other biological and medical principles? If you don't then how can you evaluate a scientific study (assuming the study was based on modern statistics and science)?

The modern definition for chi encompasses more than the ancient Chinese explanantion. Chi/Ki does exist, but you must know the content and context of the answers and questions.

The entire world is an illusion. I'm sure you've heard the quote,"perception is illusion". The way human senses perceive their reality is less fine-tuned than many other animals. Our take on things is an illusory thing. Ask any neuroscientist and he'll tell you that perception is reality but reality is an illusion. So therefore perception=reality=illusion. This is a basic neurobiological FACT. So your ideas and the researcher's ideas about chi/ki are just as illusory as those who believe in this "force". Do you feel me?

[Cyborg]

Omegapoint, I PERCIEVE that you misunderstood his question. :)

I, on the other hand, percieved him to be asking, "if there was no chi, then..." he didn't stay that a watertight study had been done which disproved it.

"Box a fighter and fight a boxer". Bruce Lee