Thread: Gestalt
View Single Post
Old 05-19-2003, 01:40 PM   #2
jimvance
Dojo: Jiyushinkan
Location: Mesa, AZ
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 199
Offline
Quote:
Damion Lost wrote:
Lately, I was wondering if ki is a gestalt. That ki is composed of several physical, biological, and psychological phenomena that combine to form something greater than the sum of its parts.

If this is true, then ki is more an alignment of events, a multivariable equation, or constructive resonance, than a single measurable value (Newton, Calorie, Watts).

If this is true what components make up this equation and what weight should be assigned to each particular unit?
Good question. Couple of things though.

The definition of gestalt doesn't necessarily dictate that these different "phenomena" (which are really just other gestalts, but more on that later....) are GREATER than the sum, merely that they are DIFFERENT than the sum. Nuff said, do the research on that one.

I would like to make one other point. Any gestalt arises from the interaction of different factors, those factors themselves being just another network of structural relationships. Modern science has yet to pinpoint a real "essence" than cannot be reduced to another level of structural relationships. To state it another way, how we perceive the universe has nothing to do with its "actual" function, rather, we simply create those functions so that we can interact within it. Is ki real? Sure, to someone who identifies with it. The ultimate test as to its legitimacy rests on the ability to recreate its existance, i.e. to create the structural relationships in a predictable fashion.

We do the same things when we build an airplane, a nuclear reactor, or a turkey sandwich.

Cheers.

Jim Vance
  Reply With Quote