“Thirty spokes are joined in the wheel's hub.
the empty space in the middle makes it useful.
Mold clay into a bowl.
The empty space makes it useful.
Thirty spokes are joined in the wheel's hub.
The hole in the middle makes it useful.
Cut out doors and windows for the house.
The holes make it useful.
Therefore, the value comes from what is there,
But the use comes from what is not there”
” Tao Te Jing Ch 11 Lao Tzu
“It all began with the Tao (pronounced ‘dao’), the unknowable essence from which all had its origin. Yet the Chinese predated Einstein and de Broglio by several millennia when they asserted that matter and energy were interchangeable, and that all matter is still basically energy-like in nature.
But the Tao is changing, ever changing, and as Joseph Needham wrote in his Science and Civilisation in China (Vol 2), ‘Western philosophers laid down as a basic principle of thought that a thing cannot both be and not be at the same time. Chinese philosophers, on the other hand, laid down that a thing is always “becoming” or “debecoming”; all the time on its way to being something else’, and it manifests itself in both the cosmos and in the myriad forms of life which developed in it.
The Flow Of Life
It is interesting to equate the Chinese concept of the cycle of ch’i energy through the Five Elements with the effect of each of the elements on the Earth. In the Chinese cycle Metal (Air) is the mother of, and supplies energy to, Water, which in turn feeds Wood, which is life.
This implies that anything which interferes with the flow of energy is inimical to life, and just as a stagnation of energy in the body can have its effect upon the physical organs, so a stagnation of ch’i energy in a location will effect the lives of those living there.
This, of course, is the basic concept upon which feng shui is founded. Stagnation of this energy can actually have an effect on such things as the accumulation of wealth or one’s marital happiness. Mind, body, and spirit are an indivisible unity, and any blockage of energy surrounding one of the triad must inevitably cause a deadening of the spirit and have a deleterious effect upon that life as a whole.” the late Royston H Low PhD ND MRO FbAcA
“When your body is not aligned
The inner power will not come
When you are not tranquil within
Your mind will not be well ordered
Align your body, assist the inner power
Then it will gradually come on its own”
Page 66 Original Tao Inward Training (Nei-Yeh) and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism by Harold D Roth
In Taosim there is a well known but often misunderstood concept - Wu Wei - or empty and effortless action - the art of “acting without acting” a paradox of deep wisdom, The sage acts in harmony with nature following a path of least resistance. Man , like nature, is a self-regulating organism. The sage avoids extremity, excesses, and extravagance. Be open to change - it is the only constant! “The art of living… is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.”
– Alan Watts
The Five Elements
The cosmic influences can manifest in many ways, but the most noticeable are what the Chinese term the ‘external devils’, or the atmospheric influences of the Five Elements. These are Wind (associated with the East, Wood, and Springtime), Heat (associated with the South, Summer, and Fire), Humidity (with the Centre, Long Summer and Earth), Dryness (with the West, Autumn, and Metal) and Cold (with the North, Winter and Water), and these will have their effect upon the energy qualities of the earthly recipients.
‘As above, so below’, and humans themselves are the result of the constant interplay between yin and yang, with their limbs and organs showing a preponderance of one or the other depending upon their basic function and activity but also upon their state at any particular time.
The energy (or ch’i) in the body flows in regular pathways which the West terms meridians and the Chinese the ching-lo, and any interference with the smooth flow of the ch’i energy creates a disease in whichever of the meridians, or their associated organs, is affected. Any blockage will cause a build-up of noxious ch’i which needs to be dispersed. The excess of ch’i in one part can cause a deficiency in another with an imbalance in the relative yin/yang picture, and this must be corrected.
