6) Self-esteem & self-concept are front and back

~ New view THREE ~
Earthly human energy
is organized front and back

Without love power alone is ruthless and reckless. Without power love alone is anemic and sentimental ~ Unknown

Summary ~ The front of our body has more the character of feeling and willingness. The back of our body has more the character of strength.  These qualities are primarily unconscious in nature, not subconscious, not conscious.  They are determined primarily by the Conception Vessel (CV) in front and the Governing Vessel (GV) in back.  CCV in front holds our magnetic potential.  GV in back holds our electrical potential.  CV in front is our deepest capacity of yin.  GV in back is our deepest capacity of yang.  To some extent front and back represent time:  our future forward and in front of us, our past back and behind us.

The idea we look the same front and back, is an urban myth, simply an unchecked materialistic assumption, a superstition.  To “fresh eyes” front and back of any individual human body present often strikingly different ‘sides’ of a person.

The wisdom of body-based psychotherapies accumulated in the Bioenergetics-Esalen-Rolfing era peaked in the 1960s to early 1980s.  The best lay person book I know on the deeper aspects of body language is The Body Reveals, 2nd Ed. Ron Kurz and Hector Presiera, MD, Harper & Row 1976, 1984.

Always go for the feeling in your observations.  You may be surprised to feel how the front side of a person has quite a different feeing than when they face directly away from you.

This is easiest to perceive if underwear is all a person wears, so try this at home or at the beach! To SEE this you have to allow the possibility; then, note the qualitative differences.

This contrast has its clearest literature in acupuncture, in discussions of central-conception vessel in front and the governing vessel in back. This lore can be usefully extended now.

Front of body & Conception Vessel;

Back of body & Governing Vessel

Front of body > Conception Vessel > self-esteem

Back of body > Governing Vessel > self-concept

These two meridians are often dysfunctional as a pair, perhaps always. When self-esteem suffers and becomes deficient (undercharge), self-concept is liable to become exaggerated (overcharge).

As usual, down here in 3D, dysfunctional states are much more obvious, striking and interesting, than complete harmony and balance. The classic American therapeutic metaphor goes like this:

Front of body > Conception Vessel

> Clark Kent the weakling

The character given from the front side of the body tends to track back to feelings good or bad. This is most noticeable on the face, but also in the belly.

Back of body > Governing Vessel >

muscle-bound Superman in action

Impressions given from the back side of the body track back to the individual’s self-concept of their strengths and in the 19th century idea of “will” in its expressions of willfulness, wontfulness, and rigidity; also, the modern idea of healthy will as willingness.

The greater the contrast in charge between these two, undercharge in front and overcharge in back, the more harmony is blocked at our core. More on this below. [Continues on an on in the full text]