Five-Phases: Revisited

Today in the Materia Medica class I had a rare chance to utilize five-phase theory in conversation. I guess to get there I better back up a bit.

If I were as talented in computer work as my sister I would just paste in an image for you to look back at as I explain what I am talking about, but, alas I do not have that level of proficiency in the blogospere. Though I did finally get a picture up into my bio, for whatever that is worth...

Imagine a 5-pointed star within a circle. Let's start at the lower-left point of the star, which just intersects the circle at all 5 points.

This phase is "water." [I use the term phase as it implies change, impermanence, mutability, others use the word element which in my perception implies static and non-changing. These are always changing and evolving, just like us..] Anyway back to water. There are many things about water that are unique. But at this level of discussion I will only be addressing the "generation" or "creation" or "Sheng" cycle. It is said that water genertates Wood. Ok, water helps nourish wood so it can grow. Move up the CIRCLE to the upper left point of the star.

Wood is said to generate (all those same descriptive words) Fire. Wood burns and fuels fire. Move to the top of the CIRCLE.

Fire is said to generate Earth, the ashes of a fire are like earth; soft and compactable. Move along the CIRCLE to the upper right point of the star.

Earth is said to generate metal. Metal ore in the ground, silver, copper, gold. Move along the circle to the lower right point.

Metal is said to generate water. Ok, now even I will admit this takes a leap of faith, until you think that near these underground veins of ore there are commonly underground rivers, and if you live somewhere other than the Sonoran desert and you leave steel out over night water will condense on it. So metal generates water.

Now that is the Sheng or creating cycle of energy within your body as well as the energetic dynamics in our universe. But if there is not some way to control this it can spin out of control. So we will look at a conrolling, or restraining cycle.

This is the five pointed star within the circle.
Water controls Fire as it can cool it.
Fire controls Metal as it can melt it.
Metal controls Wood as it can cut it.
Wood controls Earth as it can penetrate it. (Think of the roots of a tree penetrating into the earth to stop erosion.)
Earth controls Water as it can absorb or contain it. (Think of river banks or an earthen dam.)

There is also one other aspect of this to be aware of. In the generating cycle it is said that Fire is the Child of Wood, and Earth is the Child of Fire, but the Grandchild of Wood. This is also a way to look at and talk about the controlling cycle I just described. It is understood that the Grandparents have a lot of influence and therefore control over the grandchildren. This is because the parents are out of the house earning a living and the grandparents are the live-in daycare providers. If the grandchildren speak back to the grandparents it is called an insult. In TCM the "insulting cycle" is the reverse of the controlling cycle and it is not a good thing to see. It is not that good of a thing to see in family dynamics either, but that is a different version of this same story.

So back to my class today and how I utilized this theory in a conversation, or more accurately a confrontation.

Remember how I wrote about last weeks quiz and the pass/fail rate? Today was the first class after that and I knew it would be interesting. I was correct.

One of the students is, in my opinion, a wood type personality. She definitely wants to control everything she can and when it does not work that way, she can get very angry. So today she was explaining to me how the quiz was not indicative of her level of knowledge or ability. I listened to her points and conceded where she was correct and where I needed to change how I "weighted" the score on certain parts of my test.

But it did not stop there. I stayed calm and tried to not react to her repeated points. But at one point I looked at her and told her, "I hear you, but this is how the tests are and YOU ARE NOT GOING TO RUN THIS CLASS!"

What I was doing, as I later reflected on it, was using metal to cut into her wood energy to dissipate it. I know from previous experience that if I let her, or anyone else for that matter, take over they will squawk and complain over the least little thing. I was not going to let that happen. So, take out the axe and cut down the tree. Very simple, in the scope of things it was not very aggressive, but it was effective.

After class I had at least 6 of the nine students come up and apologize and tell me that the test was fair and comprehensive. During my clinic shift the one student I am referring to came up and apologized. So I am thinking that she may never have ran into effective boundaries established from a metal-controlling-wood perspective.

But at least it worked and we can get ready for next weeks quiz. I would be willing to bet that everyone does much better this time...