Back in university when I was a tutor, I asked our students, "do you think Chinese medicine is scientific?" Without thinking, they would say yes. When I ask them why, they would tell me it's because it's been used for thousands of years and something about ShenNong 神農 having tried all those herbs etc.
But when I gave them the scenario where their grandma shared with them a thousand year-old secret formula passed on by her ancestors, which is, eating poop can cure diseases. They all swore that they would not do it.
However, I gave them a different scenario: Studies found that a healthy person's poop has a lot of good bacteria, and by introducing those bacteria to our gut, it can cure many diseases. A poop pill has been developed to allow us to intake all the good bacteria to cure diseases. Would you take the poop pill?
Most people find the second scenario more acceptable. Why? Aren't both scenarios basically the same?
This is what I meant by science. Science is a systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.
So yeah, is TCM science? I guess it's still getting there, since a lot of TCM studies are still at an observation stage. Some theories are going through experiments but I think most will agree that there's still a vast amount of it that's still to be understood. However, this doesn't mean we should disregard TCM. Just because it's not fully understood in the science framework doesn't mean it's hokey pokey and holds no value.
TCM at least has been through thousands of years of observation and a certain level of experimentation. Despite this experimentation has not been entirely under the western medicine suite, yet the results and outcomes still hold its significance.
Yet, as poetic and as romantic as it sounds. The literature in TCM has gone through many challenges, many suppression to be passed on thousands of years until it can end up in our hands today. No doubt, it holds an amount of weight and wisdom that has been built on countless trials and errors, life and death.
Just like the sun. You wouldn't say that the sun isn't scientific. It't just there, existing. But if you say all bright objects in the sky are suns, then that is a bit arbitrary isn't it?
It took us more than a century to realise that Earth is not the centre of the Universe. It was a tough process too. Countless scientists were prosecuted and treated as witchcraft and hokey pokey in the process. However, this doesn't change a single dime in the Earth's orbit. If the scientist disregarded the observations they saw, just because it didn't fit into existing theories and principle models or their understandings of the world, then we are still likely to still believe that we are the centre of the universe.
And science would be no different than a religion.
Like the Sun, Traditional Chinese medicine is just observations of patterns that have been passed on for centuries. The interpretation might be off due to the limitations of the existing technology level. However, the patterns, the relationships observed may hold the key to a whole new world, a whole new universe that is beyond our current understanding.
There are still many aspects in TCM that might still be in the observation stage waiting for us to explore. In a world where research results can be influenced by many factors, such as, fundings – it is important for us to keep an open mind while seeking the truth. Asking more whys and accepting that we don't have answers for everything yet.
But if it works, it works :)
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