My readers know I like to use my interest in famous people as an excellent way of adding to my knowledge of the elements. So over the years I have spent much time watching TV as a way of doing this. One of the reasons is that famous figures show themselves in the merciless light of public scrutiny, and the high level of stress they are under reveals their elements more clearly. Watching Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal fighting to win a match, for example, became for me an excellent way of seeing Water (Federer) or Wood (Nadal).
Of course, since none of the famous people I have written about are my patients, for if they were I could not write about them for reasons of patient confidentiality, I have no way of confirming whether my diagnosis of their elements is correct or not. But at least my choices demonstrate some of the aspects of an element which lead me to a diagnosis. Sometimes, of course, I may later change my diagnosis because somebody has shown some characteristic of a different element.
So here goes with my latest attempt at diagnosing two elements and their relationship to one another which are very much in the public eye at the moment. These are the two elements, Wood and Fire. Watching how Donald Trump (Wood, I think) and Kamala Harris (Fire, I think) are dealing with each other makes for a surprisingly interesting lesson in the interaction of their two elements. We have endlessly-smiling Kamala Harris confronting a very disgruntled Donald Trump who clearly doesn’t know how to deal with an opponent who is not frightened of him. To support my diagnosis, I read the following in today’s Guardian newspaper: “Trump has only grown more infuriated as his poll lead evaporated as Harris opened up a clear, if narrow, lead. Her tactic of mocking Trump more than arguing with him appears to have incensed him further.” He is angry because she finds him laughable, and quite openly laughs at him. It is interesting, too, to see that when he is not talking he looks very angry, with glaring eyes, tightly closed lips and rigid neck muscles.
I also use watching Kamala Harris as a further lesson in observing the difference between the two aspects of Fire, which I have called Inner and Outer Fire. Inner Fire describes the Heart and the Small Intestine officials, Outer Fire the Three Heater and the Heart Protector (Pericardium). These are two quite distinct aspects of the Fire element, distinct enough for me once to have asked JR Worsley whether there were six rather than five elements. I like to think that he nodded, but that may have just been my imagination.
The two Fire aspects have the same sensory signatures: a scorched smell, red colour and of course the laughing voice and joy which so seem to disturb Trump. The way they present themselves, though, is very different. I think Kamala Harris is Outer Fire, which is by far the easier of the two Fire aspects to be with. She exudes the comforting warmth of the Three Heater. Inner Fire, by contrast, is a much more prickly manifestation of Fire. It houses the most important official of all, the Heart, and its yang official, the Small Intestine, has to be constantly alert for anything that may hurt the Heart. This watchfulness makes for a much less easy person to be with. I see none of this Inner Fire aspect in Kamala Harris, nor do I hear the hesitancy in her voice, characteristic of Inner Fire, as it tries to sort its thoughts out. She is very articulate, speaking so easily and smoothly.
If either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris were my patients, I ask myself how I would treat them. Since Fire is my own element, it might seem that I would find it easier to treat Kamala Harris, but that is often not the case when treating a patient of your own element. And I think she is Outer rather than Inner Fire, which I am, so there might be some slight tension there for me to deal with. Treating a patient of one’s own element can seem to be deceptively simple, but often is not, because with Fire patients I have to hold myself back from being irritated by those aspects in my patients which I find irritating in myself!
Treating Trump, on the other hand, would require of me some of the light-heartedness Kamala Harris is showing towards him and quite obviously annoying him. His Wood element seems very out of balance, as shown by his bouts of irrational anger, and I would need to be firmly in control in the practice room, laying down clear boundaries. Perhaps by laughing, this is Kamala Harris’s way of laying down her boundaries, and doing so very effectively.
Some people may think that I should not be trying to diagnose people from afar, but on the principle that a cat may look at a king, I think I have a right to do so, as this teaches me something new about the elements.
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