I have realised over the years that it is the study of my own element and its many manifestations within me making me who I am which has formed the bedrock of my understanding of the work of the elements as a whole. Perhaps that is true of us all. Maybe we can only start to gain glimpses of other elements through the lens of our own, and then gradually widen this to include greater understanding of the other elements. But we must never underestimate how much of what we learn will inevitably at first be coloured by our own unique view of the world shaped by our particular element.
Today I became aware at a deeper level than before of how interlinked my Small Intestine is with what can be regarded as its closest companion, the Large Intestine, with which has an indissoluble connection, the Small leading to the Large. I like to think of the Small Intestine as doing the preliminary sifting of whatever material, physical or emotional, comes to it from the Stomach, and the Large Intestine continuing this by working on the residue of waste material from the Small Intestine's work. This final processing sends on what is no longer needed as nourishment to be eliminated from body and soul. I regard the Small Intestine as in some sense being the ultimate ditherer as it passes its decisions to and fro, often changing its mind, as it tries to sort things out, until forced, sometimes almost reluctantly, to make a final judgement by deciding upon what it regards as pure enough to release to nourish the Heart. The residue it passes on to the Large Intestine to extract any remaining benefit from before it expels the dregs as waste material.
I became aware of this close interaction between the functions of Small and Large Intestines today because a close colleague of mine, who has Metal as his guardian element, acted this role out for me, as we discussed our plans for the future. I can now trace exactly the point at which my Small Intestine passed on responsibility to my colleague's Large Intestine. I could feel myself, with some relief, stepping back and handing my colleague the final decision about what we were planning to do, each step along the way a clear indication of where my role started and ended, and where his role ultimately started and ended. It is rare for me to see such clear evidence of how my Small Intestine depended so much upon accepting the Large Intestine's help in this way.
Similarly, it would be possible for each of us, when we become aware not only of our guardian element but of which of the two officials within that element play a dominant role in our life, to work out how far the officials of other elements within us are helping us to greater balance, or conversely may be holding us back for whatever reason. Here, in the case of my colleague's Large Intestine, there might well be occasions when I feel his Metal element's pressures upon me are a hindrance rather than a help to me. This might depend on how balanced my Small Intestine is or how balanced his Large Intestine is at any point of our interactions with each other. Any imbalances in either of us will create pressures which affect the nature of our officials' responses to each other.
When we bear in mind the subtle interactions each of our officials have with those of the people we meet, it is surprising how well we usually handle our complex relationships with other people.
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