The Four Classical Elements Gnostic Muse the Four Classical Elements: Air, Fire, Water, Earth
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Akasha (Space) and Shabda (Sound): Vedic and Acoustical Perspectives
1 Akasha (Space) and Shabda (Sound): Vedic and Acoustical perspectives M.G. Prasad Department of Mechanical Engineering Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, New Jersey [email protected] Abstract A sequential ordering of five elements on their decreasing subtlety, namely space, air fire, water and earth is stated by Narayanopanishat in Atharva Veda. This statement is examined from an acoustical point of view. The space as an element (bhuta) is qualified by sound as its descriptor (tanmatra). The relation between space and sound and their subtle nature in reference to senses of perception will be presented. The placement of space as the first element and sound as its only property will be discussed in a scientific perspective. Introduction The five elements and their properties are referred to in various places in the Vedic literature. An element is the substance (dravya) which has an associated property (of qualities) termed as guna. The substance-property (or dravya- guna) relationship is very important in dealing with human perception and its nature through the five senses. Several Upanishads and the darshana shastras have dealt with the topic of substance-property (see list of references at the end). The sequential ordering of the five elements is a fundamental issue when dealing with the role of five elements and their properties in the cosmological evolution of the universe. At the same time the order of the properties of elements is also fundamental issue when dealing with the perception of elements is also a through five senses. This paper focuses attention on the element-property (or dravya-guna) relation in reference to space as the element and sound as its property. -
Yin-Yang, the Five Phases (Wu-Xing), and the Yijing 陰陽 / 五行 / 易經
Yin-yang, the Five Phases (wu-xing), and the Yijing 陰陽 / 五行 / 易經 In the Yijing, yang is represented by a solid line ( ) and yin by a broken line ( ); these are called the "Two Modes" (liang yi 兩義). The figure above depicts the yin-yang cycle mapped as a day. This can be divided into four stages, each corresponding to one of the "Four Images" (si xiang 四象) of the Yijing: 1. young yang (in this case midnight to 6 a.m.): unchanging yang 2. mature yang (6 a.m. to noon): changing yang 3. young yin (noon to 6 p.m.): unchanging yin 4. mature yin (6 p.m. to midnight): changing yin These four stages of changes in turn correspond to four of the Five Phases (wu xing), with the fifth one (earth) corresponding to the perfect balance of yin and yang: | yang | yin | | fire | water | Mature| |earth | | | wood | metal | Young | | | Combining the above two patterns yields the "generating cycle" (below left) of the Five Phases: Combining yin and yang in three-line diagrams yields the "Eight Trigrams" (ba gua 八卦) of the Yijing: Qian Dui Li Zhen Sun Kan Gen Kun (Heaven) (Lake) (Fire) (Thunder) (Wind) (Water) (Mountain) (Earth) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Eight Trigrams can also be mapped against the yin-yang cycle, represented below as the famous Taiji (Supreme Polarity) Diagram (taijitu 太極圖): This also reflects a binary numbering system. If the solid (yang) line is assigned the value of 0 and the broken (yin) line is 1, the Eight Trigram can be arranged to represent the numbers 0 through 7. -
The Paracelsians and the Chemists: the Chemical Dilemma in Renaissance Medicine
Clio Medica, Vol7, No.3, pp. 185-199, 1972 The Paracelsians and the Chemists: the Chemical Dilemma in Renaissance Medicine ALLEN G. DEBUS* Accounts of Renaissance iatrochemistry have traditionally emphasized the con flict over the introduction of chemically prepared medicines. The importance of this cannot be denied, but the texts of the period indicate that this formed only part of a broader debate involving the relationship of chemistry to medicine - and indeed, to nature as a whole. The Paracelsian chemists argued forcefully that much - if not all - of the fabric of ancient medicine should be scrapped, and that a new medicine based on a chemical philosophy of the universe should be offered in its place. For them a proper understanding of the macrocosm and the microcosm would indicate to the true physician the correct cures for diseases. Others - who spoke with no less conviction of the benefits of chemistry for medicine - disagreed with the Paracelsians over the application of chemistry to cosmological problems. For these chemists the introduction of the new remedies and the Paracelsian principles were useful and necessary for the physician, but they were properly to be used along with the traditional Aristotelian-Galenic conceptual scheme. The purpose of the present paper is to give some indication of the deep divisions that separated chemical physicians from each other in this crucial period. By way of background it should be noted that most chemical physicians of the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries did not consider their work to be entirely new. They openly drew upon the writings of Islamic physicians and alchemists as well as a host of Latin scholars of the Middle Ages who had turned to chemical operations as a basic tool for the preparation of medicines. -
Possession and Deployment of Nuclear Weapons in South Asia an Assessment of Some Risks
Special articles Possession and Deployment of Nuclear Weapons in South Asia An Assessment of Some Risks This paper examines some of operational requirements and the dangers that come with the possibility that in the foreseeable future India and Pakistan may deploy their nuclear arsenals. The authors first describe the analytical basis for the inevitability of accidents in complex high-technology systems. Then they turn to potential failures of nuclear command and control and early warning systems as examples. They go on to discuss the possibility and consequences of accidental explosions involving nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. Finally some measures to reduce these risks are suggested. R RAJARAMAN, M V RAMANA, ZIA MIAN s citizens of nuclear armed states, ing periods of crises. Bruce Riedel, for- (DND) released by the National Security the people of India and Pakistan merly the Senior Director for Near East Advisory Board.4 It states that “India Amust confront the risks that go and South Asian Affairs at the US National shall pursue a doctrine of credible with possessing nuclear weapons. There Security Council, has disclosed that the minimum nuclear deterrence” and that is some public awareness of the holocaust “Pakistanis were preparing their nuclear this in turn requires that India maintain: that results when nuclear bombs are used arsenals for possible deployment” during (a) sufficient, survivable and operationally in warfare, a legacy of the ghastly attacks the 1999 Kargil crisis.1 Similarly, Raj prepared nuclear forces, (b) a robust com- by the US on the Japanese cities of Chengappa, a senior journalist with India mand and control system, (c) effective Hiroshima and Nagasaki over five decades Today with access to defence personnel, intelligence and early warning capabili- ago. -
Ge Hong's Master Who Embraces Simplicity (Baopuzi). In: Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident
Michael Puett Humans, Spirits, and Sages in Chinese Late Antiquity : Ge Hong's Master Who Embraces Simplicity (Baopuzi). In: Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident. 2007, N°29, pp. 95-119. Abstract This paper attempts to answer the questions : What was Ge Hong trying to do when he wrote the Baopuzi ? What were his arguments ? And why, within the context of the time, were these arguments significant ? In answering these questions, the essay claims that there is a unified set of ideas concerning humans, sages, and the spirit world in the Baopuzi. Moreover, it is a set of ideas that underlies both the inner and outer portions of the text. Michael Puett m^nMMtanammm.mi «##»*, «KHira, «h»a. mxu Résumé Hommes, esprits et sages dans l'Antiquité tardive : Le Maître qui embrasse la simplicité (Baopuzi) de Ge Hong Le présent article s'efforce de répondre à la question de savoir quelle pouvait être la visée de Ge Hong lorsqu'il composa le Baopuzi. Quelles idées y a-t-il avancées et comment les a-t-il défendues ? Enfin, qu'est- ce qui à la lumière de son époque donne à ses arguments un tour si particulier ? Nous soutenons dans ces pages qu'il y a une réelle cohérence argumentative et une vision d'ensemble dans le discours de Ge Hong sur les humains, les sages et les esprits. Cette ensemble d'idées innerve aussi bien les chapitres intérieurs qu'extérieurs de l'ouvrage. Citer ce document / Cite this document : Puett Michael. Humans, Spirits, and Sages in Chinese Late Antiquity : Ge Hong's Master Who Embraces Simplicity (Baopuzi). -
Magic, Mysticism, and Modern Medicine: the Influence of Alchemy on Seventeenth-Century England
Illinois Wesleyan University Digital Commons @ IWU Honors Projects History Department 4-2004 Magic, Mysticism, and Modern Medicine: The Influence of Alchemy on Seventeenth-Century England Lindsay Fitzharris '04 Illinois Wesleyan University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/history_honproj Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Fitzharris '04, Lindsay, "Magic, Mysticism, and Modern Medicine: The Influence of Alchemy on Seventeenth-Century England" (2004). Honors Projects. 16. https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/history_honproj/16 This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Commons @ IWU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this material in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This material has been accepted for inclusion by faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ©Copyright is owned by the author of this document. • ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY MAGIC, MYSTICISM, AND MODERN MEDICINE: THE INFLUENCE OF ALCHEMY ON SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND A THESIS PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY IN CANDIDACY FOR AN HONORS BACHELORS OF ARTS DEGREE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BY LINDSAY A. FITZHARRIS BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS APRIL 2004 • [T]he historian of science can not devote much attention to the study of superstition and magic, that is, of unreason, because this does not help him very much to understand human progress. -
The Philosophers' Stone: Alchemical Imagination and the Soul's Logical
Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 2014 The hiP losophers' Stone: Alchemical Imagination and the Soul's Logical Life Stanton Marlan Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Marlan, S. (2014). The hiP losophers' Stone: Alchemical Imagination and the Soul's Logical Life (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/874 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE PHILOSOPHERS’ STONE: ALCHEMICAL IMAGINATION AND THE SOUL’S LOGICAL LIFE A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Stanton Marlan December 2014 Copyright by Stanton Marlan 2014 THE PHILOSOPHERS’ STONE: ALCHEMICAL IMAGINATION AND THE SOUL’S LOGICAL LIFE By Stanton Marlan Approved November 20, 2014 ________________________________ ________________________________ Tom Rockmore, Ph.D. James Swindal, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy Emeritus (Committee Member) (Committee Chair) ________________________________ Edward Casey, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ James Swindal, Ph.D. Ronald Polansky, Ph.D. Dean, The McAnulty College and Chair, Department of Philosophy Graduate School of Liberal Arts Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy iii ABSTRACT THE PHILOSOPHERS’ STONE: ALCHEMICAL IMAGINATION AND THE SOUL’S LOGICAL LIFE By Stanton Marlan December 2014 Dissertation supervised by Tom Rockmore, Ph.D. -
Volatility and the Alchemy of Risk
Volatility and the Alchemy of Risk Reflexivity in the Shadows of Black Monday 1987 Christopher Cole The Ouroboros, a Greek word meaning ‘tail debt expansion, asset volatility, and financial Artemis Capital Managment devourer’, is the ancient symbol of a snake engineering that allocates risk based on that consuming its own body in perfect symmetry. volatility. In this self-reflexive loop volatility The imagery of the Ouroboros evokes the can reinforce itself both lower and higher. In infinite nature of creation from destruction. The a market where stocks and bonds are both sign appears across cultures and is an important overvalued, financial alchemy is the only way to icon in the esoteric tradition of Alchemy. feed our global hunger for yield, until it kills the Egyptian mystics first derived the symbol very system it is nourishing. from a real phenomenon in nature. In extreme The Global Short Volatility trade now heat a snake, unable to self-regulate its body represents an estimated $2+ trillion in financial temperature, will experience an out-of-control engineering strategies that simultaneously exert spike in its metabolism. In a state of mania, the influence over, and are influenced by, stock snake is unable to differentiate its own tail from market volatility.2 We broadly define the short its prey, and will attack itself, self-cannibalizing volatility trade as any financial strategy that until it perishes. In nature and markets, when relies on the assumption of market stability to randomness self-organizes into too perfect generate returns, while using volatility itself symmetry, order becomes the source of chaos.1 as an input for risk taking. -
The Capabilities and Potential Effectiveness of India's Prithvi Missile Z
Science& Global Security, 1998,Volume 7, pp. 333-360 @ 1998 OPA (OverseasPublishers Association) N.V. Reprints available directly from the publisher Published by license under Photocopyingpermitted by license only the Gordon and Breach Publishersimprint. Printed in India Bringing Prithvi Down to Earth: The Capabilities and Potential Effectiveness of India's Prithvi Missile z. MianO, A.H. Nayyarb and M. V. Ramanac - Prelude: The following paper was written prior to Pakistan's test of the Ghauri missile in April 1998 and also India and Pakistan's May 1998 nuclear weapon tests. In recent years, the development, testing and ambiguous deployment status of India's short range Prithvi missile has caused great concern in Pakistan, and accelerated the missile race in South Asia. This paper summarizes the open literature descriptions of Prithvi and assessesthe military effectiveness of Prithvi if it is used with conventional warheads in attacks on Pakistani airfields, command centers, and radar installations. It is shown that the current accuracy of Prithvi is such that a very large number of missiles would be needed to damage or destroy such targets. Given India's large air force, the small number of Prithvi missiles that have been ordered by India's armed forces, and the much larger number of missiles required to pose a significant additional military threat to Pakistan, the justification for Prithvi is obviously open to question. It is suggested that the induction of Prithvi with its present limited capabilities may be largely a result of institutional pressure from India's Defense Research and Develop- ment Organization, which is responsible for the missile program, rather than demand from the armed forces. -
An Analytical and Comparative Study of Indian and Chinese Cosmologies
AN ANALYTICAL AND COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INDIAN AND CHINESE COSMOLOGIES S. MAHDIHASSAN* ABSTRACT To understand Chinese Cosmology in terms of the Indian system we have to look upon Cninese elements as symbols of the qualities they incorporate. The elements rearranged with the corresponding qualities would be : As elements: Fire. Water, Metal, Earth and Wood. As quali- ties: Hot, Cold, Dry, Moist, and Wind. Nothing can be drier than a metal hence dryness is symbolized as Metal. Subsoil is invariabry moist, hence moisture is symbolized as Earth. Wood is fresh - wood, like a cutting which transplants another life- form. It is potential life, like an egg, or better still here cosmic egg, the source of all creation. Its content is wind, like pneuma in Greek philosophy. Life-breath, the source of cosmic move- ment, cosmic existence, in fact cosmic soul. Life-energy is creative energy and Akasha as container would have cosmic soul as content. This makes wind (as cosmic) = Akasha, 1. A problem in comparative cosmology: By cosmology is understood a system of interpreting the universe III terms of few irreducible factors called Cosmic elements. Now \\ hatever exists in the universe can be either a form of matter, like star, stone and plant, or a form of energy, like heat and light. Further we must recognize entities as being independent of others, like stone as matter and heat as energy. Then what is merely relative, like heat and cold, these would be one and same entity, which concentrated would be called heat and reduced would be felt as cold. Thirdly there would be hypothetical entities logically justifiable but not knowable. -
Early Greek Alchemy, Patronage and Innovation in Late Antiquity CALIFORNIA CLASSICAL STUDIES
Early Greek Alchemy, Patronage and Innovation in Late Antiquity CALIFORNIA CLASSICAL STUDIES NUMBER 7 Editorial Board Chair: Donald Mastronarde Editorial Board: Alessandro Barchiesi, Todd Hickey, Emily Mackil, Richard Martin, Robert Morstein-Marx, J. Theodore Peña, Kim Shelton California Classical Studies publishes peer-reviewed long-form scholarship with online open access and print-on-demand availability. The primary aim of the series is to disseminate basic research (editing and analysis of primary materials both textual and physical), data-heavy re- search, and highly specialized research of the kind that is either hard to place with the leading publishers in Classics or extremely expensive for libraries and individuals when produced by a leading academic publisher. In addition to promoting archaeological publications, papyrolog- ical and epigraphic studies, technical textual studies, and the like, the series will also produce selected titles of a more general profile. The startup phase of this project (2013–2017) was supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Also in the series: Number 1: Leslie Kurke, The Traffic in Praise: Pindar and the Poetics of Social Economy, 2013 Number 2: Edward Courtney, A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal, 2013 Number 3: Mark Griffith, Greek Satyr Play: Five Studies, 2015 Number 4: Mirjam Kotwick, Alexander of Aphrodisias and the Text of Aristotle’s Meta- physics, 2016 Number 5: Joey Williams, The Archaeology of Roman Surveillance in the Central Alentejo, Portugal, 2017 Number 6: Donald J. Mastronarde, Preliminary Studies on the Scholia to Euripides, 2017 Early Greek Alchemy, Patronage and Innovation in Late Antiquity Olivier Dufault CALIFORNIA CLASSICAL STUDIES Berkeley, California © 2019 by Olivier Dufault. -
Zoroaster and the Theory of Four Elements
Bull. Hist. Chem., VOLUME 25, Number 2 (2000) 109 ZOROASTER AND THE THEORY OF FOUR ELEMENTS th bh, v Unvrt Intrdtn trl, nd n thr tp. vr, h dvtd nl t p t th rlr rn phlphr h npt f fr lnt: r, tr, rth, nd fr, rtr nd h rln. t rprnl, prhp, th thht t hv t rn th th Gr phlphr d f fr "rd" lnt bnt. Epdl bt 440 .C., hld fr n nt A tpl rnt r. Arttl (8422 .C. prntd fll (. ddd t th npt tht th Ardn t Arttl, th prprt f btn r IE b f th trl rld th rlt f th ltn prn f rtn fndn pr ttr, hh hd nl ptntl xt tl prprt. h Arttln t r n ntl prd b dtrn thrfr n "fr." fr h dd nt rnd nt th ht drn n hp nl, bt ll ht ll lnt bt AI EA tht nfrrd pn bd th n btrt nptn f t pf prprt. In rtn ntrr prprt r Cld t plt nfttn, "lt," pll ld Mt fr v r t th "fr n, htn, drn, nd lnt," r, tr, rth, tn, hh b nd fr hh r dtn ntd n fr bntn: WAE hd fr n nthr drn nd ht (fr, ht b thr "lt." In nd tr (r, tr Figure 1. h fr lnt rprntd n lt h lnt, n lt nd ld (tr, nd ld nd ll htr nd htr f htr b. prdnt vr th drn (rth (. thr: n rth, drn n Arttl nd h fllr blvd tht ll btn tr, ld n r, fldt, nd n fr, ht.