Are you a spiritual person?

If you are, may this episode be right up your alley because we're going to finally start diving deep into the spiritual side of Traditional Western Medicine, which includes the last three components of the Seven Natural Things.

If you're new to this podcast/newsletter whatever - welcome! I hope you have an open mind because we get into some pretty weird (cool) shit when it comes to health and being human.

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Over the last several episodes, we've been getting into what exactly Traditional Western Medicine is, and going through its general principles. Essentially, this ancient practice is rooted in the belief of balance and harmony, not only within oneself but with the environment around us, including the Universal Life Forces of Nature and the cosmos. Back in Hippocrates's day, it was understood that there was more to life than just being an insignificant meat suit. Our bodies are not just "machines". We are spiritual beings connected to a spiritual world through the lens of a spiritually-animated physical body. When all these things are balanced and working together harmoniously, all is well, including health. When these things are unbalanced or not working together harmoniously, things tend to go awry and sickness and disease settles in.

The last few episodes we've been talking about the more physical components of being a human (or the Seven Natural Things), so this episode we're going to get into the spiritually-animated components, which are:

• The Four Faculties - the basic functions of the human body and their associated spirits
• The Life-Giving Principles - the energies and essences that give life to humans
• The Four Administering Virtues - the four secondary physical faculties of all bodily functions

Time to get spiritual!

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So, previously we spent a lot of time talking about the Organs & Similar Parts, most particularly the Four Noble Organs: the brain, heart, liver, and gonads. There's a reason these four organs are considered the most important: they literally sustain life itself by being the vehicles for the four basic things every human and living organism needs to be able to do for themselves to live and survive.

These are the Four Faculties:

• Vital Faculty: humans have to be able to vitalize themselves with the basic life energy (more on this later) in order to function. It's centered around the heart (Noble Organ) and lungs; and governs respiration, circulation, cellular metabolism, and the immune system.
• Natural Faculty: humans have to be able to feed themselves, as well as grow, support, and regenerate their physical bodies. It's centered around the liver (Noble Organ) and digestive system; and governs digestion, metabolism, nutrition, and growth.
• Psychic Faculty: humans have to have consciousness, intelligence/cognition, awareness and perception. It's centered around the brain (Noble Organ) and nervous system; and governs the overall ability to respond intelligently to the environment for self preservation.
• Generative Faculty: humans have to be able to reproduce themselves to propagate the species and continue Life itself. It's centered around the gonads (Noble Organs) and reproductive system; and governs sexual relations, procreation, and the gestational phase of life.

These are the four necessary but basic functions of life.

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In order for these to function, Life requires two basic forms of energy: kinetic and thermal. Kinetic energy powers all movement and function; thermal energy powers digestion, metabolism and transformation.

Similar to Qi in Chinese Medicine or Prana in Ayurveda, Traditional Western Medicine calls kinetic energy - Pneuma. The breath of life. There are three forms of Pneuma, but it's initially extracted from the air we breathe by our lungs, which then send this raw form of pneuma straight to the heart. In the heart, pneuma is then infused into the blood and takes on its first potent form called the Vital Force. The Vital Force is the kinetic energy (pneuma) for the Vital Faculty: vitalizing humans with pneuma in order to function. In the liver, the Vital Force is then changed into the second form of Pneuma - the Natural Force. This powers the Natural Faculty where the liver infuses the Natural Force into the generation of the Four Humors (Blood, Yellow Bile, Black Bile, Phlegm). When these humors are generated, the Natural Force divides into four subforms called the Four Administering Virtues, which animate the humors and powers them to function.

• Blood/Sanguine Humor is infused with the Attractive Virtue to enable organs and parts to attract nourishment to themselves
• Yellow Bile/Choleric Humor is infused with the Digestive Virtue to power the transformative function of digestion
• Black Bile/Melancholic Humor is infused with the Retentive Virtue to help solidify and hold onto things
• Phlegm/Phlegmatic Humor is infused with the Expulsive Virtue to help eliminate waste and transport nutrients throughout the body

The third form of Pneuma changes from the Vital Force to the Psychic Force in the brain - which powers the Psychic Faculty. This is responsible for all thought, cognition, perception, and response to stimuli. The Generative Faculty, the one responsible for sexual relations and procreation, use the Vital Force to spark up a new life.

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When it comes to thermal energy (which powers digestion, metabolism, and transformation), Traditional Western Medicine calls this Ignis; similar to Yang in Chinese Medicine or Agni in Ayurveda. Ignis essentially means Fire in Latin: the transformative element. Ignis is a product of pneuma (coming from the air we breathe) and also has three basic forms.

Ignis is first combusted in the heart alongside the Vital Force, and is changed into the Innate Heat. This Innate Heat (along with the Vital Force) is carried from the heart by the blood to all the organs, parts, and tissues to power cellular metabolism (this is where natural body heat comes from). In the liver, the Innate Heat is transformed into the Metabolic Heat to power digestion in the Natural Faculty. This works hand in hand with the Natural Force to generate the Four Humors: the Metabolic Heat cooks or concocts the humors while the Natural Force gives the humors their functions. In the brain, the Innate Heat is transformed to the Psychic Heat which powers the digestion and processing of thoughts and experiences. (This is part of the reason my Fire Breathers are such brilliant people - their brains are highly developed with the power of digestion.)

Along with the Vital Force, the Generative Faculty uses the Innate Heat to germinate new life.

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While Pneuma powers movement and function, and Ignis powers digestion and transformation, there is a third force that powers the immune response: Thymos. Thymos has both kinetic and thermal aspects to it; the kinetic (functioning) aspect of Thymos activates its biological intelligence, such as T-cells and inflammation, whereas the thermal (digestive) aspect of Thymos emphasizes the metabolic processes that occur in the body, helping to keep foreign microbes at bay.

All in all, this goes to show how important the breath is. Breathing is so freakin' important as it kicks off so many processes in the body, not to mention, literally keeps us alive. Without breath, there is no life, as the spirit of life is literally in the air! Also goes to show how important it is to have clean air...

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Like, if you think about it, and I mean really take some time to think about it... I feel like the concept of being human has been completely attacked lately. These last several years have felt very anti-human.

I already had a whole rant last episode about how I feel our hearts (and heart chakra, or you can say Vital Faculty) has been attacked. Our food is continuously fucked with and has all sorts of toxins and poisons on them, in the soil, etc (attacking our Natural Faculty). The rampant propaganda in movies, music, tv-shows, social and regular media is insane (messing with our cognitive abilities, aka Psychic Faculty). Not to mention, the birth rate across the board has been going down for multiple reasons... (Generative Faculty).

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I refuse to subscribe to this anti-human bullshit.

We as human beings are so beautiful, so special, so magical! Just by focusing on and understanding the breath, you can see how dope we are. 100% magic is real and we are proof. Our bodies are proof.

Maybe this wasn't a spiritual episode after all, maybe it's a pro-human episode.

I'm definitely pro-human... are you?

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✧☽

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Song I feel jives well with this episode:

Thoughts by Another Human full playlist: