There are practical differences between Catholic celibacy and Taoist celibacy. Taoism and Qigong is about cultivation of the body and the origins of the movements in some cases come directly from agricultural practices like cultivating the land. Some of the moves that generate power are similar to tilling the land. This in itself shows the practical aspect inherent in Taoist movement and philosophy.

You cultivate the land to make things grow and you cultivate your body to make things grow within yourself. What tools does a Catholic priest have in comparison? What movements other than rituals and chanting can you apply to cultivate oneself and self govern? It isn’t about symbolism as in the word will guide you. The land is the book to read. What matters is the cultivation of the land, in this case you are the land, a part of earth.

I am not trying to criticise Catholic thought but we all know the lack of self control not just in the priesthood but in the general well being of being connected to a fruitful land, a fruitful self. My mother was critical of her days in Catholic school, what she felt was hypocrisy by the nuns in charge. I was never christened until I was in my 30s. The priest to me reminded me of a Jungian analyst I went to in my 20s who hypnotised me. 

Both their faces morphed into European animals, they became deer, a wolf they just kept changing in front of me. When I was hypnotised I saw myself standing like a giant above the rolling ranges of mountains and rivers. I was in nature, I was a part of nature embedded in it. I don’t reject Christianity but I haven’t found anything in the way of self control or lessons I really needed such as working it out in the physical. 

I am a very physical person and find if my body is functioning my mind is also functioning. It isn’t a competitive physical involvement but a way to connect to nature and to cultivate myself. I am not competing with anyone but just enjoying the connection. As a last aside there was a working professional some decades ago who was a complete pervert but successful. He trained Qigong for a few years and the practice changed him. 

As far as society was concerned he was a model citizen in that he did his job well, had great prospects and assets. It was only the practical philosophy of Qigong that turned his life around. He didn’t know how to control himself, words weren’t going to do it. It was movement and cultivation that changed him. I am not saying it will help everyone but it shows the practical application of philosophical movement in the body which feeds the mind.