The five elements

Chinese philosophy differs from that of the western world, for it favors analogy over rationality. Rationality is dominated by a cause- effect principle while analogy is not dominated by this principle but by common characteristics. Here is an example to better understand this concept.

Summer is characterized by the heat from the sun. The summer heat reminds us of the heat one can obtain by lighting a fire. Thus summer is the season related with fire, as is noon and the sun. Furthermore, the South is the land of the sun; red is the color of fire as it is that of blood. What moves blood is the heart, so the heart is the organ of joy and the body’s sun.This is the rational that ties the sun with the blood and the heart.

Throughout four thousand years of observation and experimentation analogies have been found to tie all natural things to the five basic elements. These are:

wood

fire

earth

metal

water

Both man, body and mind, and nature, in which he lives, can be traced back to one of these elements. In the following page you will find a chart which lists a grouping example. It lists functions, properties, seasons, body organs, foods, etc. which are at the base of chinese medicine, diagnosis and healing.

As you may note to each organ correspond both positive and negative connections. In Chinese medicine many bodily functions, both physical and psychological, which may seem to share nothing in common, are directly tied.

The five elements, thus their corresponding organs, are tied together by a process of "generations", shown in fig.2. The arrows indicate the constant flow of the elements, the seasons, the climates, and the bodily organs with their function.

Balance, or health, is the holistic and harmonic flow of the eternal cycle, from one element to another.

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