I love it when I get a sudden new insight into an element, or, as happened recently, into the relationship of two elements to each other. I use myself as the source of many of these revelations, and have always done so. I’m not sure how far other practitioners look to themselves in quite so studied a manner as I do. It may, after all, be one of the characteristics of Inner Fire that, in trying to sort out its encounters with the world, it is constantly querying its own reactions to what is going on around it, as I always do. It may well be that other elements are not so intent on looking inwards to discover an explanation for their relationships to other elements. I just know that everything I am aware of has to be filtered carefully through my own interpretations of the significance of what I am experiencing.
One of these acts of filtration occurred whilst I was planning future work with our Chinese students. Much of my current teaching in China is now done with my good friend and former student, Guy Caplan. Together we have developed many quite innovative ways of helping our Chinese students learn as much as they can in an environment where they only have few opportunities to learn in person from experienced five element acupuncturists, as Guy and I had the fortune to do over many years. To help our students overcome this handicap we have developed many creative approaches. What has, of course, also contributed to our success in doing this is the fact that much of the groundwork has already been laid for us because of what each Chinese student absorbs from birth as part of their cultural inheritance.
Their understanding of the elements, for example, is so ingrained in them that I have no need to go through the often laborious procedures with which I try, sometimes unsuccessfully, to help English students to an understanding, not only of the existence of the elements as a philosophical concept, but of their practical and visible presence in each one of us. Often I have been asked, “But are you sure that there are qualities called elements which we can feel, see, smell or hear?” Some of my English students could not make the initial leap of faith necessary to allow them to accept the existence of the elements. I myself never needed to convince myself of the truth of what I was learning because the startling effects of my first acupuncture treatment had confirmed to me that five element acupuncture did indeed base itself on a truth about human nature.
In China, the elements are symbolic qualities which define all life and determine human behaviour as much as they dictate the cycling of the year from season to season. Chinese students are therefore already well on the way to an understanding of the basic principles of five element acupuncture. This is a blessing when we consider that all we can offer them are the few weeks of our twice-yearly seminars. It is therefore very encouraging that in the 12 or more years of these visits, they have developed so rapidly in their understanding of five element practice that a large group of them is now running their own introductory seminars all around China in preparation for our visits.
They will therefore be pleased to discover that I have made a further step in my understanding of the two elements which Guy and I represent. I always like to make us living examples of our elements so that they can, if they are attentive enough, gain a deep personal insight into those we display so clearly in front of them as we teach. These are the Metal element, which is Guy’s, and the Fire element, which is mine, and specifically both the yang officials of these elements, Guy’s the Large Intestine and mine the Small Intestine, the yang of Inner Fire.
I think it is no coincidence that these two officials are so tightly linked together by name, which represents not only their close physical relationship in the human body, but their much deeper emotional relationship. When I realised this, which I did only recently, it made me smile, because it helped explain why the two of us have worked together so closely and so harmoniously over many years. The physical link, where the Small Intestine joins the Large Intestine, is reflected in the deeper mental and emotional associations. So I set myself to work out exactly what this close relationship told me about the nature of both elements, and particularly of their yang officials, and how they interact with one another. Here then is what I consider to be one of my most significant findings.
We are both extremely sensitive to those aspects of our relationship which our close association over the years has taught us might well be areas of tension or disagreement between us. I can only look at those which I have personally had to deal with, leaving it to Guy to explain his side of things if he chooses to do so at some point. I know what he finds disconcerting is my, to him, disturbing habit of suddenly confronting him with having to deal with what is often a series of new ideas which I have come up with in the most fertile time of my day, which is the early morning. It is then that all sorts of new ideas crowd my mind, and I am eager to discuss them with him when we next meet. Guy, on the other hand, quite understandably needs time to absorb these new ideas, whereas I have learnt that my mind is quite able to dart from idea to idea quite easily. Having seen the strain this puts on our relationship, by observing the somewhat startled look on his face as I launch into what I want to tell him, I have learnt to interpret this as a sign that I must hold back and give him time to absorb each new project of mine at his own speed and definitely one at a time.
I see Guy’s reaction as an expression of his Metal element, and specifically his Large Intestine, which is the Metal official in control of expelling what it feels it needs to discard. It needs longer than I do to assess new ideas to give it time to decide which it thinks should be kept and which should be rejected. I used to want him to match my multi-dimensional thought processes, whereas what he needs is the time to work out his response to my ideas one at a time. This has made me see that one of the Metal element’s qualities is that it needs to work on what is there, on what it is presented with, rather than what it itself initiates. In our relationship, it is I who tend to initiate, and Guy who tends to work upon the ideas I present him with In our work together over the years, I now recognise that it has been my task to initiate new approaches to teaching five element acupuncture, and it has been Guy’s to work upon what I have initiated, by modifying it or also quite firmly setting aside what he does not consider to be useful. By contrast, I am much more concerned with formulating new ideas, but often forget to work out the implications and ramification of what I have formulated. It is precisely at that point that Guy comes into his own, often with his Metal sword cutting my suggestions down to size or completely rejecting them.
I also need to remind myself of the place in the cycle of elements taken up by Metal and Fire, because this reflects the focus of their activities, and helps add to my explanation of how well Guy and I work together. Although the elements create a never-ending cycle, without an actual starting- or end-point, we like to think of it as beginning with Wood, as a reflection of spring in the cycle of the seasons in nature, followed by Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. There is a logic to this, because in nature the buds which Wood displays start the cycle of activity ending in autumn. Each element in this cycle represents a particular aspect of every activity, just as much of a thought as of a season. My Fire builds on Wood’s energy as it emerges from Water’s slumbering seeds bringing the cycle to full blossom, as nature shows in the blaze of a summer’s day, before passing this on to Earth to bring to full fruition. Earth than hands over to Metal to draw meaning and value from all this activity, as autumn draws nature down towards the yin of the year. I see Guy’s and my relationship in similar terms.
