CBL 18: Need Your Help!

You bring up some good points, Matthew.

“Bound” is one of those funny words that means the opposite of itself. Another example is “cleave,” which both means to cut and to hold together. Words such as these are called homophones, and it has long been my contention – however inarticulate I've been about it – that homophones are never accidents. (I wrote perhaps the worst essay of my life recently on this topic; see http://www.enlightenment.com/enlightenblogs.html and looks for “The Prophets Sea”).

So, “bound” means to leap or to jump up and out, and bound also means to put a perimeter around, to put a bounds or bounds on something.

It also means “to make an agreement”: they were bound by their actions.

So, do people want their chi to bound? Yes. Do people want their chi to be bounded? I'm not so sure. There's something inherently “negative,” it seems, about being limited, about being bounded in any way.

Now, you can argue that it is only when you put limitations on something – when you bound it – that it becomes real and takes on form, like time (Saturn/Chronos) binding us. In that case, if chibounding is seen as the agreement one makes with oneself – to bound one's chi for a set period of time a set number of days a week (or whatever you like) – then perhaps it could satisfy all three definitions of “bound” here and therefore really be the right name for this “movement” (practice).

ChiBound also rhymes with rebound, of course, which makes it attractive to the degree that anyone who has ever tried rebounding will more easily recognize what it is, while the idea of “bouncing” generally has no other obvious connotation attached to it. So, it could just as easily be called “bouncing” as “chibouncing,” it seems; in fact, for many months – and still to this day – the simple, easy, vernacular way my family would refer to my activity was and has been “bouncing.” As in, “I bounced today for 45 minutes,” or “Are you really going to bounce now? That takes an hour out of the day.”

Well, these are just some first thoughts that I had in response to your comment, Matthew. I am still leaning towards”chibounding,” because it feels it could “go all the way,” but I too trust Jodi's judgment 100%, and I actually like the way both terms sounds.

Thanks for your thoughts, now and in the future.

Very cool! It reminds me of the idea of hooking up magnets and coils to wires to generate electricity and feed it back into the grid while rebounding. The patriotic nature of this would be clear: build immune systems and help solve the energy crisis simultaneously!

Wow, Jodi, you went out and actually came back with the equivalent of data. That's amazing.

I think of it in terms of the “c” versus the “d.” C's s are a lot more flowing and mobile than “D's are, it seems to me. Just like K's are funny.

Right now I'm feeling like the more I play with both of them, ChiBouncing seems fresher and newer and more possible than ChiBounding, which, while I've been using it longer, still has that hard “D” stop in it (there I am back to the sounds of the letters).

I really do appreicate all of your comments and thoughts here.

Great to see you here, Agent K! Those of you following this dialogue may be interested to know that Krisztina painted the painting that I am using as my icon mostly, as well as the other rebounding paintings you can see in my photos. She’s an incredible artist (as well as a great person) and I recommend that you check out her stuff!

As for ChiBouncing, I think the “c” may really have it over the “d.” “D” for dogmatic, as you pointed out, and “c” for … “cuddly”? “circular”? “Christ-like resurrectin of the bouncing body”?

Perhaps this will clarify everything (and perhaps not):

bounce     P   Pronunciation Key  (bouns)
v. bounced, bounc·ing, bounc·es
v. intr.
To rebound after having struck an object or a surface.
To move jerkily; bump: The car bounced over the potholes.
To bound: children bouncing into the room.
To be sent back by a bank as valueless: a check that bounced.
Baseball. To hit a ground ball to an infielder: The batter bounced out to the shortstop.

v. tr.
To cause to strike an object or a surface and rebound: bounce a ball on the sidewalk.
To present or propose for comment or approval. Often used with off: bounced a few ideas off my boss.
Slang.
To expel by force.
To dismiss from employment. See Synonyms at dismiss.
To write (a check) on an overdrawn bank account.

n.
A rebound.
A sudden bound, spring, or leap.
The capacity to rebound; spring: a ball with bounce.
Spirit; liveliness.
Slang. Expulsion; dismissal.
Chiefly British. Loud, arrogant speech; bluster.