Traces of history: “the Elements” 11th Junior High School of Ilion Thoughout history, intellectual efforts are directed towards the discovery of pattern, system and structure, with a special emphasis on order. Why? control of the unpredictable, fear of the unknown, and a person who seeks to understand and discover is called a scientist. Science is founded on the hope that the world is rational in all its observable aspects. Its possible that there may be some facets of reality which lie beyond the power of human reasoning, that there may be things with explanations that we could never grasp, or no explanation at all, but the fact that the world is rational is connected with the fact that it is ordered. The earliest beginnings of science was to note that there exist patterns of cause and effect that are manifestations of the Universe's rational order. We mostly develop this idea as small children (touch hot stove = burn/pain). But the extrapolation of a rational order to cosmology requires a leap of faith in the beginning years of science, later supported by observation and experimentation. Thus, the main purpose of science is to trace, within the chaos and flux of phenomena, a consistent structure with order and meaning. This is called the philosophy of rationalism. The purpose of scientific understanding is to coordinate our experiences and bring them into a logical system. Science, it is widely agreed, originated from two main sources. ● One was the need to develop practical knowledge and to pass it from generation to generation. ● The other ● was a more spiritual concern with the nature and origin of the world. Common to both of these well-springs of science was an appreciation of the regularity of Nature. One of the first scientists to make frequent use of the concept of a law of Nature, in the sense that we now use that term, was the Franciscan friar and scholar Roger Bacon (c. 1214-1292). He helped to prepare the way for those who, irrespective of their own religious beliefs, insisted that the scientific investigation of Nature should be rooted in experiment and conducted on a purely rational basis, without reference to dogmatic authority. Laws of Nature are now a central part of science. Carefully defined concepts, often expressed in mathematical terms, are related by natural laws which are themselves often expressed in a mathematical form. Many philosophies and traditions around the world believe in similar elements. They tend to focus on about five specific ones. Let’s have a look at the five elements in Chinese, Japanese, Buddhist, Greek, Babylonian, and European (medieval) alchemy. ANCIENT GREECE 1. air 2. water 3. fire More 4. earth 1. here 5. aether BABYLONIAN 1. wind 2. fire 3. earth 4. sea 5. sky Hindu and Buddhist Akasha is the equivalent to Aristotle's aether, in the Greek tradition. While Hinduism traditionally recognizes five elements, Buddhism typically only the first four "great" or "gross" elements. Although the names are different, the first four elements roughly translate as being air, fire, water, and earth. 1. Vayu (wind or air) (Akasha is the equivalent to Aristotle's aether, 2. Ap (water) in the Greek tradition. While Hinduism traditionally recognizes five elements, 3. Agni (fire) Buddhism typically only the first four "great" or 4. Prithvi (earth) "gross" elements. Although the names are different, the first four elements roughly 5. Akasha translate as being air, fire, water, and earth.) Tibetan 5 Elements (Bon) 1. air 2. water 3. earth 4. fire 5. aether Medieval Alchemy The number of traditional elements in medieval alchemy varies from 4, 5, or 8. The first four are always found. The fifth, aether, is important in some traditions. Sulfur, mercury, and salt are classical elements. 1. air 2. fire 3. water 4. earth 5. aether 6. sulfur 7. mercury 8. salt JAPANESE -GODAI 1. air 2. water 3. earth 4. fire 5. void CHINA-WU XING 1. wood 2. water 3. earth 4. fire 5. metal CHINA https://guildfolkvangr.fandom.com/wiki/The_Theory_of_Five_Elements Zhou Dunyi (1017–1073) was a Chinese philosopher, cosmologist, and writer during the Song Dynasty. He conceptualized the Neo-Confucian cosmology of the day, explaining the relationship between human conduct and universal forces. In this way, he emphasizes that humans can master their qi ("vital life energy") in order to accord with nature. He was a major influence on Zhu Xi, who was the architect of Neo-Confucianism. Zhou Dunyi was mainly concerned with Taiji (supreme polarity) and Wuji (limitless potential), the yin and yang, and the wu xing (the five phases). He is also venerated and credited in Taoism as the first philosopher to popularize the concept of the taijitu or "yin-yang symbol" The Taiji Tushuo (太極圖說, Explanations of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate or Diagram Explaining the Supreme Ultimate) was placed at the head of the neo-Confucian anthology Jinsilu (Reflections on Things at Hand) by Zhu Xi and Lü Zuqian in 1175. He fused Confucian ethics and concepts from the Book of Changes (I Ching) with Daoist naturalism. He developed a metaphysics based on the idea that "the many are ultimately one and the one is ultimate." This was the first 11th-century Chinese text to argue for the inseparability of metaphysics or cosmology and ethics, as well as the first major Chinese text to explore the concept of the taijitu or "yin-yang symbol". The book of changes contained his theory of creation, which can be summarized in the following paraphrase of its first section: "In the beginning, there was t'ai chi (taiji) (the great ultimate of being), which was fundamentally identical with wu chi (wuji) (the ultimate of non-being). Because of the abundance of energy within t'ai chi, it began to move and thus produced the yang (the positive cosmic force). When the activity of the yang reached its limit, it reverted to tranquility. Through tranquility the yin (the negative cosmic force) was generated. When tranquility reached its limit, it returned to movement (yang). Thus yin and yang generated each other. Then, through the union of the yin and the yang the transformation of both, the five agents (or elements) of metal, wood, water, fire and earth were brought into being. These five agents are conceived of as material principles rather than as concrete things. They can therefore be considered the common basis of all things. The interaction of the yin and yang through different combinations of the five agents generates all things in a process of endless transformation." Zhou Dunyi postulated that human beings receive all these qualities and forces in their higher excellence and, hence, are the most intelligent of all creatures. He also believed that the five agents corresponded directly to the five moral principles of ren (humanity), yi (righteousness), li (propriety), zhi (wisdom), and xin (faithfulness). The definitions of Fu Xi: ● the Limitless (Wuji) produces the delimited and this is the Absolute (Taiji) ● the Absolute (Taiji) produces two forms, named Yin and Yang ● the two forms Yin and Yang produce four phenomena, named Lesser Yang, Great Yang (Tai Yang - also means the Sun), Lesser Yin, Great Yin (Tai Yin - also means the Moon) ● the four phenomena act on the eight trigrams (Pa Kua), eight eights are sixty-four hexagrams. This is the basic Theory of the Ultimate (the origin of all things and creatures), giving rise to the eight diagrams. The two forms Yin and Yang are two complementary and contradictory forces of any phenomena in our universe, the principle of opposite polarity and duality. Yin is described with two short lines — — Yang is described as one continuous line — According to Fu Xi, the four elements are Metal, Wood, Water and Fire, which are omnipresent. The Eight Trigrams symbolize the eight natural phenomena: Heaven, Earth, Thunder, Wind, Water, Fire, Mountain and River (Lake, Marsh). More here Yin Qi and Yang Qi give birth to the Five Elements, whose various combinations produce the Ten-Thousand-Things. In the Theory of the Five Elements - Wu Xing (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: wǔxíng), also named the Five Phases, the Five Movements, the Five Processes and the Five Steps or Stages, often shortened to Five Elements, is the concept in Chinese philosophy conceiving the world as dynamic states or phases of constant change. The basic substances of the material world according to the Theory of the Five Elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. This order of presentation is known as the "mutual generation" (相生) sequence. The Five Elements come from ancient trigrams: ● Wood - corresponds with the trigrams of Wind and Thunder ● Fire corresponds with the trigram of Fire ● Earth - corresponds with both the trigrams of Earth and Mountain ● Metal corresponds with the trigrams of Heaven and Lake (River, Marsh) ● Water corresponds with the trigram of Water The 5 ELEMENTS and the HUMAN BEINGS The operation of the Five Elements can be seen within the human body, within an ecosystem, or within any other living system. When the elements of a system are in balance, the cycles of generation and control function to both nourish and contain one another. When the elements are out of balance, they "overact" on and/or "insult" one another. The “use” of the 5 elements Sources 1. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uVgIZmM_ovhAhAkBnPFTdhrh58wxY-fJTikPR2-_tn0/edit?usp=sharing 2. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uYexTcJJ2k2Kdjn-Uzfha-tDtDJaiwqmJ3iOGdxmHZU/edit?usp=sharing 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element#Cosmic_elements_in_Babylonia 4. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-are-the-5-traditional-elements-607743 5. https://www.thoughtco.com/physics-of-the-greeks-2699229 6.