The Body Electric

By Kevin Michael Marley

The Body Electric concerns itself with Chi or Human Electricity. The human body is not so much a physical and mechanistic object, as modern science until recently has contended, but it is a dynamic energy system in which we can circulate the Life Force. More importantly, within The Body Electric, there are ten techniques given for self-transform

• Language: English
• Publisher: Human Spirit
• Release date: Aug 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781495130717

Book preview

The Body Electric Program

The Tao: A Science and Art of Human Development

What is The Tao?

Literally, The Tao means the way of natural reality, of the world and the universe. It posits that human beings are much more than physical, that we have a spiritual or quantum mechanical nature, and that there is a way to pursue our own self-development, and the radical expansion of our human consciousness. Today, many people do not know themselves beyond the level of their personality or ego, and are not well acquainted with their transcendental self, or the Human Soul. In our modern and so-called progressive cities, we busy ourselves with school or work, personal relationships, and hobbies, and sadly, believe that this is life itself. In contrast, The Tao defines what life is—it is Chi or the Life Force—and how to both dramatically increase its quality and quantity in our physical bodies so that we become more alive! As a result, The Tao creates a much more broadened and expanded definition of what a human being is, and offers systematic techniques so that we can know and profoundly experience ourselves in a very practical manner from the human body (as a dynamic energy system) to the heart (a veritable source of unconditional love) to the mind (a supercomputer), and our own spirit (an immortal self).

The Tao, in essence, is about a Science and Art of Human Development; essentially, it is about recognizing the Chi or the Life Force already flowing within our human bodies more like the electricity flowing through the wiring in our three-story houses, lighting and warming various rooms. The Tao offers a very well defined practical and holistic model of what a human being is and offers relatively simple techniques or inner technologies so that we can pursue our self-transformation at our own pace gradually becoming masters of our own life force and even our state of consciousness.

The Parallel Approaches of Modern Science and Ancient Taoism

As a Western society, we have defined a human being in stark and simplistic terms. We have, unfortunately, perpetuated a physical and intellectual definition of a human being that is primarily Newtonian in nature. As a result, we believe that knowledge lies outside ourselves, and is gained primarily through empiricism, and the scientific method, in general. Following this method of gaining knowledge, we have during the past 150 years expanded our senses through various ordinary and electron microscopes, light, radio, and even the Hubble telescopes, and particles accelerators; and even tried to radically improve the computation and analytical powers of the human mind with calculators and computers. In essence, because of our Newtonian self-definition, modern scientists and most of humanity have studied external phenomena from electricity, the atom, subatomic particles, and the Unified Field, at least, in theory, and we have used the commensurate information and technology to better society.

Approximately 2500 years ago, ancient Taoists, took a radically different approach towards gaining knowledge. In essence, they defined a human being in both a Newtonian and a quantum mechanical manner, and created a model of a human being that could be most importantly systematically developed. Like the biotech engineers of today, ancient Taoists saw the human body for what it is—a dynamic and intelligent energy system that had infinite ability to regenerate itself and attain optimal states of health. In effect, ancient Taoists saw that this energy system or Chi Factory had the enormous potential to process many different types of Chi from the obvious sources of food, water, and air to invisible sources in order to sustain itself. They rightfully marveled at their human bodies and used them much like sophisticated energy transformers to cultivate both greater quantities and qualities of Chi. By following this path, they were able to consciously evolve and they came to the conclusion that the source of knowledge was within human consciousness itself. As a result, these ancient Taoists studied internal phenomena. In contrast, they studied Chi (or human electricity), the Pearl or condensed Chi (or atomic energy), Shen or (human consciousness), and Wu Wei (the subjective aspect of the Unified Field) and these Taoists created a different society.

In ancient China, there were many seekers of both inner enlightenment and truth. Of course, the pursuit of genuine self-development is not an easy venture to be taken lightly and it has often been called The Razor's Edge as many do not fully succeed. However, the ones who did succeed in ancient China as evidenced by the lives of great sages such as Lao Tzu and many other spiritual leaders have approached self-development as both a science and an art. In truth, they had a much more broadened definition of a human being that could be systematically affected for the better. They defined themselves not in a hazy and abstract manner as simply having a physical body, a heart, a mind, and a soul. But they quantified themselves at these specific levels, and adopted reliable inner technologies as they meditated on Chi. Remarkably, these ancient Taoists experimented with Chi or Human Electricity much the same way as scientists might experiment with ordinary electricity. They circulated the Life Force within the Microcosmic Orbit in their bodies, other meridians, glands, bones, and vital organs, and by doing so, they greatly vivified themselves with it. Many practitioners were able to radically improve their health. Through their collective research, these Taoists discovered that the human body was a dynamic energy system comprised of both yin and yang energies; it also has 12 major meridians and 365 acupuncture points, and is sustained through both internal and external sources of Chi, and primarily, the work of our five major organs.

Delving deeper in their explorations of the human body, these ancient Taoists found the equivalent of atomic energy within it. Like the scientists in the early 1940’s in the Manhattan Project, they were learning how to understand and deal with the more powerful and mysterious forces of nature, not outside themselves, but within their own bodies, emotions, and thought patterns. Through their efforts, they learned how to condense the Chi of their bodies into a Pearl in what is commonly called the cauldron and pursue Fusion of the Five Elements. By doing so, they were able to harness powerful energies and eventually reconnect themselves to the world and the universe from an energetic perspective. They learned how this veritable Chi Factory, the marvelous human body, was able to process many different types of Chi much how we process coal or nuclear energy into steam to powerfully turn turbines to produce the necessary daily electricity that our society and civilization needs. These scientists were able to transform Ching Chi (sexual energy) into Chi (life force) and then into Shen (consciousness), and finally, into Wu Wei (a higher state of consciousness). In many ways, they were hastening their own personal evolution by vivifying and spiritualizing their own physical bodies and energetic bodies. Materialists might readily scoff at this. But Man does not eat by bread alone. Humanity is verily sustained through various forms of Chi, and by following some of these basic processes, a handful of aspirants became accomplished Taoists masters and the greatest of these were able to master The Force. With time, they came to realize that their self-knowledge was correlated perfectly with the objective knowledge of the world and the universe. In essence, there was a one-to-one correspondence with the inner universe of man and the physics of the outer universe, that is, the physical and subtle bodies of man himself could be matched with the physical and subtle aspects of the universe. As a result, an impressive array of knowledge began to gradually unfold that became known as The Tao or The Way.

In general, ancient Taoism and modern science may appear to be radically different and irreconcilable. Until very recently, they differed in the following ways:

Chi is E=mc² at the level of Human Experience

In short, ancient Taoists were scientists in the broader sense of the word. They were very much like the biotech engineer or the cutting-edge physicists of today. They saw how our physical bodies, seemingly mechanistic and frail in nature, are dynamic and intelligent energy systems: made of subtle charges of electricity, 27 trillion cells, DNA molecules containing dense packets of information, and atoms literally blinking in and out of existence. They saw how our human bodies are maintained by the same laws that govern the world and the universe itself, and how we can slowly begin reconnecting and managing these forces within ourselves. In addition to this, ancient Taoists realized thousands of years ago only what we are slowly beginning to understand: The human body could easily and miraculously last for 200 years and beyond if an individual gained profound mastery of Chi and cultivated it to an extraordinary extent. With modern science, the breakthrough is with stem cells and the human genome. In ancient Taoism, the breakthrough is with Chi and the potentialities latent within human consciousness. Self-transformation is accomplished by understanding how the human body is a veritable Chi Factory, as previously stated, and is capable of processing powerful sources of Chi until the entire body is thoroughly transformed at the organ, glandular, skeletal, and then cellular levels of life. In summation, it is about understanding: Chi is E=mc² at the level of human experience.

Momentarily, turn the historic clock back. If we can put aside our vast prejudices, we will see that other ancient cultures such as the Egyptian, Mayan, Indian and Chinese possessed knowledge and technologies equaling or even surpassing our own in different areas. These ancient Taoists understood the basic principle of life that everything we see is both intelligence and energy manifesting outwardly and expressing itself in an infinite number of permutations. They used E=mc² not as a destructive engine of creating unsustainable economies that wreaked tremendous environmental devastation, and hydrogen bombs and possible Armageddon. But they used E=mc² to create optimal health, and even expanded states of consciousness. In truth, they were like Albert Einstein in observing how energy turns into matter and matter turns back into energy. To ancient Taoists, both the Universe and Man himself were formed through the single process of E=mc². To them, the Universe and Man are both created from a state of Wu Wei or Nothingness, and then they emerge as the primordial forces of yin and yang. After this, Chi goes through five different processes represented by the Five Elements of fire, water, wood, metal and earth. From these various permutations, the individual, the entire world and universe come into being. In contrast, a modern physicist would more than likely agree except he would use his own different terminology and have a slightly different perspective. He would conjecture about the creation of the universe from a primordial state comparable to Wu Wei, and the momentous Big Bang, at length. After this, he would eloquently explain how all the different phenomena of both the world and universe coming into being from 118 differently configured atoms of The Table of Elements.

The story of creation is remarkably similar regardless of whether we are brought up from the East or the West!

Before modern times, ancient Taoists saw how the human body and the universe were indeed very similar in how they processed energy. For instance, they saw how light turns into this amazingly diverse biosphere covering the entire world through water, soil, nutrients, and the engines found within plants and leaves that conduct the process of photosynthesis. Observing closely, they saw the exact opposite, how matter turns back into energy, for instance, when an ordinary log burns in a campfire giving off both heat and light. On an individual level, they saw how every human being through the metabolic process turns food into energy. For advanced practitioners, they could also see how their bodies were sustained by Earth, Cosmic and Heavenly Chi. On this deeper level, these ancient Taoists saw how the individual and the universe both are indeed sustained by visible and invisible sources of Chi during their lifetimes. Sever this profound connection that we all take for granted busily running around in our lives, and that is epitomized through our daily breathing, and we quickly perish. Conversely, understand this principle of life and we prosper. To reiterate, energy turns into matter and matter turns into energy in both man and the universe. The only thing we need to do to live a much different and fulfilling life is to understand E=mc² at the level of human experience.

In the final analysis, the ancient Taoists weren't any more gifted than modern man. They possessed a strong thirst for knowledge and its various applications, and they were earnest seekers of the truth much like us in our better moments as a human race. However, one important fact that set them apart is that they didn't engage in mere intellectual inquiry as an end to itself. Ultimately, they pursued both a subjective and an objective means of gaining knowledge, and they saw, not libraries or colleges as being repositories, but human consciousness as being the primary container of knowledge. Resultantly, they employed an expanded form of the scientific method in order to further themselves both at the individual and societal levels. However, they did not use this in a destructive manner the way we have tragically used the engines of science for our own possible destruction in the 20th and 21st centuries. Nor did they use knowledge to endlessly harness the valuable resources of the world for commercial profit and selfish desires, and concomitant environmental degradation. They viewed both the attainment and application of true knowledge as sacred, and only those who were properly prepared were taught. Ancient Taoists used Chi as the object of meditation, and in doing so, they bravely experimented with their physical body/consciousness relationship. They tapped into human electricity and circulated this energy in their Microcosmic Orbit, their Governor and Functional Channels. They even discovered atomic energy, normally, called The Pearl in Taoism. They used this energy to open more meridians, and to energize their physical and etheric bodies, and to even merge them. Some went even further in their esoteric spiritual pursuits. They became akin to astronauts or cosmonauts of the human psyche exploring the various realms of inner space. They sought to break or dissolve all human limitations, and in doing so, their state of consciousness gradually evolved to Himalayan-like peaks of enlightenment. In the vernacular of modern psychology, they rapidly matured, and achieved Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs; their security and growth needs, and higher needs of love, transcendence, and self-actualization were fulfilled.

Right now, modern science has confirmed some of the basic principles or ideas in ancient Taoism. Besides the story of creation being similar in many respects, science has confirmed in numerous studies many acupuncture points, meridians, and the existence of Chi itself. But as stated before, intellectual inquiry alone is limited, and often quite stultifying. As bold as it might seem, it is time to expand the entire domain of modern science so that it encompasses both subjective and objective methodologies of knowing. One without the other is incomplete. If we have objective knowledge by itself, it can easily lead towards a great imbalance as our present day world situation demonstrates. If we have self-knowledge, but don't understand the world around us, it is impractical and dangerous. In order to bridge the gap, we need to broaden the field of epistemology that we have been living from so that we both recognize and validate human consciousness. We need to study the integral components of a human being which includes not just our basic biological facts and physical structure, but additionally, Chi or the Life Force and human consciousness. To accomplish this, we would expand the field of epistemology within modern science making it more holistic. At long last, we would make the physical and life sciences a veritable and quite powerful engine for exploring human potential and its full actualization. Long ago, ancient Taoists were indeed scientists. They studied both themselves and nature, and they used a broadened scientific methodology to study Chi. Without much struggle, we could readily adopt and incorporate their approach with our own towards gaining knowledge. In today's language, it might look something like this:

A Broadened Scientific Method for the Inquiry into Chi Is Needed

1. Observe both the human body and its subtle energies, Chi or the Life Force.

2. Question: Is the human body a dynamic energy system?

3. Hypothesize that we are: E=mc², and that we can experientially know and experience this if we reorient our human consciousness.

4. Test this very bold hypothesis by adopting inner technologies to make a thorough inquiry into the physical body/consciousness relationship, and the possibility of higher states of consciousness itself.

5. Theorize or Create a Law about the cultivation of Chi and the commensurate expansion of human consciousness so that all human beings regardless of gender, race, socioeconomic class or nationality may benefit.

Healthily Experiment with Your Physical Body/Consciousness Relationship

As such, ancient Taoism is an interdisciplinary science and art of human development. Ironically, in the modern world, we are still trying to feebly articulate and consolidate this interdisciplinary approach despite exponential accumulations of various kinds of objective knowledge ranging from the life and physical sciences to the humanities. It can be argued that the individual has not been fully empowered to live in greater degrees of freedom even though we have made many technological advances and have developed an incredible infrastructure. This kind of empowerment is external to the individual himself. In contrast, in Taoism, the individual is empowered internally. There are many techniques or formulas that can be employed for the cultivation of Chi or the Life Force. With time, an individual can begin freeing himself from any kind of limitation whether it happens to be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual. Long ago, Lao Tzu, the grandfather of ancient Taoism, understood this greater definition of man, and how the human body, the heart, mind, and soul of an individual weren't simply metaphors. The heart and mind are respectively energy centers or the Yi Mind that can become fully developed through various techniques. The Book of Life will aide you in developing your Yi Mind. Additionally, under this schema, liberation or salvation was not an abstract definition, but it meant the vivification or spiritualization of both the physical and subtle bodies of man. Man developed his spirit body and literally, could travel into space using it as an important vehicle.

With time, a vast body of knowledge was uncovered, and a wide array of techniques as stated before; hence, ancient Taoism has been accurately called a science. But it is also an important field of art in that it involves a conscious use of skill and imagination. This body of knowledge and reliable techniques have been passed down from masters to students and through the Taoist cannon for thousands of years for those who are ready, and they have been kept alive by a hidden Taoist lineage of masters in the East. Unfortunately, vast amounts of this important information were lost due to the tragic extirpation of thousands of monasteries and the communist takeover of China in the 1950’s. The Book of Life is about the revival of some of these basic techniques to the general public devoid of any arcane symbols or abstract language so that the average Westerner can begin a remarkable journey.

Essentially, all human beings can successfully engage in self-transformation regardless of their present skill level or knowledge base. Like in folklore, we can learn to be alchemists. We can gradually turn the base metals of our personalities into the gold of realization of the higher self. In today's world, there are literally millions of people who are receptive and open to a new way of life. They are simply in need of a reasonable sense of hope, a map, intellectual knowledge, and effective techniques. In effect, they need to understand that the precious laboratory of life is not out there, but within one's own physical body and human consciousness. The practical experiment is in reconnecting with Chi or Human Electricity and learning how to circulate it in our own Microcosmic Orbit and within our five major organs. By doing so, we can gradually improve our state of health. For more advanced students, the experiment is with inner atomic energy or the Pearl, and condensing Chi through Fusion. But besides energy work, self-transformation is also about accessing more deeply our own innate intelligence. It is about becoming more self-aware of one's own personal paradigm and our memetic foundation. In general, we can begin shifting from subconscious to conscious thinking so that is in more alignment to our spirit selves. Essentially, conscious evolution is about thinking and acting from a larger definition of who we are. It is important to note: Many of us are entrapped in our ego-based identities. Very few of us experiment with our basic building blocks: Energy and Intelligence. Of course, these experiments cannot happen randomly. If a scientist desires to experiment, various methodologies or procedures need to be followed or nothing will happen. The experiment will not even occur and knowledge by way of collecting data will not be gained. Likewise, gaining experiential knowledge of the physical body/consciousness relationship is similar to any other scientific field. As a result, ancient Taoism involves various formulas or techniques in terms of experimenting with our own internal phenomena of both energy and intelligence. Simultaneously, The Tao is also a living body of knowledge that is flexible and amenable enough to work with other modern disciplines in terms of forging an even greater and more comprehensive science and art of human development in the early 21st century, if we are so fortunate and wise to follow such a particular course.

Right now many people have glimpsed a higher vision of themselves. They are driven towards profound self-transformation as it becomes a calling and even a lifelong vocation. We are like the lonely and bearded caterpillar that is interminably struggling to become a chrysalis and then the exquisitely beautiful monarch butterfly. Indeed, we all have our inchoate dreams of climbing step-by-step up Maslow's pyramid-like Hierarchy of Needs in an idyllic setting. We dream of achieving a profound love, a state of self-actualization, and a transcendence that goes well beyond our survival and security needs.

However, if we analyze the larger picture, we rarely succeed. We struggle and live lives of quiet desperation as Henry David Thoreau once wrote in Walden. But that doesn't have to be the case as The Book of Life will attempt to delineate that there is already a basic science and art of human development found in ancient Taoism itself. Essentially, we can boldly draw a line of demarcation with the past and the many generations that have preceded us who have believed in the untenable notions of materialism and excessive empiricism. We can engage in self-transformation by doing the following: (1) Create a New Multidimensional Definition of a Human Being that can be systematically developed, (2) Adopt Inner Technologies to Cultivate Chi and Expand Human Consciousness; (3) Learn to Integrate These New Profound Life Experiences; and (4) Make Our Individual Paradigms More Life Affirming. If we take these important steps, we can robustly live the American lives we have always wanted to live. We can begin by effectively combining both subjective and objective means of gaining knowledge by broadening the field of epistemology. Resultantly, we would be learning to combine the best aspects of both ancient wisdom and modern science. To begin, we can overlay on the modern scientific definition of a human being, which includes both genes and the human genome, acupuncture points, bodily meridians, and Chi itself. This would be a great improvement! But we can also add human consciousness and develop means for its gradual expansion to the equation. By doing so, the individual will be able to systematically explore themselves both genetically and memetically. If such profound changes were institutionalized, we would be able to unlock various multiple intelligences of both school children and adults, and we would begin to heal ourselves in a very profound manner. Right now, there are already strong trends towards unifying the seemingly disparate elements found in both Eastern and Western civilizations. By the mid-21st century, we will have split the atom as in The Manhattan Project. However, this time we will split the atom of human potential and we will unleash forces of creative intelligence, love, joy, and compassion within ourselves, if we choose. With time, we would be compelled through common sense to restructure our American society politically, economically, and socially based upon the more reliable and stable cornerstone of human potential.

A Science and Art of Human Development could help many people in society to substantively achieve Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. In effect, by combining modern science and ancient wisdom, we would be able to unlock the tomb of human potential in the 21st century.

A Brief History of Ancient Taoism and More Comparisons With Modern Science

During 6th century B.C. in China, the history of Ancient Taoism with its rich stories begins as many people studied both the martial arts and various spiritual practices in order to pursue their own self-development. As previously stated, they saw the human body as a dynamic energy system that processed many different kinds of Chi from both internal and external sources. Their first goal was overtly practical. It was to heal themselves and others in a profound manner by cultivating Chi or their Life Force. Their second goal has been much more shrouded under the veil of antiquity and that was to accomplish Internal Alchemy. In both Eastern and Western literature, there are a plethora of stories about the lore of alchemy, about mysterious characters, exotic and far away landscapes, dangerous and exciting adventures, and the transmuting of base metals into gold. Often these stories were interpreted literally, and scoffed at for their foolishness or for being a byproduct of an overactive imagination. However, as with many stories, they contain a hidden and esoteric truth. More than likely, these stories are not about changing ordinary metal into gold, but about Inner Alchemy, about transmuting the base metals of the human personality into the gold of self-awareness of the Higher Self.

In Ancient Taoism, Inner Alchemy is about experimenting with one's physical body/consciousness relationship in an intelligent manner. Long ago, ancient Taoists keenly observed that Chi mysteriously flowed within their physical bodies much like ordinary electricity through the wires of a three-story house capable of lighting and warming each room. It flowed through this marvelous vehicle, through organs, glands, the skeletal structure, the blood, and their 27 trillion-celled bodies giving life and animation. On a deeper level, they saw that Chi or the Life Force was even responsible for their emotions and thought patterns, and how everyone had a certain quantity and quality of Chi and how this could be significantly developed and balanced in terms of yin and yang.

Specifically, they found that Chi flowed through five major organs like miniature step-down transformers, and that these important organs: The heart, spleen, lungs, kidneys and liver process Chi differently. They learned how to balance and vivify these specific organs, and by doing so, they were able to achieve a greater state of integration with time. From a Taoist perspective, these five major organs create our emotional state or internal weather to a large extent.

As stated before, Ancient Taoists probed internal phenomena. They studied the different internal energies that all of us are composed of: Ching Chi (sexual energy), Chi or the Life Force, Shen (or ordinary human consciousness), and Wu Wei (transcendental consciousness). With various techniques, they were able to know the human body as a Chi Factory, and to consciously process these types of energies at a much quickened rate. Muck like the mighty industrialists of the early 20th century, like Henry Ford and John Rockefeller, they were trying to dramatically increase their rate of productivity and their profit, but the factory was the human body and what they were processing was the Life Force. Many of these techniques are taught in this book, and they have literally been in existence for thousands of years in the Taoist tradition. Some of these techniques are The Inner Smile, The Six Healing Sounds, the Microcosmic Orbit, Chi Self-Massage, Iron Shirt Chi Kung, Healing Love, The Complete Flowering of the Human Mind (Or Yi Mind), and Conscious Thinking.

In short, every seeker need not wander for knowledge of the self and deeper experiences. Ancient Taoism has provided a fine set of tools to begin looking within and transforming one's basic personality. Just as modern science and technology has given us within approximately 150 years the ability to manage and control the external environment to a large extent, and thereby transform the world, ancient Taoism empowers us, also. It gives us a complete body of knowledge, a general map, and commensurate technologies to manage and transform our internal environment found within our physical bodies. We can reconnect with our own physical bodies, Chi, and state of consciousness, and slowly begin moving towards inner alchemy. At first glance, these two sciences may appear to seriously contradict one another, and for those who are entrenched in dichotomized thinking, they may not be able to reconcile the differences. But indeed modern science and ancient Taoism complement each other. Not surprisingly, ancient Taoism has often been misunderstood as an historical artifact put under a glass casing as an exhibit in a museum, or as an esoteric and challenging subject that was basically beyond the reasonable ken of the so-called average person. However, if we look past this, this body of knowledge has been greatly formulated and disseminated most recently with particular Taoist masters by word of mouth or in various books, and the inevitable parallels with modern science are rather astonishing. As a result, we will indepthly examine some of these important parallels in order to give the reader a concrete framework so that he can understand ancient Taoism better and its practical applications more fully.

Benjamin Franklin discovers Lightning is Electricity

In order to understand Ancient Taoism beyond its cloak of antiquity, we might look at the discovery of lightning as comprised of electricity by Benjamin Franklin, and its eventual technological applications. By the mid-1700’s, electricity was being investigated by European and American naturalists (the precursors to our modern day scientists). They marveled at this strange phenomenon and conducted many experiments. However, it took approximately 150 years before the discovery of electricity led to its widespread technological development and its use that allowed us to light and warm both our homes and factories, and indeed, revolutionize our society in ways that we now take for granted. Likewise, the discovery of Chi thousands of years ago and its eventual application by ancient Chinese civilization and society took a similar path.

In both Europe and the New World, Benjamin Franklin was one of the first people to study electricity, and to actually devise scientific experiments so as to research this strange phenomenon. Extraordinarily perspicacious, Franklin made the bold hypothesis that lightning bolts were electricity in 1752, and he set out to prove it. If his hypothesis proved correct, perhaps something could be done both in Europe and the New World in order to protect both cities and towns that were often left at the mercy of large fires created by thunderstorms. Eager to test his intriguing hypothesis, Franklin flew a large kite with a metal key in a thunderous rainstorm with his son in the colonial city of Philadelphia. At the time, the average American colonist was concerned about neither electricity nor lightning bolts except for the fact that lightning occasionally started fires. But to Benjamin Franklin, this was a potential watershed moment as he patiently waited to study a strange and mystifying phenomenon.

On the night of the experiment, the skies darkened and foreboding cumulous clouds rolled in as Franklin and his son began to fly their modest kite with great hope. Finally, a lightning bolt struck the metal key dangling from the kite! A powerful electric charge quickly traveled down the wire to the glass jar and knocked the portly bespectacled Founding Father off his feet nearly killing him. However, Franklin was overjoyed. His daring hypothesis was proven correct: Lightning was electricity! Franklin had empirically demonstrated this particular fact, and in the process demystified this phenomenon as many even during his time considered it inexplicable. Some considered it as a punishment from God as had the Greeks and Romans who had believed that lightning was actual spears thrown from the angry hand of Zeus. As a result, Franklin had new ideas, and he quickly went to work knowing that lightning should react the