MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU
Gerald May
It was 1976, and I had just received my first-level belt in the gentle Japanese martial art of Aikido: the practice (do) of the harmony (ai) of universal energy (ki). A visiting master called me to the front of the room and asked me to attack him. He stood quietly as I charged at him, then turned his head slightly away. My speed increased as I felt powerfully drawn towards him. Then he bowed his head slightly and looked back at me, and I found myself lying comfortably on the floor. We had not even touched.
He explained that he had aligned himself with my attacking energy, joined it from his own centered stillness, and gently guided it back around me towards the ground. From my perspective, it seemed I had inexplicably decided to lie down and rest.
If I had any lingering doubts about the mysterious universal energy the Japanese call ki, this demonstration completely removed them. It was absolutely real. Like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, I felt the Force. In the years that followed, I learned more of the oriental wisdom concerning this energy. It is called prana in Sanskrit, Rlung in Tibetan, Qi or Chi in Chinese. The languages differ, but the concept is universal: a fundamental life-breath-spirit-energy that pervades all creation. Oriental methods access this energy in a host of ways: for personal wellbeing in Qi Gong, in martial arts such as Tai Chi and Kung Fu, for healing in acupuncture and Reiki, for spiritual enlightenment in Siddha Yoga and Tibetan and Zen Buddhism.
Recently I have received great benefits from acupuncture and Qi Gong practice, and this has prompted new wonderings: If this spirit-energy is so basic in oriental spiritualities, where is it in Judeo-Christian spirituality? Why hasn't Western religion addressed it?
The answer, I find, is that it is present in Western spirituality, and it has been addressed. The Old Testament often associates energy-power (e.g. koach) with spirit-breath (ruah), as in Micah proclaiming, "I am full of the power of the breath of God" (3:8). In the New Testament, the gifts of the Spirit (e.g. 1 Cor 12) are described with the Greek words dunamis, "power," and hagion pneuma, "Holy Breath-Spirit." The word dunamis occurs over 120 times in the New Testament. It is the energy by which Jesus healed, the power he felt go out of him when the woman with the hemorrhage touched his garment (Mk 5:30, Lk 6:19 & 8:46).
It is important to know that this creative, dynamic power is very different from the "power-over" of authority or mastery (Gr: kratos or exousia). I found it very refreshing to realize that "the power and the glory" and "seated at the right hand of Power" refer to dunamis energy, not the power of mastery (Mt 6:13 [KJV] & 26:64).
It was this same dunamis of the hagion pneuma that the risen Christ predicted before Pentecost: "...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you" (Acts 1:8). Strange as it might seem, then, it is no accident that Pentecostals and Charismatics-and yes, the TV healers-represent the closest Christian parallels to oriental traditions such as Kundalini Yoga, Qi Gong, Kung Fu, Acupuncture, and Tibetan Tantra. Nowhere else in Christianity is spiritual energy so intentionally and directly accessed.
We must admit, though, that Christian understandings of spiritual energy are stunted compared to those of oriental traditions. There are several reasons for this. First, Christianity has long been under the influence of Greek dualism, which separates science from faith and places the spiritual realm far above that of the flesh. This has made it difficult for Christians to refine their abilities to sense the flows of energy or to develop concepts like an "energy body" coexisting with the physical body.
Second, Christianity has traditionally been suspicious of all personal uses of spiritual powers, seeing them as magic, sorcery or witchcraft. The theology underlying these concerns may be sound, but the associated fear and paranoia have unduly repressed many tentative Christian explorations of spiritual energy. Rufus Jones said that early Quakers got their name rightly, because they "trembled with a consciousness of God's nearness." Comparisons have been made between Quakers quaking, Shakers shaking, and Siddha Yoga practitioners experiencing awakening of kundalini energy-but most Quakers and Shakers stopped quaking and shaking a long time ago. Only some Pentecostals and Charismatics continue.
Similarly, mainstream Christian denominations generally view "holy rollers" with scorn. In part, this is a response to narrowness and rigidity in Pentecostal and Charismatic theology. But a larger issue, I think, is that the presence and effects of spiritual energy simply do not fit the rational propriety of modern Christian institutions. Thus it often seems more appropriate for modern Christians like myself to receive acupuncture or practice Qi Gong than to engage in laying-on of hands in Christian healing prayer.
In the early days of Shalem, before we became such a respectable institution ourselves, we did a lot of experimentation with spiritual energy. I'll admit it: people were known to quake and shake, and at least two of us spoke in tongues. But I'm afraid a certain decorum has settled upon us over the years. Now, if anyone feels a quake, shake, or slaying in the Spirit, they keep it to themselves. Personally, I'd like to see a rebirth of that radical experimentation. From a truly contemplative stance, which does not seek to manipulate God, might we be more open to what Wisdom has to teach us about the Spirit's flow? Might we even have the courage to pray directly for the dunamis of the hagion pneuma--and see what happens?
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