TCM
The Five Elements and Our Internal System
In nature, there are the five vital elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. They have very interesting inter-relationships with each other. They rely on each other to coexist through mutual promotion and control. This is the laws of nature: the systems for indefinite rejuvenation.
The Cycle of Mutual Promotion of the 5 Elements:
water promotes wood;
wood promotes fire;
fire promotes earth (when burning down wood);
earth promotes metal (when burying wood);
metal promotes water (when melted by fire).
The Cycle of Mutual Control of the 5 Elements:
water controls fire but controlled by earth;
wood controls earth but controlled by metal;
fire controls metal but controlled by water;
earth controls water but controlled by wood.
metal controls wood but controlled by fire.
The 5 Elements are similar to our 5 Vital Organs:
kidney same as water = nourishing, flowing downward.
liver same as wood = growing, unfolding;heart same as fire = warming, flaring up;
spleen same as earth = receiving, transforming, generating;
lung same as metal = purifying, descending;
Mutual Promotion of the 5 Vital Organs:
kidney (water) promotes liver (wood).
liver (wood) promotes heart (fire).
heart (fire) promotes spleen (earth).
spleen (earth) promotes lung (metal).
lung (metal) promotes kidney (water).
Mutual Control of the Five Vital Organs:
Kidney (water) controls heart (fire) but controlled by spleen (earth).
Liver (wood) controls spleen (earth) but controlled by lung (metal).
Heart (fire) controls lung (metal) but controlled by kidney (water).
Spleen (earth) controls kidney (water) but controlled by liver (wood).
Lung (metal) controls liver (wood) but controlled by heart (fire).
By applying the laws of nature to our body system, Chinese medicine can interpret the symptoms and determine the causes of our health problems. When one organ fails, the symptoms usually show up in another. For example, when the lung energy is weak, the liver energy becomes out of control and develops into headaches or high blood pressure. In this case, treating the lungs is necessary in curing liver-related symptoms of headaches.