My experience has taught me that what Earth needs is not a
blanket response of sympathy of the “Oh, you poor dear” kind, but instead it
needs to be understood. It wants to be
heard, and wants to be heard to the end, if possible without interruption. Its thinking is a circular process, ending
where it began and then beginning again.
If it is out of balance, it begins again with the same words and goes
over the same ground, like an oxen tied to a circular grindstone, going round
and round. When it is in balance, this
need to churn over the same thoughts is lessened, but never disappears
completely. Since its function is to
process all things, thoughts as well as food, it has to perform this task
endlessly as the other elements pass their energies to it for processing.
If I remain clear that my Earth patients need to be allowed
time to circle round a subject, even though I may have heard the same thing in
the same words before, I am able to stand back and allow this circular movement
to continue without getting irritated.
But being a quick thinker and talker myself, the slow chewing-of-the-cud
which is Earth’s way of thinking can tend to irritate me and make me want to
interrupt it if I am not careful. So a
warning sign goes off in my head with every Earth patient I treat: Let the patient speak, Nora, and only
interrupt or add your own comments when you have given your patient time to
process his/her thoughts and express them fully in the way they want.
The Earth element’s position in relation to the other
elements has always been somewhat equivocal.
It was originally shown on acupuncture charts as taking a position
centre-stage with the other elements circling round it, before it later became
part of the circle, and was slipped in between the Fire and Metal
elements. Its association with a season
has also been a little idiosyncratic. Its
original position at the centre of the element was seen as connecting it to
each of the seasons and their associated element in turn, so that a small wedge
of time at the end of each season was regarded as being under its influence,
rather than having a complete season dedicated to it. Once it took up its current place in the
circle between Fire and Metal, it is now associated with the intermediate
season between the end of full summer and the beginning of autumn, a season we
call late summer, as the year tilts from the yang of summer to the yin of approaching
autumn.
There is something of this slightly ambiguous role in all
that relates to the Earth element, for it constantly acts as a pivot between
yin and yang and back again. It is no
surprise, therefore, that it is the only element which has both of its two meridians
running only over the front of the body, which is considered a yin area, unlike
the twin meridians of all the other elements which run both over the back and
the front of the body. It is also
significant that its yang official, the Stomach, should pass over the nipple,
surely one of the most yin places in the body, as if in so doing it unites both
yin and yang within itself.
It is as though there are always two sides to Earth, reflected
both in the positioning of its two meridians and in its close relationship to both
yin and yang seasons. In terms of its
emotion, too, it can be said to alternate between expressing two different aspects. We call its emotion sympathy, which has such
a warm, giving tone to it, implying a person’s ability to feel themselves into
the situation of another person and understand what they are experiencing. Sympathy could be considered to be a very
unselfish emotion, and Earth is after all the element which represents the
mother who is expected unselfishly to feed her children. But as with everything to do with this
element, there is a paradox at its heart.
All elements are given specific burdens which represent the demands they
make upon those who come under their patronage.
Earth’s special burden is that it cannot give to others until it has
enough within itself to give. If its
larder is empty, it cannot therefore offer food to those around it. It has both a need to give (a more
yang-orientated activity) and a need to take (a more yin-orientated activity). We need
to understand this if we are to help our Earth patients.
An Earth friend of mine is a good example of this
dilemma. When talking about another
person she often asks me, “Do I need to worry about them?”, said with a kind of weariness in her voice. I see this as a reflection of an appreciation
of her role as supporter of others, the mother role, the person worrying about
somebody else, but implicit within the weariness behind the words is the
feeling that this is a burden. It
contains a question as to whether she has perhaps the right to shrug off this
burden, as well as the question as to whether instead she ought to find the
strength to bear it. And here I am given
a role to play, for in her question to me is implied the wish, indeed the
demand, that I be the one to take some of the burden, in effect to absolve her
of the ultimate responsibility of taking on the burden of worry. By asking the question she has placed me,
rather than herself, in the role of taking responsibility for providing the answer. Hidden within the question, too, is clearly
the hope that I will reply, “No, you need not.”
Earth people, then, can often experience others as potential
burdens, as here in this example of my friend, with the fear that they may not
feel themselves up to the task of carrying the weight of what they are expected
to offer others. This explains in part
the plaintive note in an Earth’s voice, its singing, sighing quality carrying a
demanding tone, a “gimme, gimme” tone, a kind of sucking inwards, as a baby
bird sucks in food. This is how I regard
Earth’s need, and if we are to give that dominant emotion within it the word
“sympathy”, then perhaps in many instances we could add (in brackets) “for me
too, please”.
I have also found that the need to be nurtured which all
Earth people have awakes an echo of the same need in me, because at some deep
level within me I would like some of the same kind of nurturing I am being
asked to offer Earth. A few days ago,
interestingly, an Earth practitioner told me that he finds his first
interaction with his patients disturbing because he feels their differing needs
tugging at his Earth element which is reluctant to offer what is being demanded
of it. Once I am aware of this reaction in myself, I remind myself firmly that
I am here for the patient and not for my own needs.
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