Qi synonyms

Life energy beliefs around the world

i is the Chinese term for life energy, or life spirit, a vital force that flows through all living things. Similar beliefs exist all over the world, in many cultures. Here is an encyclopedia of such beliefs - and of terms mistakenly believed to be such.
     You find an edited and expanded version of it in my book Life Energy Encyclopedia.

Udana see prana.

Unitary principle is an expression introduced in 1948 by the English physicist Lancelot Law Whyte (1896-1972) for the thesis that asymmetry decreases in isolated processes. This points out a driving force in all of nature – and civilization – toward the perfect state. This driving force and its direction, humans can know through their unconscious, which should therefore be given priority over the conscious mind. Whyte’s principle has sometimes been mentioned as a synonym to qi, which is doubtful since it is more of a natural law than a kind of energy.

Universal intelligence is a principle within chiropractics, presented in 1927 by Ralph W. Stephenson (1879-1936) in the Chiropractic textbook, which states that this intelligence exists in all matter, constantly giving it properties, and thereby also assuring its continued existence. Life, which unites this intelligence with matter, consists of equal parts intelligence, matter, and power. The function of the intelligence is to express power, while the function of the power is to unite intelligence with matter. This power is expressed through the natural laws. In humans, the universal intelligence moves from the brain to the body through the nervous system. The chiropractic adjustments of the spine and vertebrae are ways of assuring this flow. It is sometimes mentioned as a synonym to qi. Within chiropractics, founded in the USA in 1895 by Daniel David Palmer (1845-1913), there were ideas about a life force flowing through the body, prior to Stephenson’s book.

Universal life force is an expression used by the Russian baron Eugene Fersen (1873-1956) in the book Science of Being from 1923. Fersen left Russia right before the revolution in 1917, and moved to the USA. He founded the movement Lightbearers, which was dispersed after his death. He had familiarized himself with the Polynesian concept mana (see this word), which was at the time regarded as a kind of life force. Still, he developed his own ideas about a primal, vibrating life force. He used deep breathing, standing straight with his arms out to the sides, forming a kind of pentagram of his body, in order to receive this life force.

Universion is a term introduced in 1927 by the Russian engineer Georges Lakhovsky (1870-1942), stationed in France, for a cosmic primordial energy of radio waves, affecting every living thing. In 1931 he patented a multiwave oscillator, which was supposed to find each cell’s natural frequency and make it vibrate in resonance, which would cure certain diseases and give a lasting health.

Stefan Stenudd