Well using Christian logic I guess this is proof positive that Chi exists.

For those unfamiliar with Chi, or Qi, check here.

Actually stumbled into the world of martial arts, and the concept of Chi, when I was still struggling to understand the question of God's existence.  

It was both an enlightening experience, and a puzzling one.

In my opinion there is FAR more proof for the existence of Chi then there is for the existence of any god.

Spiritual people more likely to suffer from mental illness. Interesting.

Courtesy of the Telegraph:

Professor Michael King, from University College London, and his fellow researchers wrote in the British Journal of Psychiatry: "Our main finding is that people who had a spiritual understanding of life had worse mental health than those with an understanding that was neither religious nor spiritual." 

The study was based on a survey of 7,403 randomly selected men and women in England who were questioned about their spiritual and religious beliefs, and mental state. 

Of the participants, 35 per cent described themselves as "religious", meaning they attended a church, mosque, synagogue or temple. Five in six of this group were Christian. 

Almost half (46 per cent) described themselves as neither religious nor spiritual, while the 19 per cent remainder said they had spiritual beliefs but did not adhere to a particular religion. 

Members of this final group were 77 per cent more likely than the others to be dependent on drugs, 72 per cent more likely to suffer from a phobia, and 50 per cent more likely to have a generalised anxiety disorder. 

They were also 40 per cent more likely to be receiving treatment with psychotropic drugs, and at a 37 per cent higher risk of neurotic disorder. 

The researchers concluded: "We conclude that there is increasing evidence that people who profess spiritual beliefs in the absence of a religious framework are more vulnerable to mental disorder.

Well of course I have  numerous opinions on this data, including why I think it might be so, but I think I will simply leave this here for all of you to discuss and then later I will revisit it and perhaps add my two cents worth.

I think one thing to keep in mind is how one defines "spirituality" and the reason WHY somebody usually joins a religious organization. I think that will help narrow the focus of the debate.

How to suck at your religion.

This is all over my Facebook page today, so I thought I would share it with all of you.

Click here, read to the end, and then decide if you picked the right religion, and/or if you suck at it.

(P.S. Spoiler alert, Taoists are going to skate right through this bad boy.)

Here is your mental health break of the day. Featuring a story about Jackie Chan.

I know this is not a usual topic here, but I am a huge fan of Jackie Chan, and I thought this was a great anecdote.

It also reminds of an incident that happened when I first started training in martial arts.

My instructor was a twenty year old Chinese Kung fu protege from a very rural area of China, who had immigrated to America with his family, and who briefly settled in Alaska for reasons which were never really explained to me.

I have often described him as possibly the MOST moral person I have ever met.  (He was a Taoist, I think.) He refused to eat meat, never injured or killed anything (Not even a mosquito sucking his blood), and when he was insulted he bowed and thanked the person calling him names.

One day while we were training, a fly came in through one of the open basement windows, and he suddenly told me to stop.  I saw the fly and went to swat it, but he caught my arm, and wagged his finger in my face and said, "He has done you no harm. You must return the favor."

For the next several minutes he used quick hand movements to guide the fly back toward the window, never once touching it, until it had flown to safety. Afterward he beamed with pride over his accomplishment and we went right back to work.

Now just to provide contrast I should probably tell you the story of the concrete cinder block,

We found it on one of our bi-weekly runs, and he made me carry it the two miles back to the basement, where he hung it up with a heavy chain from the beam that ran the length of the room. It hung there for a number of days, until one day when he was attempting to explain how to focus one's Chi.

He was trying to explain it to me in his usual broken English, but I could barely understand what the hell he was trying to say, or how it related to my breathing. Suddenly he stopped and held up his finger, a sign to wait, and then walked over the the cinder block.

Suddenly, while standing in a very relaxed stance, his hand shot out and the cinder block exploded, not just broke, but EXPLODED. Afterward all that was left was one side of the block that the chain still managed to maintain in its grip.

You can bet I was suddenly VERY interested in Chi. (Just to answer the obvious question, yes I did manage to develop a comparatively pitiful ability to focus my internal energy, and NO I never was able to break a cinder block. I did break some boards and a brick or two, but the best I could do was to hit the block hard enough to make it swing. That, and render my hand unable to open for about two full days as well. It still aches on cold days.)

Anyhow when martial arts movies became popular I saw all of them, and I do mean ALL of them.

Many of them were quite horrible, but then I discovered Jackie Chan. Even a relatively bad Jackie Chan movie, and there ARE a few, is still a pretty great day at the movies, usually filled with plenty of humor and jaw dropping stunt work.

The dangers of taking the Bible, or any religious book, too literally.

Boy this guy is really the poster child for Christian tolerance, love, and acceptance, isn't he?

We keep hearing from the Far Right that the Qaran is this horrible, hateful book, just chock full of calls for murder and the mistreatment of women.

However the facts are that compared side by side the Bible is actually the more violent of the two books:

"By the standards of the time, which is the 7th century A.D., the laws of war that are laid down by the Quran are actually reasonably humane," he says. "Then we turn to the Bible, and we actually find something that is for many people a real surprise. There is a specific kind of warfare laid down in the Bible which we can only call genocide." 

It is called herem, and it means total annihilation. Consider the Book of 1 Samuel, when God instructs King Saul to attack the Amalekites: "And utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them," God says through the prophet Samuel. "But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."

In fact just in the first four books of the Bible, the cruelty and violence is sickening. And don't think the violence ends before the  pages of the New Testament begin.

I am not trying to pit one Abrahamic religion against another, and I certainly do not think the Qaran is much better. I am just reminding people that these books were written a very long time ago, by people who were not nearly as evolved or as highly educated as the people living today.

We are less violent, less misogynist, and less intolerant, not BECAUSE of the teachings of Islam and Christianity, but DESPITE the teachings of Islam and Christianity.

Just in case you think I am only picking on these two religions, let me just point out that my beloved Buddhism has also done little to reduce the number of wars fought by its adherents. And in Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" we see Taoism interwoven into the very fabric of the military instruction within.

Remember, man will always be man, regardless of how they worship, or to which God they send their prayers.

Your Sunday evening moment of Zen

I don't post about it very much but one of my great passions is studying the history of Martial Arts. Especially in China.

I started training when I was the same age as this boy in the video. Though unlike him I was all Caucasian and clumsy.

However my teacher was a very patient man and he really brought out the best in me.

I owe him a great deal, and his lessons still guide my actions to this very day.

Anybody who believes that Chinese martial arts is all about kicking and punching could not be more wrong, and I respectfully suggest that they watch this video a few times until they are enlightened as to the beauty of Gung Fu.

Namaste.