An Idea of the World, and of Global Chinese Medicine

I've been emboldened by some friends to write about Analytic Idealism. You might ask, what is Analytic Idealism, and who are you to say anything about it? Well, let's start with me. I'm just interested. In everything. I'm just very interested in everything that makes sense to me, and Analytic Idealism does. Big Time.

Bernardo Kastrup's 2019 Book

I learned about Bernardo Kastrup and his philosophical thesis of Analytic Idealism through none less than Lonny Jarrett, with whom I was working on a 2-year long course focusing on Five Element Acupuncture and the Shen-Hammer Pulse Diagnosis. One fine day, among the many pearls of wisdom that Lonny typically imparts, he said something very quotable and added that the idea was analogous to what Bernardo Kastrup talks about. I had never heard the name until then. I don’t remember what Lonny’s quote was anymore, and Lonny never said that name in the course again. But that brief mention piqued my curiosity and I launched into a search frenzy for Bernardo. It seemed fun that Bernardo was natively Brazilian, like me. I was impressed by the level of professionalism and recognition he has been achieving in Europe and the world, in a field that is very restrictive. He had credentials galore: two PhDs, one in Computer Science and one in Philosophy, and a career that included serving as a Scientist at CERN, the world’s leading center for particle physics research, located in Switzerland. So what exactly is Analytic Idealism? Bernardo has affirmed in a live group discussion in which I participated that the "analytic" here refers to a rigor of thinking and describing the theory, not necessarily linked to other modalities associated with the word "analytic". And "idealism" is an approach to philosophy that opposes "physicalism", so it is imperative that we take a closer look at these two concepts

To keep it short and casual, physicalism  is a philosophical way of thinking that intends to explain the world - including the human mind - in terms of matter. Idealism, in contrast, posits that all that is to the world is mind - because that's the only thing one can be certain of our experience of it (not only on a personal, individual way, but on a larger scale including Nature and all of the Universe). This perspective circumvents what is called the "Hard Problem of Consciousness" faced by materialism - a problem that shows that, so far, none of the materialistic theories could show exactly how consciousness can be derived from matter.

Idealism is not a novel concept. It dates all the way back to Plato (Forms/Appearances) and has been developed by the likes of Kant (Noumena/Phenomena), Schopenhauer (Will/Representation), and others (see a detailed table generated with chatGPT here). I am utterly impressed by how well Idealism gels with the theories of Chinese Medicine. To stick to a single example: Heiner Fruehauf's article All Disease Comes From the Heart: The Pivotal Role of the Emotions in Classical Chinese Medicine (2006).

There is a whole lot more that can be said about this seemingly revolutionary view on life and consciousness. It feels new and different, yet it is rooted in the tradition of several idealist thinkers that came before it, and whose torch it not only carries on but adapts to the present moment. At this point, I want to be clear that finding Bernardo Kastrup's Analytic Idealism has been a turnkey moment in my progression within Chinese Medicine, and in my whole view of the world. For example, it has renewed my interested in the Five Elements tradition, the Shen-Hammer Pulse Diagnosis, and other approaches generally considered more “esoteric” in the Medicine. It got me interested in learning the original Chinese holes/points names to understand their metaphysics rather than just their physical function. Also, it made me want to go back to the Classics, line for line, to truly understand what it means to have a Nature-based approach to treatment of illnesses. Therefore, the idealistic way of looking at Life, Nature and the World has been embedded into all the services and programs I put forth in this site, and in how I approach those that need my help.

 More on this topic, if anyone is interested, can be discussed as we move along.

 Thanks for reading it! PS: Thank you to my private group BK5 friends, who encouraged me and reviewed this text. They are another boon conceded to me by Analytic Idealism.