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# Chinese Elements

#### Message 00756 of 3835

- To: BardonPraxis@yahoogroups.com
- Subject: Chinese Elements
- From: "forestofsymbols" <forestofsymbols@...>
- Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 22:12:42 -0000
- User-agent: eGroups-EW/0.82

    Does anyone have any possible insights on the relationship, if
    any, between the five Chinese (or Taoist) elements (metal, water,
    fire, earth, and wood) and the classic four elements (keeping in
    mind, of course, ether as well)? It seems that the Chinese elements
    represent an entirely different scheme of division, one which cannot
    simply be mapped onto or grafted with the more familiar four
    elements. But given its ancient heritage and widespread popularity,
    it would not seem right to simply write the five element theory off
    as a different approach for different people, there seems to be
    something as universal as the Chinese division as with the "western"
    division. Drawing simple analogies between the two doesn't seem to do
    the trick, it does appear that they are different in a more
    fundamental way.

    Further, does anyone have a grasp of the underlying principles
    that would inform a five-fold elemental division rather than a four-
    fold division? It seems that the four-fold division is saturated with
    the idea of polarity, and the rythmic flow of things between two
    poles. However, this polarity doesn't seem as sharp and crisp when
    applied to the Chinese elements; indeed, the relationship between the
    five elements seems more fluid, more slippery, more circular and less
    centered then when dealing with four elements.

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