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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A whole new angle
By Amira El-NoshokatyPeople have called it many things, ranging from "a miracle" to "nonsense". Ibrahim Karim calls it biogeometry. He has been experimenting with the effect of certain two- or three-dimensional shapes that interact with surrounding energy fields to produce special effects on the biological system. These shapes, Karim believes, also influence the development of plants.
In his own backyard, he has sought to prove his hypothesis in a patch of mint. Around one area, he erected a simple geometrical shape made of red brick. The mint inside the small fence-like structure grew more quickly and in greater abundance, smells sweet, and is afflicted with no parasites. Outside the geometrical shape, the same crop has the opposite characteristics. In both cases, Karim asserts that he used no pesticides.
Another experiment involved planting sweet potatoes on a small plot of land by the Red Sea, using salt water for irrigation. The plant shrivelled, as was to be expected. Another batch was irrigated with the same water, but placed in specially shaped containers. "We also shaped the irrigation canal, and the sweet potatoes grew this time."
Karim, who received his master's degree in architecture from Zurich's Federal Institute of Technology in 1967, and his doctorate in 1975, has worked as consultant to the ministers of health (1968-'80), culture (1969-'80), tourism (1985-'88) and scientific research (since 1990). He was also chairman of a National Research Centre committee on the influence of geometrical shapes on life functions.
"I'm not saying that we can go and dig a canal from the Mediterranean or the Red Sea in the middle of the desert and start planting straight away. This will require a lot of research," Ibrahim cautions. "My job is to carry out an experiment with biogeometrical shapes, demonstrate a fact, repeat this experiment until it becomes a scientific phenomenon, and allow specialists in every field to start research work."
Biogeometry is defined as the way to promote equilibrium in energy fields at the levels of electromagnetism, vitality, emotions or mental performance. It deals with energy not as a quantitative abstract, but from the point of view of its interaction with the individual's energy field.
Karim readily admits he is not the first person to use geometrical shapes with energy. He has learned from sciences like geobiology, which deals with the energy the earth radiates. "Then there is radiesthesia, the science of detection of energy fields; you can use it to detect minerals, water and things like that. There are also sciences like Feng Shui, which deals with the proper channelling of surrounding energies," he explains.
But pyramid power has little to do with Egyptology. "This," Karim protests, "is a modern science." He has used it, however, to research Ancient Egypt, which he now sees from "a whole new perspective, where the gods are only symbols of natural powers and drawings are devices that interact with those powers."
Some also swear that biogeometry can cure certain diseases. "Four years ago," remembers Hisham Hakam, a 24-year-old student at Ain Shams University, "I woke up with blood all over my face." Doctors diagnosed his sudden affliction as low blood platelets. Therapy ranging from cortisone to chemotherapy had no effect; then Karim gave him a ring engraved with geometrical shapes. In three days, he says, his platelets had increased tenfold.
Rings, bracelets and plastic tags are all different "bio-signature chips". Geometrical designs are processed, laser-engraved on an aluminium plate and worn by those who believe in their power.
"We call them chips because they are like computer chips, only instead of working with electricity, they work with the energy field of your body," explains Karim, who claims that biogeometry can strengthen the immune system.
"By adjusting the external field of energy, we give the internal field the power to affect, prevent and sometimes cure even incurable diseases."
Karim has been attacked as a quack, of course, most recently by chairman of the Doctors' Syndicate Dr Hamdi El-Sayed, who criticised him for dabbling in medicine although he is not academically qualified to do so. Karim disregards such broadsides.
"Immune deficiency here in Egypt is a major problem," he explains. "Doctors have to contend with the external energy of the body, as well as a harmful external environment," he states. "If I manage to cancel external side effects, the doctor has a better chance of doing his job."
Nor has Karim stopped there. His ambition is to use geometrical shapes in housing, chairs, jewellery, furniture, and even cities. His experiments at a school in Maadi led him to the conclusion that biogeometry had bred calmness, creativity and the willingness to learn.
Planning expert Milad Hanna comments: "Ibrahim Karim has many theories, ideas that must be tested and proved, but they go beyond facts that have been established for too long. On the analytic level, it lacks an explanation of the steps of the scientific process; but on the pragmatic level, it has proven to be a success. On the whole, we should give it a chance."
