This morning on my walk with my dog I thought about alchemy and how we can combine and forge new energies, or new levels of energy, through internal practices and external experiences.
I was thinking about 5 hunyuan form (level 3 zhineng qigong practice) which I've been practicing recently, and how the goal is to reintegrate qi that's been separated into the 5 elements (and 5 organs, 5 emotions), and merge them in the centre.
The principle seems to be that at a lower frequency things separate and conflict, whereas at a higher frequency (or state, plane, dimension, whatever), they have more potential to interact and merge with each other, or combine to create new qualities or substances --- hence the 'dan tiens' ('elixir fields'), merging and transforming crude qi and matter into refined qi and shen (spirit/consciousness).
My hunch (and interest/exploration) is that the higher quality qi that we are able to create our of our raw material, is unique from person to person. That there are new 'substances' to be created through the heat and pressure of both internal practice and the experiences imposed on us by the world.
Interested to hear how this relates to others' perspectives and experiences!