SUBTLE ENERGY 101

LECTURE 1 – Introduction

Dear students of Quantum University, we begin today the first of ten lectures in this course
about Subtle Energy. I am sure that, as students of integrative medicine, all of you know that this
name—subtle energy—is used by modern frontier researchers to present in a more contemporary
language the ancient concept of “life force,” which was used by practitioners of Eastern medicine
and philosophy for millennia.
You also know that the ancient Eastern paradigm of health and healing is very different
from the paradigm of modern Western medicine. Eastern traditional medicine considers the human
organism as an integral unit composed of body (“essence”), energy and spirit. Under the term
“energy,” ancient science understands not only the energies known to Western science, but also
what it calls the “life force,” which permeates every cell and tissue
of the living body and activates all its functions. It is called “Chi”
in China, “Ki” in Japan (Fig. 1.1) and “Prana” in India.
This is a Chinese hieroglyph “Chi” . . . It seems unusually
symbolic to me. You can see that the upper part of the hieroglyph
is reminiscent of the capital “E” that is very often used by Western
scientists as a symbol of energy – for instance, in Einstein’s
famous formula: E=mc2. However, this hieroglyph has an KI CHI
additional part beneath the “E”, as if it says to us that something is
Fig. 1.1
missing in our understanding of energy.
While modern science does not, at all, include the “life force” in its consideration of the
forces shaping the material world and the phenomena of life, in Eastern traditional medicine and
philosophy, this force is considered to be the driving and organizing force of the whole Universe
and thus vitally important for the human being.
Let us look at how Lao Tzu, one of the giants of ancient philosophy, considers the role of
subtle energy/life force in the life of humanity. Lao Tzu, who lived 2500 years ago, is the author
of the most famous ancient book called Tao Te Ching that presents in poetic form the fundamentals
of Dao philosophy.

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Copyright © 2014 by Yury Kronn – Quantum University – Subtle Energy 101 – Lecture 1
 “There are numberless energy rays in the Universe… All rays… come from the subtle
nature of the Universe… The interwoven energy net influences the lives of individual
human beings, whole societies and entire races… A virtuous individual who responds to
the high, pure, harmonious subtle energy rays and integrates them with the positive
elements of his own inner being may strengthen his life, enhance his health and power, and
lengthen his years.”
---Lao Tzu, Hua Hu Ching, 500 B.C.,
Translation and elucidation by Taoist Master Ni, Hua-Ching
Speaking in the language of modern science, this subtle energy/life force plays the role of
software for the living organisms on all levels. If this is so, how does modern science not notice it?
One of the reasons is, as you probably know, subtle energy cannot be directly measured by
the equipment of modern science. We can observe the effects of subtle energy on inanimate matter
and living organisms, but we cannot measure the amount or properties of energy producing these
effects. What does this mean? To answer this question, we need to remember that all scientific
equipment, in one way or another, uses electromagnetic energy. The electromagnetic field is
created by particles of the physical world bearing electrical charge—positive and negative
(electrons and ions); and the interaction of EM energy with these particles allows us to measure
EM energy. The fact that subtle energy is not measureable by existing equipment means that it
does not interact with electrically charged particles in the same way as EM energy.
How is it possible, then, that subtle energy interacts with the physical world and produces,
as we will soon see, incredible changes, ranging from healing effects on humans to changing a
particle’s radioactive decay rate? Obviously, to answer these questions, we need to identify and
understand any possible mechanisms of interaction of subtle energy with physical matter and with
living organisms. I would like to emphasize that this understanding is absolutely necessary, if we
want to successfully use and develop further the integrative medicine modalities that include
energy medicine.
We will discuss this fundamental question as part of this course. To understand what other
important questions need to be raised (and answered) about subtle energy, let us, first of all, briefly
discuss what information about subtle energy frontier scientists have collected through their
experimentation with it.

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Copyright © 2014 by Yury Kronn – Quantum University – Subtle Energy 101 – Lecture 1
 Just to summarize and discuss the enormous body of information available on subtle energy
would demand a special book. Fortunately, this book already exists. In the 700 pages of his book,
Life Force, the Scientific Basis, (Swanson 2010), Dr. Claude Swanson, presents a wide range of
experimental research on subtle energy, including theoretical attempts to describe its nature and
properties, compiled from all over the world.
This book is highly recommended for students and included in a list of books prescribed
for this course (Fig. 1.2). In the very beginning of his book, Dr. Swanson illustrates the challenges
for those who get involved in researching subtle energy.
“It manifests itself in many ways. Usually a scientist
examines only one aspect of it at a time. Therefore, most
scientists who investigate it only see a part of the picture. Their
description is reminiscent of the fable of the six blind men and
the elephant. One man felt its tail and concluded it was a rope.
Another felt its leg, and described it as a tree. A third felt its
ear, and described it as a large leaf, while a fourth touched its
side and described it as a wall.”
Dr. Swanson makes the following statements about the
role of subtle energy: “In the case of subtle energy, it alters the
Fig. 1.2
other physical laws in many different ways. It responds to and
affects consciousness, and also modifies electricity, magnetism, gravity, time, even nuclear
processes. It is a many-faceted phenomenon.” (Swanson 2010, p. 49)
“A scientific revolution is underway, as the effects of the ‘Life Force’ are being
demonstrated, documented and measured. It is like no other force known to science... It is
intimately involved with life processes, and plays a central role in growth and healing. It does not
weaken with distance and penetrates most materials and shielding. In many ancient cultures,
manipulation of this energy is one of the central arts of medicine.” (Swanson 2010, p. 51).
The above quotes from Dr. Swanson’s book show that any research in the area of subtle
energy science is an extremely challenging endeavor. However, when working in the energy
medicine field, any practitioner inevitably becomes, at the same time, to a certain extent, an
experimenter in that field. One of the goals of this course is to help you to knowingly perform this
function.

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Copyright © 2014 by Yury Kronn – Quantum University – Subtle Energy 101 – Lecture 1
 The most unusual feature of subtle energy among those listed above by Dr. Swanson is,
obviously, its ability to interact with human consciousness. If you’ll reflect for a moment or two
on this, I am sure you will see the tremendous significance of this feature of subtle energy. If it is
indeed real, we would need to revise all existing theories about the origin of the universe and the
roles of all known forces in its functioning.
Besides the philosophical and theoretical importance of it, this feature of subtle energy has
immense practical importance for many aspects of our lives, including health and healing.
Therefore, we will certainly want to have some detailed discussions on the relations of subtle
energy and consciousness, as well as all ensuing phenomena: the “power of intent,” the
phenomenon of “hands on” and distant healing, healing with prayers, role of mental states of health
practitioners during the healing process, and so on.
Of course, a legitimate question is whether such an unusual property of subtle energy (i.e.,
the interaction of subtle energy with human consciousness) is somehow confirmed by the methods
of modern science. To answer this question, let us briefly look at the summary of research
conducted at the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and at
Tsinghua University. Chinese scientists researched the various effects produced on substances by
the energy (called “Chi” or Qi in China) emitted by the famous “miracle doctor,” the chief
physician recognized by the Ministry of Health for China, Dr. Yan Xin:
“Experiments with the Qigong master, Dr. Yan Xin,
showed that a wide variety of physical and chemical processes
can be affected (by Qi). These include radioactive decay rate,
the bonding characteristics of water, generation of infrared
(IR) pulsed energy, creation of pulsed and DC magnetic fields,
scintillation (light emission) of lithium fluoride crystals and
the bending of laser beams. The experiments illustrate the
wide spectrum of effects Qi (subtle energy) can produce.”
(Swanson, p. 51)
An entire book, Scientific Qigong Exploration, was
written by Professor Lu Zuyin about the results of this research
Fig. 1.3). In my opinion, the research of these Chinese Fig. 1.3

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Copyright © 2014 by Yury Kronn – Quantum University – Subtle Energy 101 – Lecture 1
scientists could open a new era in science; unfortunately, it has been completely ignored by the
scientific community at large.
Now, when we see the importance of understanding subtle energy science, the next
question is: how do frontier researchers explain the origin and properties of subtle energy? Having
knowledge of modern science in our possession, do we now have any deeper understanding of
subtle energy than traditional Eastern medicine?
Let us look through the 700 pages of Dr. Swanson’s book, who, as I said before, collected
experimental and theoretical research on subtle energy done all over the world. The answer is: we
are not even close to a consensus, even within the frontier scientific community itself, about the
nature of subtle energy. Just the number of names used by different researchers for subtle energy—
“orgone,” “bioplasma,” “scalar waves”, “torsion field” and many other—indicate the lack of a
common language, let alone a common understanding, amongst those who speak about it.
At this point, we need to emphasize a very important point. When speaking about any
energy field, including all of those known to science, we cannot ask the question, “What is it?” or
“How is it made?” because science is not yet capable of answering these questions.
For example, we don’t know what the electromagnetic field is or how an electron is made.
All we know is how electrical and magnetic fields interact with each other and with electrically
charged particles of matter. These interactions are described by the famous Maxwell equations,
which were created on the basis of the fundamental experiments of Michael Faraday and others.
Maxwell’s equations precisely describe the behavior of the electromagnetic field in space
and time and its interaction with physical matter. They adequately predict all possible results of
any experiments involving electromagnetism, and they made it possible to invent the many
technological miracles we use every day.
In contrast, when we look at the different theories about subtle energy, we have quite a
different picture. No unified theory exists, and different researchers suggest very different
mechanisms for the “production” of subtle energy in nature. These suggestions vary from
considering subtle energy a longitudinal electrical and/or magnetic scalar wave—see, for example,
the research of Dr. Meyl (2011)—to “being produced by the interactions between elementary
particle spins, which generate a twisting of space” (Swanson 2010, p. 63).

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Copyright © 2014 by Yury Kronn – Quantum University – Subtle Energy 101 – Lecture 1
 The main feature of any true, accurate theory is its ability to interpret experimental
observations. In the case of theories suggested for subtle energy, the biggest trouble is that none
of these theories explain the fundamental properties of subtle energy that have been known and
used in practical applications for millennia by all acupuncturists and other TCM practitioners. I
am sure many of you know them: these properties are called the Five Elements of subtle energy:
“Fire,” “Earth,” “Metal,” “Water” and “Wood.” These qualities were discovered in ancient times
and named in this way to stress that different ranges of subtle energy, depending on their elemental
qualities, can either support each other’s activities or suppress them.

Fig. 1.4. The generative or expansive Fig. 1.5. The overcoming or constricting
cycle. system.

Thus, “Fire” supports “Earth,” “Earth” supports “Metal,” “Metal” suppresses (cuts)
”Wood,” “Fire” suppresses (melts) Metal, etc.1 (Fig. 1.4-5)

1
See more on this (Swanson 2010, p. 449) and in books (Chin 1995), (Connelly 1971) and (D. Eden 1998, 2008)

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Copyright © 2014 by Yury Kronn – Quantum University – Subtle Energy 101 – Lecture 1
Given that the ancient knowledge of the Five Elements of subtle energy has provided the basis for
successful use of them in Eastern medicine (both Traditional Chinese Medicine and India’s
Ayurvedic medicine) for thousands of years, it seems obvious that the elemental properties of
subtle energy are highly important and need to be considered in any theory of subtle energy.
Unfortunately, as I said, none of the suggested modern approaches to subtle energy is able to
describe this ancient, experimentally observed basic feature of the subtle energy field.
Why do scientists have such a difficult time explaining properties of subtle energy? In my
opinion, it is because our frontier researchers approach the immeasurable field of subtle energy
using standard methods of mainstream science.
We have examples in regular science demonstrating that as soon as a phenomenon cannot
be perceived by our physical senses or measuring devices, all theories about the phenomenon
resemble the theories of a blind man explaining “how to use colors for creating art.” A good
example of this situation is the trouble scientists are currently having making sense of what they
call “dark matter” and “dark energy,” which has been scientifically calculated to occupy 96% of
the universe, yet which continues to baffle scientists around the world simply because they cannot
measure or see it. We will discuss this phenomena later and will see that “dark energy” very well
might be related to the topic of our course—subtle energy.
Subtle energy, according to both ancient Eastern science and modern frontier science,
definitely belongs to the same kind of phenomena: we cannot measure it directly; we can only
measure the effects it produces in our three-dimensional world. There must be a more effective
way to study subtle energy than creating new “blind man theories”! After all, the practical reason
to research subtle energy is to find a means to harness it for our needs, whether it is for our health
and well-being or spiritual growth, and for finding non-toxic alternatives to existing technologies
that are severely polluting our environment.
To conceive of a different approach for researching natural phenomena such as subtle
energy, let us briefly review how researchers of the past have interacted with the forces of nature
and investigated them. After all, our modern science is only two hundred years old, and it would
be a mistake to disregard the methods and practical achievements of our ancestors.

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Copyright © 2014 by Yury Kronn – Quantum University – Subtle Energy 101 – Lecture 1
 Our ancestors did whatever they could to harness the forces of nature. It did not bother
them that some of these forces were “invisible” and that they did not understand the precise laws
governing them (in scientific language, they did not have equations to describe these laws). They
spent time observing the effects produced by these forces and made attempts to use them for
practical purposes. As you know, we still can see today some of those ancient achievements, even
thousands of years after their creation. For instance, the Assyrians built aqueducts, sophisticated
irrigation systems, to carry water efficiently from one place to another, using this force (which
many centuries later would be called “gravity”) and practically applied their knowledge of it to
build monumental structures that have lasted thousands of years . . . all without the use of
sophisticated mathematics (Fig. 1.6).

Ancient Aqueducts

http://thetravelcrowd.com/2011/08/18/the-legend-of-
italy.wikispaces.com/Josh+Squires+-

the-roman-aqueduct/
+Roman+Aqueducts
https://greece-and-

The first Roman aqueduct was built in 312 BC. This aqueduct was built in the 1st
century in Spain. It is estimated that it
will stand another thousand years.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/debord/

The Nazca of
988287700/in/set-72157600964892927

ancient Peru
designed aqueduct
systems more than
1900 years ago.

Fig. 1.6

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Copyright © 2014 by Yury Kronn – Quantum University – Subtle Energy 101 – Lecture 1
 And sometimes, the wise among our ancestors achieved goals that are far beyond the
capabilities of the technologies we have today!

The Stone of the South in Lebanon

“…there is not a crane today that can even think of lifting a 1000-ton weight, never mind
a 1200-ton weight like the stone block left in the quarry”.

Fig. 1.7

Look at this 1,200-ton stone in the photograph above (Fig. 1.7), which was precisely cut
and moved — no modern equipment is capable of doing this! It appears the people who
accomplished such a feat had some knowledge about the forces of nature we do not currently have.
And as you know, Eastern civilizations, specifically China and India, long ago developed very
sophisticated systems to employ the energies of nature, deal with the environment, and support
peoples’ well-being, using forces that modern science has yet to discover.
We can say that, in the distant past, the methods used for investigating the universe were
phenomenological: researchers observed various phenomena and made attempts to develop
practical models and describe rules that made it possible to use these phenomena. One of these

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practical models is mentioned above, the principle of the Five Elements. Another famous model
of universal energies functioning in the world is the Tree of Life (used in the esoteric tradition
called the Kabbalah).
Speaking in modern scientific language, ancient researchers developed algorithms of
natural phenomena, which of course included energies (“emanations,” as they were described in
the Tree of Life).
As Ervin Laszlo states in his book, Science and the Akashic Field, “. . . It is enough to
identify the basic constituents of a system and give the rules – the algorithms – that govern their
behavior. A finite and surprisingly simple set of basic elements governed by a small set of
algorithms can generate great and seemingly incomprehensible complexity merely by allowing the
process to unfold in time. A set of rules informing a set of elements initiates a process that orders
and organizes the elements, so that they create more and more complex structures and
interrelations” (Laszlo 2004).
We will see that this definition is totally applicable to ancient algorithms like the Tree of
Life.
My goal is to present to you a “set of basic elements governed by a small set of algorithms”
that can be applied to subtle energy for the purpose of harnessing it and making it accessible for
rigorous scientific research and beneficial, practical applications.
We will do this through an analysis of the results of crucial experiments conducted by
mainstream and frontier science, including my own 20 years of research into the nature and
fundamental properties of subtle energy. I invite you to participate in this analysis, applying reason
and common sense to the process.
The following topics will be discussed in this course:

1. The nature of subtle energy. As it was stated above, electromagnetic energy belongs to the
world of particles bearing an electrical charge, and it acts upon physical matter through
them. What “world” does subtle energy belong to?’

2. The possible mechanisms of subtle energy’s interaction with physical matter and with the
human body. Obviously, it will be valuable, actually essential, to understand these
mechanisms, if we plan to accurately and purposefully use subtle energy for improving
human well-being and environmental conditions.

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Copyright © 2014 by Yury Kronn – Quantum University – Subtle Energy 101 – Lecture 1
3. The relationship of subtle energy to the other known fundamental forces. As we discussed
above, existing theories of subtle energy are struggling to present subtle energy as a
byproduct of forces familiar to modern science. Resolving this puzzle would certainly be
helpful for finding ways to harness subtle energy and the development of its practical
applications.

4. Finding an approach that makes it possible to satisfy all the demands of modern scientific
methodology for stability and repeatability in experiments with subtle energy. This would
open doors for further rigorous scientific research of the properties and potential
applications of subtle energy.

5. Experimental proof demonstrating that the interaction of subtle energy with physical matter
and living organisms critically depends on the information encoded in the subtle energy.
These experiments suggest the possible participation of subtle energy in such phenomenon
as epigenetics (altering gene function without altering DNA).

6. Experimental proof that the mind interacts with matter by means of subtle energy,
programming the subtle energy to do the job. This unique property of subtle energy gives
us a key to understanding the mechanisms of such phenomena as the placebo effect, as well
as the potential healing power of affirmations, prayers and all spectrums of “biology of
belief” phenomena.

7. Necessity to use “energetic tools” to help people develop the ability to feel and see in the
realm of subtle energy, using the subtle receptive organs that all of us have, but only a few
of us have developed highly enough to be consistently effective. How important is it for us
to develop these abilities?

If you have read the books of modern seers, such as Donna Eden (D. Eden 1998, 2008),
Rosalyn Bruyere (Bruyere 1989), and Barbara Brennan (Brennan 1987), I am sure you would
agree that our knowledge about the forces of the universe would be quite different if all of us
(including scientists) could perceive the realm of subtle energy as well as they can. What the
developed “human instrument” can do to expand our scientific horizons, we will see in the
following lectures.

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Copyright © 2014 by Yury Kronn – Quantum University – Subtle Energy 101 – Lecture 1