A person called Carol emailed me on the 18th of July saying,
amongst other things: "Hi, I appreciate what you have
done with your site and look forward to receiving the newsletter,
as I am a new subscriber".
She went on to ask for "information regarding color significance
as related to bodily organs".
She had to wait a while for an answer but now that it is here,
in the form of this newsletter and a whole new illustrated
article at www.wheelswithinwheels.net ... I hope to some extent
this does prove that we do appreciate correspondence and (though
truth be told 'in another way') input in the form of stimulating
and interesting questions! All I ask is that folks bear in
mind that I do not have all the answers - and I am a very
long way from being a perfected (human) being ... from newsletter
writer down through to email answerer. Notwithstanding this
I am still proud to say that I do my best and I am particularly
inspired, motivated and assisted by you, every one of the
3,000 plus subscribers to this free and (nearly!) monthly
publication.
That this publication is free is an irrefutable fact. It's
monthly publication may however be debated! What happens to
it is what we call "newsletter slippage" and long
term subscribers may have probably noticed by now that this
'slippage' occurs in July or August - i.e. the holiday season
here in the UK! Last month I took a break and went away to
Amsterdam (in Holland) ... ... ... and that is really the
only good reason as to just why Carol had to wait so long
for her answer - and why you had to wait so long for this
issue which has taken at least six weeks to follow the last.
It is highly likely that I shall return to the subject of Amsterdam
sometime soon and write about what I found there in Pure Land
Notes because, what I found there was a Pure Land Temple ...
and I have decided to go back there to it as soon as is practically
possible a get involved in any way that I can.
I have been searching the UK for more than a decade now for
a Pure Land Sangha (organisation or group) that is amicable
to our (my?) 'western ways'; a place where I might be just accepted
"as I am". I had just about given up hope that such
a thing would come into existence in my lifetime, therefor none
can have be more surprised than I to find what I was looking
for was there, on the edge of the red light district in the
most liberal and tolerant of European cities, i.e. Amsterdam!
But there it is - and I feel almost magnetically attracted to
it like a month to the light.
As an indicator of Dutch tolerance, in each direction, it is
worth noting that The Fo Guang Shan He Hua Temple, Amsterdam
was completed in 2000 and dedicated in person by Queen Beatrix
of the Netherlands; this being the first time that a Head of
State had made such an open-minded and generous gesture. How
long do you suppose it will be before the President of the USA
or the Prime Minister of England endorse a Kuan Yin Temple in
Washington or an Amida Buddha Hall in London?
So, more of that later perhaps - but right now, on to this newsletters
long awaited central subject. As just that, and as a comprehensive
answer to Carol's question regarding "color significance
as related to bodily organs" I offer below and edited down
version of "The Theory of the Five Elements". For
the full unedited and colorfully illustrated 5 page web presentation
and exploration on the subject (which is of itself a expanded
development of text used in an earlier newsletter and as feature
text on/in our DVD and CDrom distance learning packages) please
go to:
http://www.wheelswithinwheels.net/element/e1.htm.
That presentation contains a lot more than we are able to offer
here in Email friendly and transmittable form - such as a table
to chart and ascertain each elements corresponding Phase, Colour,
Direction, Life Cycle, Energy Quality, Season, Climate, Development,
Smell, Flavor, Mental Quality, Negative Emotion, Positive Emotion,
Body, Aperture, Bodily Fluids, Primal Spirit, Male Animal, Female
Animal, Numbers, I Ching Trigrams and Hexagrams; as well as
a brief analysis of the Shen (nourishing) and Ko (control) Cycles!
Look around and you will always "see" at least
one of the five elements that are (according to TCM and eastern
philosophy) the fundamental components of the Universe. The
five are: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.
The English word "element" has a somewhat fixed
connotation that is not present with the Chinese. Hence the
theory is often known, more accurately, as the Five Transformations
or Five Phases.
The Five Element theory views the Universe and its functioning
as being cyclical and interactive. Accordingly, all of the
'ten thousand things' within and indeed without it are interdependent
or of "dependent origination". This Taoist theory
that 'all phenomena are connected' bears comparison to the
Buddhist ideas of 'karma' and some Indian sub continent and
other eastern ideas on reincarnation.
Associations
Everything in existence (a.k.a. 'matter' or 'the ten thousand
things') contains some quantity of all five elements, however,
according to the theory one of the five so particularly predominates
or manifests itself in each thing, and may thus be categorized
accordingly.
Taoist physicians and sages further determined that each
element has special associations with particular organs in
the human body as well as to other things such as colours,
flavors, the time of day, the season of the year, and the
way we respond physically and emotionally to external influences
and all of the forces of nature.
The Five Elements theory identifies the five different modes
(elements) in which chi energy may manifest itself. The five
(Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Air) are arranged into a cyclical
sequence that represents the flow of energy between these
elements as 'phases'.
Each phase of an element characterises a stage in a cyclical
process. The characteristic of each phase is determined by
the 'energy dynamic' personified as the never ending round
of the seasons in the natural world.
It is not per say the passage of time that changes things;
everything changes anyway.
Thus the 5 element theory is simply an observation on natural,
creative change; and it is the natural world that confirms
that throughout that all the forces and energies in nature
can be in constant smooth and harmonious transition from one
phase to another - just as one season 'becomes' the next.
Characteristics
WOOD
Wood is the most human of the elements. It is the element of
spring; the creative urge to achieve - which can turn to anger
when frustrated. It is associated with the capacity to look
forward, plan and make decisions.
Wood energy is rising, expanding, and is the force of growth
and flexibility.
This element represents all the activities of the body that
are self regulating and/or function without conscious thought;
i.e. digestion, respiration, heart beat and basic metabolism.
The liver (which converts food into fuel which is then supplied
to the muscles, tendons and ligaments) is associated to the
Wood element.
FIRE
Fire is the element of heat, summer and enthusiasm; nature at
its peak of growth, and warmth in human relationships. Its motion
is upward.
Fire is the symbolic of combustion and this represents the functions
of the body that have reached that fleeting moment of maximum
activity; indicating that decline is then inevitable.
The element is associated with the heart and related to the
tongue.
EARTH
Earth is the element of harvest time, abundance, nourishment,
fertility, and the mother to child relationship. This element
is also regarded as central to balance and the place where energy
becomes downward in movement. It is the symbol of stability
and being properly anchored.
Earth is associated to the spleen and related to the sense of
taste.
METAL
This category includes the Western idea of the air element.
It is the force of gravity, the minerals within the earth, the
patterns of the heavenly bodies and the powers of electrical
conductivity and magnetism. Metal has structure, but it can
also accept a new form when molten.
Metal energy is consolidating and with inward movement, like
a flower closing its petals.
The symbol of metal is one of a cutting and reforming action,
but it is also regarded as a solidifying process.
The element is associated with the lungs and related to the
nose.
WATER
Water is the source of life on this planet. Likewise it is the
fluids (the main component of the body) which nourish and maintain
the health of every cell. Water corresponds to the vital fluids,
i.e. blood, lymph, mucus, semen and fat.
The kidney is especially linked to this element. Its motion
is downward.
Water has the capacity to flow, infinitely yielding yet infinitely
powerful, ever changing and often dangerous with the capacity
also to nourish and cleanse.
Water is the ultimate yin; quiet, cold; representing the resting
time of winter. It has a waiting, silent, still quality that
can be described as "stored potential". It has flexibility
(think of water filling up any shape of vessel), yet it has
great power (think of the devastation caused by floods).
In human psychology the element governs the balance between
fear or being exploited and the desire to dominate.
Correspondences According to the 5
Elements theory - which is of itself no more than just one
element in a far greater united theory of traditional Chinese
medicine - your internal organs, tissues, other parts of the
body and their associated activities, all correspond to one
or another of the Five Elements (phases). Thus, the relationship
between the internal organs is like the relationship between
the seasons.
Accordingly, in healthy people the elements are said to be
balanced and in sick people they are said to be unbalanced.
Indications of an imbalance may appear in signs as varied
as an unusual skin colour or body odor, or as the recurrence
of a particular symptom at specific times of the day.
The characteristic of each phase (new yang through to full
yin) is determined by what happens in the natural world during
each associated season. One season after another plays its
role in the cycle of the year by just doing what it does when
it does it and then smoothly moves on to the next. It is the
smooth and harmonious transition from one phase to another
that is important, along with the balance between them.
Concepts and Perceptions
Clearly the eastern perception of human body is not the same
as the western X-ray assisted view; and being born out of
very different cultures and technologies, eastern physiology
does apparently pay greater attention to function than it
does to form. In other words - what a thing does is (to the
eastern observer) more important than what it looks like or
where it is. This 'view' is reflected in many aspects of Chinese
medicine, art and culture, and one only has to look at piece
of perspective defying oriental landscape art to appreciate
this difference in perception.
In the west our knowledge in human anatomy is based upon post
mortem studies of the deceased. This approach is still treated
with skepticism by by traditional Chinese physicians who quite
reasonably point out that cadavers have no living energy and
that the organs are not functioning. They believe that a dead
body can not reveal anything significant about the dynamics
of life.
As an aid to diagnosis and remedy with TCM methods such as
acupuncture and massage as well as as the prescribing of potions
of herbs and dietary control, the five elemental energies
theory is a practical model of the human body in relationship
to its environment and external influences.
http://www.wheelswithinwheels.net/element/e1.htm. "The
Theory of the Five Elements". The full unedited and colorfully
illustrated 5 page web presentation and exploration on the
subject at www.wheelswithinwheels.net |
