It doesn’t take long for a child to develop the ability to determine categories or the “thingness” of things. They very rapidly learn that while this cat is pure black and the other is all kinds of colors, they are both cats. While a dog might be tiny and fluffy or tall, thin and sleek, they are both dogs. We can group all kinds of things, determining what characteristics are specific to a particular individual of the group while others are required for inclusion in the group, recognizing chairness even if the chair has only one central pillar with several feet radiating out from it instead of four legs, a table no matter how short or tall, square, round or rectangular, and car no matter the shape or even how many wheels it might end up with.
However, whether through lack of exposure or inexperience, we tend to throw this faculty out the window when it comes to spiritual practices and systems. While we can group things into very general categories such as energy healing, channeling, journeying, shamanic practices and so on, within those categories it seems as if we are unable to identify groups of things as similar. Each practice or label comes to seem as if it is unique so instead of seeing varieties of cats we see menageries of unique animals which we wonder at and attempt to define through new terminology. Chakras are converted into intellectual learning centers, Qi points are converted into light transference and emanating facilities, Sephirah become the gateways to DNA sequencing and distance healing is forever new as each authority rediscovers it possibilities.
Just as we did as children, it is handy to learn the characteristics of a group of things in order to discern what is the same and what is unique in each expression within that group. Knowing how Qi maps practically through the body via meridians and pressure points, how this connects with the Panama Canal style locks of the Chakra system and how it interacts with the manifestation and information system of Kabbalah’s Tree of Life can provide the structure for appreciating the more unique facets of energy healing and other spiritual modalities. The terms may change from system to system, but a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.