​Photo: Full Moon in Blowing Rock, by Ivy Glennon
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During the June, 2016 Taiji Camp in Blowing Rock, Yang, Laoshi presented a twist on a familiar concept. Discussing the old adage of the master pointing to the moon and the followers mistaking his finger for the moon, Laoshi proposed that, perhaps, sometimes the master is pointing to something beyond the moon. I am intrigued with this idea and have been thinking further on how it applies to Taiji/Qigong in general and our unique practice in particular.

Not long after I began this practice I started to notice benefits beyond the practice itself. Many of us have found Taiji/Qigong to be a great low-impact exercise, with further benefits of increased balance, a reduction in symptoms associated with arthritis or other autoimmune disorders, fewer colds, increased energy levels, and overall well-being. These are well-documented, primarily by Dr. Yang and others, with new studies happening all the time. I am grateful for these results and the associated published trials and studies. I personally think that the medical community, Taiji community, and everyone concerned with engaged living owes Dr. Yang and others doing this work much gratitude. However, I wonder if these now-obvious results and side effects of practice are the proverbial moon. If so, what is it that is beyond? 

Three interesting perspectives on reality, what appears to be reality, what it is (or isn't).

The Case Against Reality  An article in The Atlantic argues that the world is nothing like what we experience through our senses.  "The world presented to us by our perceptions is nothing like reality. What’s more,...we have evolution itself to thank for this magnificent illusion, as it maximizes evolutionary fitness by driving truth to extinction.

Changeless Reality  "There is something present which is experiencing the current situation. We do not know what that something is, yet we know for certain that it is present, that it is conscious. 
We know that it is not the mind, the body or the world, because the mind, the body and the world are part of the current situation that is being experienced."

We are Living in a Computer Simulation  "...we should hope that it’s true that we live in a simulation. 'Otherwise, if civilisation stops advancing, then that may be due to some calamitous event that stops civilisation.'”
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