SKEPTICAL EYE: In science and medicine the concept of energy is a physical one and a common definition of energy is the capacity to do work.
Energy is a measurable quantity and is expressed in a variety of forms. For example, kinetic energy is energy due to motion.
If a stone falls from a height, it gains kinetic energy as it descends and this is released in a different form as it lands.
Particles and smaller stones on the ground are set in motion and heat is generated. The total amount of energy is conserved.
That is, the amount of energy released in dislocating debris on the ground, combined with the heat energy released, is equal to the original kinetic energy. Energy is neither created nor destroyed. It is merely transformed from one kind to another.
Atomic energy is released in the process of fission when heavy atoms are split, as in the original atom bomb, or in the process of fusion, when light atoms are fused together which generates the energy we receive from the sun. This is, of course, the ultimate source of energy for all life on earth.
In atomic reactions we see matter being transformed totally into energy in accordance with Einstein's famous Mass-Energy equivalence equation E=mc2.
E indicates the energy released, m indicates the original mass and c is the speed of light which is almost 300,000,000 metres per second. Thus a very small amount of matter can release enormous amounts of energy.
In science, very tiny amounts of energy can be detected. Signals can be picked up from the edges of the solar system that are generated by minuscule batteries on space satellites, sending back valuable information.
The concept of energy, along with many other scientific concepts, has been hijacked and distorted by alternative practitioners in an attempt to lend credibility to their fantastic notions. One practice that does this blatantly is reiki.
This is a very popular form of alternative medicine in which a reiki practitioner (often called a reiki master) claims to be able to detect a bioenergy emanating from the body of people, animals and plants.
They claim to be able to detect imbalances in this energy that if not rebalanced can result in physical pathology.
The rebalancing is usually done by a ritualistic waving of the hands above a fully clothed body. Shoes may be removed and jewellery must be. It is said that jewellery is a conductor of bioenergy and if not removed it may deflect or absorb the energy emanating from the healer's hands, rendering it ineffective.
It is not possible to detect reiki energy with even the most sensitive scientific instruments. Reiki practitioners, however, claim they can detect it with their hands. It is asserted that reiki has helped a broad range of conditions from skin conditions to cancer and that it has unlimited potential.
I contend that scientists cannot detect reiki energy because it does not exist, except in the imagination of the practitioners and of those whom they manage to include in their collective illusion.
This is not to suggest that the practitioners are purposely misleading their clients but rather that both participants are the unwitting victims of self-deception.
While scientific instruments cannot detect this non-existent energy, it is a simple matter to test whether the practitioners can detect the energy with their hands as they claim.
A test carried out on therapeutic touch therapists, who work along essentially the same lines as reiki practitioners, was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998.
Twenty one therapists were asked, individually, to sit behind a screen through which their hands protruded. A child would place her hand above their right or left hand in random order in a series of trials. The therapist was asked to indicate at each trial which hand was below the child's hand.
Reiki practitioners argue that children have very strong energy fields so this should have been a fairly easy task. Results indicated that none of the therapists was able to detect the presence of the child's hand above a chance level.
There is little doubt that people can imagine real effects from bogus procedures. One of the clearest historical examples is that of mesmerism. During the 18th century in Paris, Franz Anton Mesmer became convinced that he had discovered "animal magnetism". This had a profound effect on people. It was reported that he could knock women into a dead faint by mesmerising them from a distance with this powerful new force.
However, a range of investigative studies demonstrated that this force did not in fact exist. For example, Mesmer claimed that he could magnetise trees that when touched would cause a person to fall down.
However, if the person was directed to a non-magnetised tree believing it to be magnetised, they fell down anyway.
Similar psychological processes are at work in reiki and therapeutic touch. There is no real energy.
The argument often posited by practitioners that science just has not yet learned to measure bioenergy does not stand up. If it existed, results of tests such as those described above that examine outcome, would support them. They invariably do not.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Those claiming to be able to detect a non-physical human energy field and to be able to treat a variety of physical and psychological difficulties have produced only anecdotes and testimonials with occasional pieces of poor quality research that have not stood up to critical scrutiny and have not been replicated. The lack of any convincing evidence for so ancient a practice can lead the thinking person to only one conclusion.
Paul O'Donoghue is a member of the Irish Skeptics Society.
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