(273) Implication of five elements: time and destiny
.jpg?w=728)
By Janet Shin
According to the oriental teaching, every phenomenon in the universe is explained by the theory of yin, yang and the five elements. When we relate it to our destiny, it becomes saju, when it is about face, it is face reading, when it describes human body and health, it is Oriental medicine, and it is feng shui or geomancy referring to geography. Among the various links, time is the most crucial factor to influence our life as a whole.
For your easy understanding, you may simply compare them to a week. Sunday stands for yang energy while Monday is yin. And the other five days are the five elements respectively.
If you diversify your perspective to macro and micro notions of time, you will learn deeper and more detailed facets of nature.
Different from the western understanding, oriental philosophy tries to comprehend everything with integrated approach, even including birth and death. Since both are spontaneous phases of the universal process, humans shouldn’t be afraid of dying as this life is just a part of a succeeding cycle.
In this respect, oriental medicine tries to teach the appropriate living. Its object is to study the harmonious state of human organs and nature rather than to avoid the death and illness.
For example, people’s activities against the clock of nature are the major causes of diseases. The sun emits its vital energy during the day time, so it’s better to work when there is plenty yang energy, instead of staying up late at night. There is an intrinsic rhythm of the five elements in our body organs and we are recommended to coordinate our daily activities conforming to them.
When it comes to the classification of the seasons, the wood element (green) represents spring, the fire (red) summer, the metal (white) autumn and the water (black) winter. And the earth (yellow) is positioned in between each season. It can be regarded as transitional seasons. This is because the earth denotes the energy of storage for the alteration.
There are three months in each season, which imply the months of heaven, earth and humans.
As there is a continuous cycle of seasons in nature, we have that of the five elements in our life. If everything in the universe undergoes the creation and extinction, so does human life and its relations.
Most of our misfortune is caused by the avarice to possess more than given, clinging to life, moving against the cosmic passage and the obsession over love, money, and power. A wise way to lead a happy life is to apprehend where we are and when our time is.
Are you interested in learning more about the ancient Chinese teaching about the “Four Pillars of Destiny”? For further information, visit Janet’s website at www.fourpillarskorea.com, contact her at 010-5414-7461 or email janetshin@hotmail.com. The writer is the author of “Life’s Secrets.”