More on the four Fire officials

I coined the terms Inner and Outer Fire to differentiate the two sides of the Fire element, the only element which has four officials, two yin and two yang.  What I call Outer Fire relates to the Three Heater and Heart Protector officials, and Inner Fire to the Small Intestine and the Heart officials.

 

I remember saying to JR Worsley that I thought it was almost as if there were six elements, two within Fire, rather than just the five, because of how the Heart and Small Intestine aspect of the Fire element were somehow treated quite differently from the Heart Protector and Three Heater.  I remember, too, that JR gave a slight nod when I said this.  This is why I coined the terms Inner and Outer Fire to differentiate these two aspects.

 

So in some senses Inner Fire, where the Heart, known as the Supreme Controller, resides, is always treated somewhat differently from the other elements, even from its sister Fire aspect, Outer Fire.  This is because in some traditions the Heart is viewed as a sacred official, one which lies outside or above the ranks of the other eleven.  The Small Intestine, its close yang companion, therefore has to bear more responsibility than any other of the yang officials belonging to the other four elements.  It is also possibly why I personally never heard JR Worsley diagnose any patient as having the Heart official as their dominant official, although I heard him diagnose what must have been many, many patients as having the Small Intestine as this official.  

 

My own explanation for this lies in the very significance of the Heart, and its supreme position as the Lord (or Lady) of all that he or she surveys.  If this official were to weaken, and weakness as well as strength are potentially the characteristics of a guardian official, then the whole kingdom of body, mind and spirit ruled over by the Heart would be endangered.  This is not true of any weakness in any of the other 11 officials, and might help explain why I never witnessed JR Worsley diagnosing anybody as having the Heart as their dominant official within Inner fire, although, for all I know, others may have.