The main reason to divide the universe into five phases is to identify patterning. Some argue that this pattern is constructed by humans and others say that the pattern exists in some dimension beyond the human realm. Regardless, if we can recognize a pattern that gives us information about what we can do to move change in a direction that pleases us. This is what we are trying to do with Chinese Medicine. Notice how things are and then gently shift them toward how we want them to be. It’s definitely a delicate dance, and very interesting.
The patterning of things to the five phases is a correspondence. It is looking at something or smelling, or feeling it and then identifying which phase it is like. This is to some degree metaphorical or at least a way that, how we identify something as a thing with language, let’s us understand or perceive what it is like. Your smile is like the sun.
There are many charts in Chinese Medicine listing the correspondences with the Wood aligned with spring, the color green, the scent of rancid, the taste of sour, the organs of the Liver and Gallbladder and the voice of shout as well as many other things from domestic animals to planets. Its a way to look at anything in the world and place it into a category. The taste of pungent has a metal characteristic. The direction of north has the feel of water. The climate of heat is like fire.
There is a certain amount of obvious standardization for these things. Then if you continue to look at different lists created by different people over time you begin to notice that they don’t all agree. It’s very helpful to explore each phases as it appears in nature and explore it from your own sensory perception. Touch water and notice that it is heavy, dense, fluid and moveable. Which season, another arbitrary division of the year into parts that significantly depends on where you live, is most like water? The perception of the individual is most important. Additionally there is a value to working with a language that is common to the people that practice this medicine.
Another important aspect to consider is how one’s language determines how we think about things and even what things are. Color is a great example of something that is very linguistically and culturally determined. Not everyone draws the line between red and orange in the same place. Part of the value of the lists is that these help us understand the cultural definition of each phase. Within a phases things can be infinitely subdivided into five parts. For example, within the types of dogs there are fiery dogs, woody dogs and watery dogs, although obviously everyone would classify dogs, in general, as fire. See how tricky this can get.
For the purposes of Chinese Medicine we are most interested in seeing how these correspondences relate to our health. What foods will be best for our condition? What type of exercise will be best to heal us? What organ systems and meridians of qi should we manipulate to bring about happiness? Next we will look more deeply into how the phases are related by relationships between them which show what kind of energy creates or controls another kind of energy.