08/03/2022
The Five Elements
The Five Elements are inseparable factors of Yin and Yang. They are talked about in unison in the Chinese philosophy - Yin and Yang and Five Elements.
These theories, with the pure materialist ideas of classical Chinese, were the way of recognising nature as they came. They tried to understand the nature within the Yin and Yang theory by grouping the matters into the tree (wood), water, fire, metal, and earth (soil). They researched their relationship to one another, their formation and effects. As a result, the strong theory and the work principles that used around the world today came to exist.
The phrase Five Elements is a means of classifying the nature of various entities - be they material objects, people, emotions, natural or observed phenomena - into one of five groups. Each group has a specific nature. Certain inferences can be drawn by knowing the Five Element nature of say a person.
The Five Element Theory does not imply that everything in the universe is made of the five elements. In times gone by there was a belief (in Europe, not in China) that everything in the universe was made by a combination of some or all of fire, water, earth and air. Some English-speaking practitioners prefer the term Five Phases.
The Five Elements and the Relationship with Our Organs
Within the framework of the Five Element theory There is a complex interplay between the organs. Each organ generates Qi for the following in cycle. On one hand the organs support each other, and on the other hand they control and regulate each other. Thus, is shown how all the organs are interrelated. TCM believed this fitted in with the law of nature as human beings are part of nature. For thousands of years, the human body was researched in this way by TCM masters. They learnt, for example, which organs need ‘water’ or not, which organs need to be rid of ‘humidity’, or which are prone to ‘fire’. This way helped them decide how to protect and treat their patients. These methods of prevention and treatment generally change with the improvements in treatment.
