|
aim |
How does Chinese philosphy come in to it......I hear you ask. Well, I'm curious about ancient philosphy and thought I could weave some of it into this website. This site has a chapter for each of the five elements of Chinese philosophy plus an 'intro' that you're reading now. Legend has it that the five elements were first described in a Chinese book 5000 years ago. The book was called the 'I Ching' (no - not itching Mr K :) that can be loosely translated as the 'book of changes'. The aim of the book was to try and understand the constant state of change in the world. If you're curious about Eastern philosphy then read on, (if not there are some photo's in the 'wood' chapter)... Taoism & fascismTaoism, pronounced dow-ism, is like Zen - impossible to pin down with words. But I'll try anyway with an analogy: If the Tao is a wave moving in harmony with nature. Then a Taoist surfs that wave, working with nature. Not trying to control or dominate it, but using it intelligently with ease and respect.Fascism is the opposite. People allow their decisions to be made for them, maybe in search of an easy life. Respect and consideration for the welfare and freedom of other beings tends to score pretty poorly. Yin & yangThings move in cycles. The value of the stock-market rises, then falls. Pet hamsters live, then die. Life flourishes, then decays and returns to the Tao.In the process of decay, new life arises. That's just the way it is. Call the active, growing force Yang. And the yielding, decaying force Yin. Yin & yang's interplay is continuous. Without yin, yang's heat would evaporate and explode. Without yang, yin would congeal, freeze and implode. Everything is relative, you cannot have cold without hot, soft without hard, quiet without loud. The five elementsOk, so we have yin & yang battling it out in pursuit of perfect balance. But how do they do it? In an attempt to understand the whole yin/yang cycle in more detail, Taoism introduces the five elements and the chapters of this site.The five elements are a way of breaking down the transition from yin to yang in more detail. The idea is to provide a way of analysing the changes in the universe. The better we understand these changes the better we can surf the Tao. Basically the five elements represent
|
