“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet..
- les moncrieff
- Jun 24
- 2 min read
At first glance, the line seems to express a fatalistic separation between Eastern and Western cultures, as if they are so different that they can never understand or unite.
However, Kipling’s deeper message is the opposite. The full poem tells the story of a Pashtun warrior and a British officer who begin as enemies, but through bravery, honor, and mutual respect, come to understand and respect one another. Kipling’s point was:
Culture and geography divide us, but shared values, character, and humanity unite us.
Modern Relevance:
In healing, science, and cultural understanding, Kipling’s poem reminds us that:
The apparent East-West divide is real, but it’s not absolute.
When two traditions meet in truth, respect, and curiosity, transformation happens.
So despite the quote’s surface pessimism, it ultimately affirms the power of unity across difference, embodying beautifully in blending BeT’s roots in traditional Chinese medicine with modern bioelectricity and global access.
Western medicine, for all its scientific achievements, has become entangled in a pharmaceutical-industrial complex, where:
Profit often trumps prevention.
Cure is eclipsed by chronic management.
And alternative systems of knowledge, especially ancient ones like Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are dismissed not because they’re invalid, but because they’re unfamiliar.
This is not science.
It is scientism, a rigid ideology that defines truth only by what can be measured with existing tools, forgetting that tools evolve and mystery is part of discovery.
China’s Integrative Model: A Living Example
China’s medical system allows patients to choose between:
TCM
Western medicine
Or a blended approach
This coexistence is practical, humble, and people-centered. It says: “If it works, and it’s safe, let’s use it.” There is no ideological war between acupuncture and antibiotics. No fear of Qi. No arrogance about electrons.
In the West: Business Before Curiosity
Market incentives that favor lifelong customers over cured patients
Medical training that omits energy medicine and dismisses the body’s innate intelligence
Peer-reviewed silos where disruption is seen as a threat, not a breakthrough
Even in the face of an opioid crisis or escalating cancer cases, alternative modalities like BeT aren’t dismissed because they don’t work; they’re ignored because they don’t profit.
Planting Seeds
In BeT, we are Blending:
Science with spirit
Bioelectricity with Qi
Ancient wisdom with modern accessibility
Healing doesn’t need to be expensive, invasive, or pharmaceutical. It just needs to be aligned with nature.
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