The Five Characters of Energy

Example application in; The Blood Cycle

Fire – The heart produces the energy to pump the blood around the body.
Metal – The blood passes through the lungs where it picks up trace elements.
Water – The kidneys regulate the balance between water and soluble matter (i.e. salt)
Wood – The liver cleans the blood of toxins.
Earth – The spleen holds a reservoir of blood and destroys old red blood cells.
Metal – Solid waste passes out through the large intestine.

First there is the energy of creation, which for the sake of simplicity I will call Ptah (or Tao). Then there is the process of Seth causing the energies of Yin and Yang. Beneath this are an infinite number of types and blends of energy. To begin to comprehend them in a useful way we need to group them into broad categories.
The process of energies in Taoism is known as the Five Transformative Elements or ‘Wu-sing'. These transformations are key to the way of understanding and developing the life energies and their relationships in our bodies.

It is a mistake to think of this system as privative because of its simplicity. It represents the tip of the iceberg so to speak, and its simplicity is what makes it such a useful tool for understanding. There is the possibility of ever increasing complexity of natures way beneath it. These complexities are usually left in the domain of instinct and the subconscious for good reason. It is probably helpful to think of the Wu-sing like a steering wheel which leaves our conscious free for its purpose I.e driving with feeling, rather than flooding ourselves with details from the Engine room.

All five elements are present in the human body and are an important part of understanding the sensations of internal energy practice. Everyone has first hand knowledge of how these substances will interact with each other. They are however not rigid definitions but relative to the situation they are being applied to.

Hydrogen doesn't have an electron, but this does not mean that the rule of 'yin and yang' or 'ba and ka' energy does not apply. The absence of the yin does not prevent the possibility of yin in the future. The volume as such is turned down but it still has the potential to be turned up. Potential creates possible opposites (yin, yang).-The difference between these points is a ‘change’ (change is type of movement). Change is a product of consciousness, all matter is connected to consciousness. Nothing is untouched by consciousness, but it is the complete observer that creates the full potential (as discussed later).

Heat is created by the change of states in the frame of time.

-The colder a substance becomes the more dense it becomes.-Dense substance can be either fluid or solid.

-Hot substance can also be either fluid or solid.(Note; Gas is an extremity of fluidity)

Thus the possibilities are;

1 – Hot fluid substance

2 – Hot solid substance

3 – Dense fluid substance

4 – Dense solid substance

5 – The central neutral substances between.

The substances familiar to everyone which best summarize these brackets of characteristics are;

1 – Fire, 2 – Wood, 3 – Water, 4 – Metal, 5 – Earth.