Thoughts About the Future: Acupuncture

Can acupuncture help heal the planet? Acupuncture has become increasingly accepted as a treatment in the United States after originating in China about 2,000 years ago and spreading to Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and elsewhere in East Asia. Now the question is being raised—primarily among New Agers and artists—as to whether acupuncture can work on the planet, too.

In brief, for those who haven ’t yet heard of this, acupuncture is a treatment in which a practitioner inserts and manipulates needles into various points on the body to relieve pain or treat certain conditions. According to this system, the body has acupuncture points along 12 to 14 meridians through which the vital energy, called “qi” or “chi,” flows. But sometimes this energy stagnates, so the needles are inserted at these points to get the qi flowing again, and thereby heal the body. The practitioner decides what points to stimulate depending on what is wrong with the patient.

Although the effectiveness of acupuncture is still questioned by some medical practitioners, in general it has become an accepted alternative medical treatment, largely covered by most employer health insurance plans and believed to be at least somewhat effective by the majority of doctors.

If acupuncture can be used to heal the body, the reasoning goes, why not heal the planet as well? The rationale for this thinking is that there are certain meridians with power points around the Earth, and various traditional systems have identifi ed these meridians and power points.

For example, the feng shui system in Asia balances the yin and yang energies that are believed to have an effect on the Earth ’s surface, while geomancers study the Earth ’s etheric energies, which include power points associated with ley lines, underground water sources, streams, and faults. According to those working with Earth energies, the Earth ’s energy is especially strong at the points where the ley lines intersect, and these points have been recognized by many traditional peoples. For instance, Stonehenge was created at such a point, while other power points have been on mountain tops, such as where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount and Moses received the Ten Commandments. Native Americans have identified numerous sacred sites and used many of them for special ceremonials. And presumably, many of the ancient pyramids in Egypt and other cultures were built on power points.

So now, if there are acupuncture points in the body used for healing and power points on the planet, why not try healing the Earth because it is suffering so much, as a growing number of individuals are proposing today. Among them is an artist who is running as a Democrat for governor of California, Lowell Darling of Marin County, according to an article in the Oakland Tribune. Although Darling, who ran against Jerry Brown in the 1978 primary, might not have much hope of winning as governor, his approach to bringing acupuncture to the Earth might have more of a chance of gaining acceptance today.

When writer Josh Richman caught up with Darling for his article, Darling was sticking knitting needles into the seams between the sidewalk slabs on College Avenue on the border between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland. Why? Because Darling believed the treatments “relieve the tensions at man-made borders that are “clotting, blocking the natural fl ow of humanity across the planet.” He decided to start the project by applying acupuncture to the “most benign borders,” and then working up to more difficult borders that “no one can cross.” Then, after applying a healing treatment on College Avenue, Darling went to another Berkeley Oakland border spot where Adeline and Martin Luther King Jr. streets cross. He headed for a large sculpture with huge metal letters spelling out “here” and “there,” and inserted some needles next to the beginning of the “here” sign, where the “T” might go, to create two “there” signs. He thought the effects of the needles would be very soothing, since this would resolve any perceived differences between “here” and “there.”

So is using acupuncture for the Earth simply conceptual art, or could Darling and other New Agers recommending acupuncture be on to something? Or maybe “on” something, as skeptics might suggest. It ’s hard to say, but over 20 years ago, I went to some workshops on power points in Northern California, where we gathered around one of several springs on a farm near Ukiah, and the leader spoke about the healing properties of these springs, since the energies of the Earth are supposed to be more powerful at such power spots. And now some New Age tour groups even offer travel to power places around the globe, particularly in the United Kingdom and the Middle East.

In turn, whether such needles in the Earth have an actual effect or not, if a growing number of individuals use acupuncture to heal the Earth, this activity will help to focus attention of the world on these problems and contribute to forming a movement to come up with or support possible solutions. In other words, using acupuncture for the Earth on these power points could serve as a rallying cry to bring people together. So then, is it the acupuncture or the actions of thousands or millions of individuals coming together that will actually heal the Earth? I’m not sure. But bring on the knitting needles and stick them in. They certainly can’t hurt—and the people sticking them in can be part of a growing movement to help the Earth heal.

Extracts taken from "The Very Next New Thing ~ Commentaries On The Latest Developments That Will Be Changing Your Life" by Gini Graham Scott (2011)