Issue 57 - Tse Qigong Centre

Coming back to the reasonwhy different cultures have differentelements and explanations; some willuse wind and some air. This is not thesame as the Chinese Five Elements,why is this? The answer is quitesimple. Each culture has a differenthistory and background based onwhere they developed and grew. Sothey will look at nature and base theirphilosophy on what seems to explaintheir experiences. Throughout theentire world there are differentcultures that use different numbers ofelements, some will have only threeetc. But if you look, we are all talkingabout the same thing, so do not letthe elements affect yourunderstanding. All these elementsand systems are to help youunderstand the universe. All theseelements are the keys to open thesecret door to the universe. Once youhave opened it, the key is not thatimportant. What is on the other sideof the door is more important.We can use the Five Elementsin different ways. For example, wecan use the Five Elements to describepeople, let us say that some one isThe Five ElementsIn the NorthernHemisphereThe Five ElementsIn the SouthernHemisphereWestMetalWestMetalNorthSouthNorthSouthWaterFireFireWaterEastWoodEastWood“Once opened the keyis not important whatis on the other side ofthe door is.”Fire. This means that he/she is full of energy, is outgoing andlikes attention. They like colourful things and are easy to geton with when you first meet. On the other side though, theycan become exhausted, depressive, be too pushy and botherpeople, etc. I am sure we all know someone like that.The colour green relates to wood, so if you have a greencarpet you will find more peace. This is because the green carpetwill remind you of green grass and when you see the carpet itwill trigger the memory and feeling as well. This is how colourrelates to our feeling and this can also be explained throughthe Five Elements.The direction North relates to water. This is becauseNorth is cold, with ice and snow. These things are made fromwater. The opposite of this is Fire because it is warm or hot.When you consider the directions,some of you may ask, “What if you are inAustralia, South America, Africa etc. theNorth is hot and the South is cold?” So howcan we work this out using the FiveElements? First we need to understand whyChinese people use the Five-Element Theory.The East is the first to see the sun asthe sun rises in the east. So all the trees andplants will grow quickly as they catch theenergy first. So the East is the element Wood.The West is where the sun sets, which isopposite to sunrise and the East. So the Westis cooler, has fewer plants growing than theEast. This is opposite to Wood and so this isMetal. In the West all the “Metal” things havebeen created, like cars, trains, planes,televisions etc.In China the North is cold and therefore Water and theSouth is hot and the opposite, and so is Fire.This theory fits in the Northern Hemisphere. TheSouthern Hemisphere is different because the Equator is hot.So the North is hot and the South is cold. So in this situationEast is still wood and West is still metal, but North becomesFire and South becomes Water. It is the same as our two palmsthe left is opposite to the right to balance each other.When we study the Five Elements things are not alwaysas simple as we think. At one level, one plus one equals two,but at higher levels one plus one might equal three or minusone. We can have many different answersBy Michael TseQi Magazine 37