Acupuncture is unique among the world's healing systems in that it appeared only in ancient China and was unknown in the Western world until comparatively recently. Based on a thorough study of the literature, including both ancient and modern documents and the latest archeological research, the author shows that contrary to generally accepted theory, acupuncture did not evolve gradually through a process of trial and error during the Neolithic Age (c. 8000-3500 BC). Rather, acupuncture was a great and relatively sudden invention based on theory as well as practice that appeared during China's Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD). Furthermore, its invention in China was not accidental, but rather the outcome of the unique development and convergence of a number of elements of Chinese civilization, including its natural sciences, political and social structure, and most importantly, its holistic philosophy.The concepts of holism are fundamental to both ancient Chinese philosophy and traditional Chinese medicine. Within this framework, Humanity, Society, and Nature form a unified system, each part embodying the whole and governed by the same laws. Acupuncture, in its use of the laws of the macrocosm (Nature) to cure the ills of the microcosm (the human body), offers a tangible expression of the holistic world view. The practice of needling the lower part of the body to cure the upper, and treating the outer to heal the inner - cultivating the Root to nourish the Tip - is nothing less than holism made visible. While acupuncture has long been a mainstay of traditional Chinese medicine, the author's exposition of acupuncture as "visible holism" is unprecedented. Acupuncture: Visible Holism will therefore engage the attention of both students and practitioners, believers and sceptics alike.
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