ICM  Institute for Chinese Medicine, acupuncture basel, chinese medicine basel,tui na Basel, tcm basel
D E F  
  • Acupuncture
    • Acupuncture
  • TCM
    • History
    • Methods of Treatment
    • Diagnostics
  • Treatment Modalities
    • Acupuncture
    • Auricular Acupuncture
    • Electroacupuncture
    • Chinese Herbal Medicine
    • Tui Na /An Mo Massage
    • Moxibustion
    • Cupping
    • Physical therapy
    • Qi Gong
    • Tai Ji Quan
    • Gua Sha
    • Chinese Nutritional Therapy
    • Wai Qi Liao Fa
  • Team
    • Elaine Yap
    • Ava Markwalder
    • Gabi Rahm
    • Frank Hediger
    • Noriko Matsumoto-Loosli
    • Olivier Schmidlin
    • Edmundo Belloni
  • ICM Treatment Information
    • Treatment Rooms
    • Treatment at ICM
    • Treatment Costs
    • Treatment Procedure
    • Documents
    • FAQ
  • Health Insurance Coverage
    • Health Insurance Coverage
    • FAQ
  • Contact
  • DEUTSCH
  • Blog
    • FRANÇAIS

Frankenstein, Nuclear Power and Romantics

17/4/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture

​As with my last post about Daffodils and William Wordsworth's tribute to these beautiful beings, I have been fascinated by the ideas put forth by Romanticism in Europe. I have been watching documentaries and reading up more about this movement; about how it came about in response to the events of the time as well as how valid they are even till this day.
 
As a child, I grew-up watching TV, as my parents didn't really set healthy boundaries for my media consumption. When they watched horror movies, I watch them too. I remember covering my eyes with my fingers to soften the blow of my distress, though I would hear everything, from bloodcurdling, suspenseful music to gory mauling sounds and screaming. But I would peek between the spaces of my fingers, to get a 'filtered view' of the scary scenes. My older siblings would then tease me about being scared, which I would flat-out deny, but I was frightened out of my wits. What I needed then was clearly a "No, this is inappropriate for you. You may not watch this film." Anyhow, my exposure to horror films as a 5-year-old did allow me to see Frankenstein, in many of its Hollywood versions, which scared me thoroughly. Later, when I was in my primary school library, I was surprised to find a book, an abridged version for children, written by Mary Shelley. I remember borrowing it to take home to read and I was surprised by how un-horrifying it was. The "monster" who many call Frankenstein but that is not his name; it's the scientist who is Frankenstein. This creation of Dr. Frankenstein has emotions and a sense of justice, enough so that he chides Dr. Frankenstein for creating him so hideous that no human will love him, not even his own creator, and that Dr. Frankenstein had the responsibility as his creator to help him dispel his loneliness by creating a companion for him. If you haven't read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which was first published in 1818, when she was 21, you should. It is more than just a horror novel. 
 
I have only recently become aware of Mary Shelley's life. Her mother was Mary Wollstonecraft, a famous feminist philosopher of the 18th century, best known for "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" written in 1792, which I had to read for a class in university. Mary Shelley's mother died of birth complications, as such she was brought up and educated by her father, William Godwin, a political philosopher, one of the early advocates of a form of anarchy. Her husband was Percy Bysshe Shelley, another famous British romantic poet of the time. Returning to the story of Frankenstein and how Mary Shelley developed it; it was in good old Switzerland, in a villa on Lake Geneva. In the company of other Romantic poets and literary greats, Mary Shelley goes to bed after some discussions of the events of the time, of science, of electricity and wakes from a nightmare of this creature created by man, without regard for the laws of Nature. 
 
"Frankenstein is a prophesy that science might be misused by those who wish to alter or tamper with nature. The novel's frightful horror is the dark reflection of the Romantic sublime. Its message was simple but powerful. Respect and revere Nature for it has the power to destroy you. Science alone is not enough. It is a warning many people are repeating to this day."  (Peter Ackroyd, The Romantics - Nature BBC Documentary)       
 
Just because we are able to create something, it does not mean we should. Hence, the necessity of ethics in science and medicine. Science used to be as defined by the Oxford dictionary "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment." However, many in science have gone far beyond the boundaries of "the physical and natural world" as well as over-exceeded them, with little regard for the consequences of their inventions. Take nuclear fission, when German scientists discovered it in the early 1930s, they may have been unaware how this discovery would be later used to create the atomic bomb or how it would be used to create energy, that would leave behind thousands of years of radioactive garbage, which we still do not know how to dispose of, and some very sick people struggling with cancer from radiation due to nuclear power plant malfunctions. The climate crisis, polluted environments, the nuclear arms race...the list continues are what we humans have done in the name of science and progress to Nature. We are in this state of "emergency" because we chose to not listen or respect the boundaries given to us by Nature. Maybe it is time to stop and listen to the voices of reason, such as from the Romantics of 200 years ago, that we return to listening and being with Nature.
 
 
 
 
 
Image Power Plant by fietzfotos on Pixabay
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Elaine Yap

    I am a Chinese Medicine practitioner at ICM, mother of 2 sons, living on my third continent. I love to share with you my perspectives on healing, TCM, gardening, social change and life.

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019

    Categories

    All
    5 Elements
    5 Pillars Of Chinese Medicine
    5-pointed-star
    Abdomen
    Acupuncture
    Acupuncture Channels
    Acupuncture Points
    Adapting
    Addiction
    Adventure
    Ancestors
    An Mo Massage
    Apple
    Ask
    Asking
    Assumptions
    Autumn
    Awareness
    Baby
    Back
    Bacteria
    Balance
    Ballet
    Barefoot
    Being Thankful
    Belief
    Birth
    Blessing
    Body And Mind
    Bokashi
    Bonding
    Breath
    Breathing
    Buddhism
    Bulbs
    Camellia Sinensis
    Celtic Shamanism
    Centre
    Change
    Children
    China
    Chinese Calligraphy
    Chinese Dietetics
    Chinese Herbal Medicine
    Chinese Materia Medica
    Chinese Medicine
    Chinese New Year
    Chinese Nutrition
    Choice
    Christmas
    Circle
    Common Sense
    Competition
    Complementary
    Complementary Medicine
    Congee
    Connecting
    Conscious Living
    Consciousness
    Container
    Cooling Foods
    Core
    Courage
    Crocus
    C-tactile Afferent
    Daffodils
    Dan Tian
    Dao De Jing
    Daoism
    Death
    Destination
    Diagnosis
    Digestion
    Digestive
    Digital Media
    Dim Sum
    Ears
    Earth
    Earthing
    Eating
    Echinacea
    Empower
    Emptiness
    Epigenetics
    Essence
    Everyday
    Evolution
    Excellence Of Self
    Experience
    Eyes
    Fascia
    Fasting
    Father
    Fear
    Feet
    Fire
    Fish
    Flexibility
    Flower
    Food
    Food As Medicine
    Fruit
    Gardening
    Genetics
    Gong Fu
    Gong Fu Cha
    Gratefulness
    Gratitude
    Green Tea
    Greeting
    Grounding
    Growth
    Hands
    Handstand
    Hangover Cure
    Hay Fever
    Headstand
    Healing
    Heart
    Heaven
    Herbal Decoction
    Herbal Formula
    Herbal Infusion
    Herbal Medicine
    Heroes
    Honouring
    Human
    Humility
    ICM Garden
    ICM Garden Project
    Immune System
    Information
    Injury
    Insomnia
    INternal
    Inward Movement
    Jing
    Journey
    Joy
    Kidneys
    Labor
    Lao Zi
    Large Intestine
    Late Summer
    Leaf
    Less Is More
    Letting Go
    Life
    Life Love
    Listening
    Looking
    Lung
    Lungs
    Maple
    Martial Arts
    Massage
    Medicine
    Middle
    Migration
    Mindfulness
    Mother
    Mountains
    Movement
    Moxibustion
    Narcissus
    Natural Breath
    Nature
    Nei Gong
    News
    Normal
    Nourishment
    Nourish Yin
    Now
    Nuclear Power
    Nurture
    Oil
    Olympics
    One-Size-Fits-All
    Optical Illusion
    Pain
    Parenting
    Path
    Patience
    Pear
    Pentagram
    Peony
    Perception
    Perfect
    Permaculture
    Perspective
    Plant
    Plastics
    Post-Heaven
    Pre-Heaven
    Pulse
    Qi
    Qi Gong
    Recycling
    Resilience
    Respect
    Retreat
    Rhythm
    Ritual
    River
    Romanticism
    Roots
    Rose
    Routine
    Saffron
    Science
    Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis
    Seasons
    Seeds
    Sense Organs
    Senses
    Sharing
    Shen Nong
    Shonishin
    Simple
    Sleeping
    Snow
    Sound
    Space
    Space Time
    Spicy
    Spleen
    Sports
    Spring
    Stillness
    Stomach
    Stress
    Stretching
    Summer
    Summer-Heat
    Summer Solstice
    Support
    Survival
    Sweet
    Sword
    Tai Ji Quan
    Taiwan
    Taste
    Tea
    Teachers
    Temperature
    Third Ear
    Third Eye
    Time
    Toilet Paper
    Touch
    Touching
    Transformation
    Trees
    Tui Na Massage
    Valleys
    Vibration
    Virus
    Vision
    Walking
    Warming
    Water
    Watermelon
    Wei/Protective Qi
    Winning
    Winter
    Winter Solstice
    Wood
    Words
    Wordsworth
    Work
    Wu Ji
    Wu Long Tea
    Yang
    Yellow Emperor Classic
    Yin
    Yin Yang
    Yin-Yang
    Yoga
    Zen Buddhism

    RSS Feed

Institut für Chinesische Medizin ICM GmbH

Falknerstrasse 4 | 4001 Basel
Tel. 061 272 88 89 | Fax 061 271 42 64
info@icm-basel.ch ​
  • Acupuncture
    • Acupuncture
  • TCM
    • History
    • Methods of Treatment
    • Diagnostics
  • Treatment Modalities
    • Acupuncture
    • Auricular Acupuncture
    • Electroacupuncture
    • Chinese Herbal Medicine
    • Tui Na /An Mo Massage
    • Moxibustion
    • Cupping
    • Physical therapy
    • Qi Gong
    • Tai Ji Quan
    • Gua Sha
    • Chinese Nutritional Therapy
    • Wai Qi Liao Fa
  • Team
    • Elaine Yap
    • Ava Markwalder
    • Gabi Rahm
    • Frank Hediger
    • Noriko Matsumoto-Loosli
    • Olivier Schmidlin
    • Edmundo Belloni
  • ICM Treatment Information
    • Treatment Rooms
    • Treatment at ICM
    • Treatment Costs
    • Treatment Procedure
    • Documents
    • FAQ
  • Health Insurance Coverage
    • Health Insurance Coverage
    • FAQ
  • Contact
  • DEUTSCH
  • Blog
    • FRANÇAIS