Wu Shen (5 elements)

Wu Shen Overview

Wu Shen is the TCM Concept of 5 Elements for Health (Mental, Emotional, Physical, Spiritual, & Energy)

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which includes Acupuncture, is based on the five element theory as is Ayurvedic Medicine, Taoist philosophy, Vedic teachings, and many other traditions.

Everyone is familiar with the concepts of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. First let us address the fifth Element known as Aether or Ether and also called luminiferous ether.

In Western culture the fifth element, Aether (AKA Ether) was removed from science, which changed everything to only four elements. If one goes back to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians they had five elements. The elements in the different traditions had different names but the same basic meaning and attributes across all the teachings and traditions. By removing Aether as an element, the spirit of humans, their Divine spark was removed. This was the first step in converting people into atheists.

According to Wikipedia the History of Aether is:

The timeline of luminiferous aether (light-bearing aether) or ether as a medium for propagating electromagnetic radiation begins in the 18th century. The aether was assumed to exist for much of the 19th century—until the Michelson–Morley experiment returned its famous null result. Further experiments were in general agreement with Michelson and Morley's result. By the 1920s, most scientists rejected the aether's existence.
Source of Quote: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_luminiferous_aether

 

The Greeks first talked about Aether in 4 BCE, but it was lost in the Dark Ages of Western culture. Then in 1704, Isaac Newton postulated Aether once again but in 1905, Albert Einstein debunked the theory and science rejected it completely. Physicists today are once again embracing the notion of Aether or the fifth Element.

So, what is Aether exactly? Emma Newlan defines Aether as:

Ether is both nothing and everything at the same time. It's stillness, yet it's the very thing that makes all movement and life possible. Referred to as 'akasha' in Sanskrit, ether is the element that comes first in yogic and Ayurvedic thinking.
Source of Quote: https://www.ekhartyoga.com/articles/philosophy/journey-through-the-5-elements-ether#:~:text=Ether%20is%20both%20nothing%20and,in%20yogic%20and%20Ayurvedic%20thinking.

We can think of Aether as space (it is everywhere) or as spirit. In TCM it is the Wood element which represents beginnings, growth, the liver whose energy goes in all directions. If we put Aether in the middle of the 4 elements of (Fire, Earth, Air/Metal, and Water) then it becomes the connection to all things, the space that holds it all, the energy that generates it all, and the connectedness that we have to everything). In Western culture this concept was taken from our conscious understanding, but it is now coming back. It is what draws so many people to study Eastern cultures like Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, and similar traditions that never lost this understanding. This concept and understanding brings us closer to our own innate spiritual nature.