Exam 3: Magic, Witchcraft, and the Supernatural Body

How is medicine magical?

- death/suffering = inevitable

- medical intervention makes avoiding suffering possible to a point

- Cures make it seem like life can be prolonged indefinitely

- more effective medicine is in curing problems the greater the illusion we can be perfectly healthy and live forever

Lord Hanuman story/elixir

- goes in search of the elixir that can bring Lord Ram's brother back to life

- elixir: Kiraghas or caterpillar weed

- Hanuman's migration to Himalaya is reproduced by those looking for and selling caterpillar weed

Caterpillar weed

- burrows out during spring

- fungus that infects caterpillar, enters during hibernation, burrows out during spring

- represents life through death

- people hunt for it on Tibetan plateau and sell it on international market

- gives immortality, bestows physical prowess associated with "performance" (viagra)

Asclepieia

- temples dedicated to the healer god Asclepius

- functioned as centers of medical advice, prognosis, and healing

- patients would enter a dreamlike state of induced sleep known as enkoimesis (not unlike anesthesia) where they would receive guidance from deity in a dream or were cured by surgery

Marble boards in the Asclepeion of Epidaurus

- dated to 350 BCE

- preserve names, case histories, complaints, and cures of 70 patients

- example software surgical cases include opening of abdominal abcess, removal of traumatic foreign material

- opium may have been used

Hippocrates treatise on "sacred disease" of epilepsy

- a critique on the idea that epileptic fits are caused by spirit posession

- finding empirical proof that fits are symptoms of disease based on natural laws of balance and imbalance

- outlines theory of humoral imbalance based on empirical evidence**

Galen (129-216 CE)

- in Ars medica (Arts of Medicine) he explained mental properties in terms of specific measures of body parts and physiological substances

- were regarded as authoritative until Middle Ages

- four humors of hippocratic medicine

Paracelsus (1493-1541)

- "was an erratic and abusive innovator who rejected Galen and bookish knowledge, calling for *experimental research, with heavy doses of mystic, with heavy doses of mysticism, alchemy, and magic mixed in

- looked for cures in nature

- health in body relied on harmony of man (microcosm) and nature (macrocosm)

- *humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them

Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564)

- University of Padua

- De humans corporis fabrica (1543)

- leading role in identification and treatment of diseases and ailments

- specializing in autopsies and inner workings of the body

- intensive study of Galen led to critiques of Galen modeled on his own writing

- portrayed the human body as interdependent system of organ groupings

- book triggered public interest in dissections, led to anatomical theatres

- first attempt to try and prove through direct observation what was inside the body to disprove Galen's theory of humoral physiology

Islamic civilization and medicine

- physicians contributed to anatomy, ophthalmology, pharmacology, pharmacy, physiology, surgery

- influenced by ancient Indian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine

- Galen and Hippocrates works were translated into Arabic

- Galens insistence on rational systemic approach to medicine set trend for Islamic medicine --> spread throughout Arab Empire

Islamic domains of the cosmos

- Unseen Universe: imperceptible to mankind in general, has properties unknown to us, and includes Allah, angels, Paradise, Hell, seven heavens, and Al-Arsh (Divine throne)

- Observable Universe: perceptible through the 5 sense

Avicenna (Ibn Sina)

- 980-1037

- Persian polymath; one of the most significant thinkers/writers of Islamic golden age

- wrote 450 works, 240 survived: 150 on philosophy and 40 on medicine

- authored 5 volume medical encyclopedia: The Canon of Medicine

- was the standard medical textbook in Islamic world and Europe up to the 18th century

Yoga

- "yuj"

- to join, unite

- not just breathing and physical exercises

- consists of many different pathways

4 yogas

1. Janna yoga: knowledge

2. Bhakti yoga: devotion

3. Karma yoga: action

4. Hatha yoga: compulsion

Fluid body of humors and saps

-the balanced, energized flow of the humors gives strength

subtle body

-pran is channeled through the ventral nadi to produce supernatural strength

physical body:

- muscles, bones and vital points called karma

marma

- vital point

- point where two or more types of tissues meet

-can be hit/jabbed/pressed in order to disable attacker

- can be activated to heal a person who has been injured

How are vital points important?

- in a way that erodes the problem of aging

- attempt to embody enlightenment

- if immortality is a real possibility, no reason why a practitioner of martial arts can't be old and able to defeat younger opponents

- points have physical reality, but holistic interconnectivity of them is important

Daoism

- searching for harmony between macrocosm and microcosm

-dao = "the way"

-searching for harmony with nature

-overcome anxiety associated with thinking to get to a point where you are conscious without thinking

bagua

- geomancer's compass

- map of universe

-cosmic correspondences and patterns of relationships

-from the macrocosm to the microcosm of health and balance

qi

- life energy

- animating principal of the universe

- differentiating force

helps us to understand how things contrast with each other

- the subtle essence of power in the practice of east asian martial arts

-the essential force of life that is manipulated to produce healing

acupuncture

- manipulating qi through application of needles

Yang

- spatial agency

-outer, upper, dorasal, vital function, stimulation, growth, decline, ascent, outward orientation

yin

- spatial substance

- inner, lower, ventral, due (blood), material substrata, decline, descent, inward orientation

cupping

-enhance recovery rate from stress put on a body during intense periods of exercise and training

- acupuncture derived

cycle of the five elements

- earth, metal, water, wood, fire

-keep other "in check"

-diagram of stability within yon and yang transformation

qi flow

- pulse diagnostics

-stimulation

What is mindfulness?

- heightened awareness of the now

- leads to objectivity

jhana yoga

- knowledge

- permanent X impermanent

- develop desire for higher

bhakti yoga

- devotion

- love for god and people

- see god in all

- desires drop

karma yoga

- action

- attitude of giving, serving, contributing

- when you give you gain

- when you grab you lose

- identifying your talent

- fix higher goal

- lower desires drop

dharna

ability to concentrate

who is the observer?

- spirit: observer

- matter: intellect

what does success look like?

- perception: sharp

- action: brilliant

- emotion: detached

- thought: clear

Yoga and mindfulness's effects

- mediocrity --> excellence

- drudgery --> revelry

- ordinary --> extraordinary

- mortality --> immortality

as you think so you become

- think small --> become small

- think great --> become great

- become what you think

- body: physical

- mind: emotional

- intellect: intellectual

- spirit: spirit

who are we?

- you are matter + spirit

- matter: body, mind, intellect

- spirit: enlivening factor

- you are spirit, not BMI

- body: outer personality

what is enlightenment?

- knowledge of self: 100% objectivity/mindfulness

- awakening

Ayurveda and the king

- job of the physician is to keep the king alive and healthy

- political

- want him to live as long as possible

Ayurveda: surgery

- plastic surgery

- experimenting

- face structure

- fixing nose

- surgeon takes flap of skin on forehead, peel off, twist, place on injury of nose

- problem is to maintain flap as living tissue and not let it decay

Two systems of pharmacology (Ayurveda)

- humoral: vata, pitta, kapha

- ecological: food chain as a theory of environmental medicine

Ayurvedic theory

- constituent elements and animating force of all life

(a) ether/air --> vata

- quick, unrestricted

- light, subtle, dry, cold, rough, responsible for body movements and mind activity

- gets easily irritated

(Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn)

(b) fire --> pitta

(John F Kennedy, Nicole Kidman, Sting)

(c) water/earth --> kapha

(Oprah Winfrey, Martin Luther King)

- vatta: skinny, pitta: medium, kapha: belly

ayurveda and problem of life

- Dohsa means fault or imperfection

- if life itself is defined as a chronic illness then what is the goal of therapy

- heal specific problems

- aging is regarded as illness

- want to prolong life and produce immortality

key features of illness and health (ayurveda)

- humors govern all body functions and sustain life

- everything and anything you do or experience affects the balance of humors (food, weather, climate, time of day, season, age)

- imbalance of humors causes illness

- humors link individuals to the world and cosmos

Ayurvedic physiology - metabolic transformation

- Ojas: pure energy

- sakura: semen

- majja: marrow

- ashti: bone

- meda: fat

- mamsa: flesh

- rakta: blood

- rasa: food juice

- start from the bottom

- jatharagni: digestive fire, produces rasa

- bhutagni: elemental digestion, transform food essence into elements for incorporation into the dhatu

Ramayana and vajikarana (Ayurveda)

- sex depletes Ojas

- rasayana: immortality

- vajikarana: aphrodisiac

Rasayana therapy

- trying to embody pure ojas

- stopping the metabolic process of transformation: the flow of time

- soma: elixir of life

medicine based on ecology (ayurveda)

- animals categorized by what/how they eat

- animals eat other animals that eat other animals that eat leaves/grass

- animals and plants live in

(a) different ecological zones (humid, dry forest, rainforest, coast, etc)

(b) different environmental niches (mountains, trees, rivers, underground, etc)

(c) catch and eat food in different ways (claw, bite, grab, squeeze, peck)

The "aroma" of meat

- animal substances have medicinal properties that reflect place in food web, how/what it eats, environment it inhabits

- animal substances contain condensed essence of animal's humoral character: flesh, blood, bone, sinew, organs, urine/feces

medicinal substances (ayurveda)

- meat

- urine

- grains

- herbs

- roots

humoral theory (Ayurveda)

- what they are doing is not their own experimentation, but is authoritative word of divine beings

- "basic properties of the three humors are similar to combined elements from which they derive"

- tridosha: three humors --> vata, pitta, kapha

- dosha: "problem" or "mistake": humors are in chronic state of fluctuations

- problem of balance is that it is ideal but perfect balance is impossible

pre-ayurveda

- atharva veda 2500 years ago

- food and digestion

- ways to increase intellect

- knowledge of medicinal plants

- how to develop a good personality

Ayurveda from myth to history

- brahma: god who creates ayurveda

- bhardwaj: mythic sage who gets knowledge

- atreya: historic figure who gave knowledge practical value

- agnivesa: wrote down knowledge

- caraka: refined and systemized knowledge and composed the carakasamhita 6th century BCE

- drdhabala: revised the carakasamhita 4th century CE

ayurveda: pharmacology

- everything causes illness

- everything counts as medicine

- can directly influence health by diet, exercise, life-style

- taking "drugs" with clearly identified properties

- everything has medicinal properties

Ayurveda

- ayu: life over time

- veda: knowledge

- the knowledge that makes it possible to prolong life

Goal of yoga and mindfulness

- enlightenment: different state of consciousness that we're not aware of

- looking for success, happiness: almost never coincide

- all born with potential to get to perfection, but we almost never get there: weighed down by other things

pahalwani

- term that means "wrestling" but that refers to a broader way of life

- involves a deeply embodied concern with physical fitness, the physiology of sex, sexuality and masculine self- presentation

wrestlers

- become a part of community at ages 5-6

- manifest a degree of perfection

Akhara

-a gymnasium where men engage in pahalwani

- microcosm of an alternative world

-master teacher accepts you as disciple

guru

- master teacher

chela

- disciple

- should have no desire to do anything but what master says

Guru/Chela relationship

A relationship between a powerful, master

teacher who embodies the ideals of

pahalwani and an aspirant, acolyte or

disciple who seeks to embody those

ideals.

Hanuman

- the "patron" deity of the akhara

- embodies the interrelated attributes of masculinity

Shakti

- physically embodied power that is supernatural

bhakti

- devotion that physically connects a person to god

brahmacharya

-the embodied practice of celibacy, as a moral and ethical virtue of masculinity, that serves to produce a physical connection between contained sexuality, devotion and supernatural power

Kalaripayattu

- a martial arts with historical roots in south asia

- based on three bodies in one

-fluid, subtle and physical body

attack vital points based on strength, speed and agility gained by developing the fluid and subtle bodies

ethnographic methods

- going an akhara (gymnasium)

- physical and social participation

- interviews/surveys/ popular literature

ethnographic anecdote

- participant observation does not completely reveal the truth of experience

-must continually engage in critical reflection and critical self reflection

-produce a discursive context for analysis

-getting beyond ones own perceptions

Ayurveda in India

- supported by government

- popular

- provides treatment for people with limited resources (simple environment, can't get expensive medical treatments)

- wide range of wealth and poverty in India

- clinics supported by government funding

- are massive Ayurveda medical centers as well as Ayurveda on the street side

Why are women considered dangerous?

- they threaten sex and sexuality

-men need to be isolated from women and establish a fraternity

- danger of "weakness'

jor

Sparring in the akhara, when pahalwans develop their strength and skill. Jor is conceptualized as producing shakti.

-makes them powerful

-internalized balance

-building up resovoir of power that can't be lost

vyayam

The exersice routine associated with pahalwani

entails dands (jackknifing push ups) and bethaks (deep knee bends) both of which produce shakti

massage

-to strengthen all aspects of the body

-skin

-physical development

Khurak

A specific combination of food that pahalwans consume including: Almonds, Milk, Ghi(clarified butter)

-as men compete in tournaments for women they get large buckets of milk

-ghee--> condensed butter represents what the people try to do with their body (condense)

Dangal

a wrestling tournament during which pahalwan's compete

-demostrate skill and dramatically perform masculinity

-Dangals involve risk and are often highly charged with emotional power

-A pahalwan who seems to embody shakti can, suddenly appear to be powerless if dramatically defeated by a skilled opponent

Disney movie Dangal

-based on a true story

-daughter who grows up to compete for the gold medal

classical yoga

- 2nd century CE

- karma and maya

- people are entangled in a world that is an illusion

- enlightenment

-experiential insight into what is really real

- yoga is the means by which to embody what is real in order to transcend Maya

yoga ontology

- precreation-purusa-perfect transcendence

- purusa/prakriti - creation: devolution not evolution

- three guna: rajas, tamas, sattva

- imperfection and imbalance of life

- quest for contingent balance

- ideal of perfection: return to a state of purusa

two bodies and two realities

- sthul: gross body and gross nature

- air: the "gross" element that we breath

- suksama: subtle body and subtle natura

- pran: the "subtle" essence of air

Samahdi

- a transformation of the gross body, including the mind, into a subtle body

- immortality

- purity

- perfect balance

jivan mukti

- living "detached" from life's entailments and entanglements

- an enlightened sage who has achieved samadhi and has an immortal body

8 branches of ashtanga yoga

- yama: moral observance (nonviolence, not lying, not stealing, not having sex, non-attachment to possessions)

- niyama: self discipline (contentment, purity, austerity, study scriptures, surrender to god)

- asana: postures

- pranayama: breathing techniques

- pratyahara: sensory inhibition

- dharana: concentration

- dhyana: meditation

-samadhi: entasy-->embodies transcendental consciousness

hatha yoga

- forceful yoga: purify body, stop normal process of change/transformation, develop physical power to withstand force of enlightenment

- 2 parallel bodies

(1) subtle: invisible, pure, transcendent

(2) gross: tangible, strong, ensnared in the world of illusion

- siddhi powers --> magic: defy laws of nature to gain power over the natural world

- levitation, clairvoyance, being in two places at the same time

Mircea Eliade on hatha yoga

"...perfection is always the goal, and, as we shall soon see, it is neither athletic nor hygienic perfection. Hatha yoga cannot and must not be confused with gymnastics"

Shiva Samhita on Hatha yoga

- "the following qualities are found in the body of every yogi: strong appetite, good digestion, cheerfulness, handsome figure, great courage, mighty enthusiasm, and full strength"

- "the yogi who daily drinks the ambrosial air (plan), according to the proper rules, destroys fatigue, fever, decay, old age, and injuries"

Quote from Hathayogapradipika on Mayurasana: the peacock posture

"Place the palms of both the hands on the ground, and place the navel on both the elbows. Balancing thus, the body should be stretched backwards like a stick. This asana destroys all diseases, removes abdominal disorders, cures illnesses arising from irregularities of of phlegm, bile and wind, promotes the digestion of unwholesome food, increases appetite, and destroys the most deadly poison"

yoga physiology

- subtle body and gross body

- a continuum, parallel structures

- air and pran

- nadi conduits: bronchia, veins, arteries, intestines (idal, pingala, susumna)

- kundalini: subtle energy

Nadi purification

-preparing body for force of enlightenment

-purification of nadis

-strengthening body to withstand force of released kundalini

By kakachanchu or crow-billed mudra fill the stomach with air, hold it there for one and a half hours and then force it down towards the intestines. This dhauti must be kept a great secret, and must not be revealed to anybody. Then, standing in navel-deep water, draw out the saktinadi (long intestine), clean the nadi carefully by hand until all of the filth is washed away, and then draw it back into the abdomen. This process should be kept secret. It is not easily done even by the gods. Simply by this dhauti one gets devadeha, a godlike body.

Qi

-

Qi Gong

-"invented" as a modern form of self development in 1949 by Lui Guihen

-1958 -1976, modern Qi Gond under tight communist gov control

- regarded as a national treasure

Contemporary qigong blends diverse and sometimes disparate traditions in particular the Daoist meditative practice of "internal alchemy" (Neidan), the ancient meditative practices of "circulating qi" (Xing qi) and "standing meditation" (Zhan zhuang) and the slow gymnastics breathing exercise of "guiding and pulling" (dao yin)

Qi Gong controversy

- claim of Qi Gong deviation disorder

-claims of supernatural power

-charismatic cults

- New state regulations

-1985 National qigong science and research organization

-1999- restricted practice and regulation

magic and culture

- culture is a form of magic

- making visible things invisible and vice versa

- live in a world where things that should be visible are rendered invisible by magic of cultural context

magic of the state

- the way institutionalized forms of power make it seem like nation states are natural and timeless

- we often believe in nation state with the kind of condition that is characteristic of religious zeal

- belief seen in materialized forms of symbols (flags, anthems, currency, uniforms, statues)

"stealing the emperor's sword"

- revolution works to reveal the magic of the state

- choices people make to question power and to reveal the way power involves forms of mass deception

- taking back what is yours: power to make yourself heard and speak the truth to power by asking provocative questions and insisting answers are anchored in facts

commodity fetishism

- perception of social relationships involved in production; relationships in terms of economic relationships between money and commodities exchanged in market trade

- transforms abstract aspects of economic value into objective real things that people believe have intrinsic value

- brand takes on greater value than that thing's use, value or function

commodity fetishism examples

- bag to carry something in --> Dior, Prada, LV

- Otowa-no-taki --> waterfall where visitors drink for health, longevity and success

- water (something needed to live) --> Evian, Fiji, Voss, Smartwater

Martial Arts in China

-1900 Boxer Rebellion

-1919- 110 different martial art styles

-1927 Central Martial Arts Institute Founded

-Wudang: internal, soft arts such as Tai chi

-External: external, hard arts Kung Fu

External and Internal Martial Arts

-An "invented" distinction, but one that reflects Daoist philosophy

-Probably was invented as a metaphorical distinction between political strategies rather than a literal characterization of martial arts

-The distinction tends to reinforce orientalist stereotypes about the essential, spiritual aspect of the martial arts