Within and Without
When I first learned the Fusion of the Five Elements, it was a way to soften the hard edges of personality. It helped me balance my go-go-go nature of the Wood Element with the stay at home, rest and relaxation yin aspects of the Metal and Water Element. This is important, not just for one’s emotional health, but also for physical health. Too much Wood energy from the liver and gallbladder fires up the heart and can wear out the adrenals and thus the kidneys.
Going back to the title of this post, one finds that balancing the five elements within can cause the five elements without to be more balanced. For instance, if we have chaos happening inside of us, it’s likely we will create, find, and resonate with chaos without us unintentionally. If we say we want peace in our lives or in the world, the best place to start is to find and create peace within ourselves. What habits do we have that drag us into chaos, restlessness, or drama?
Further, the Taoist practice of the Fusion of the Five Elements goes up another ‘octave’ beyond the human level. Day to day, nature may seem chaotic, but in the big picture, nature is in balance. The sun and moon move in perfect precision. The seasons follow each other in a predictable pattern. The solstices and equinoxes mark out their journey with precision over tens of thousands of years. Nature’s long-term harmony is what the Taoists want to resonate with—and what they hard wire into with the Fusion of the Five Elements practice.
Learn more in: The Alchemist’s Tao Te Ching: Transforming Your Lead Into Gold