The 5 Pointers: South, North, East, West & Middle

Dear Friends,

To assist you in understanding better my future postings, it will be meanningful for us to share some common “language” that I will use in this weblog.

I will start with some concept of “Cosmic Force”.

Humans’ understanding of the universe has been on a steep curve with more space probs and better and more powerful radio-telescopes, especially those stationed in the outer space. Every other day we get evidence that the space is infact much bigger than we can ever imagine. Most of the night sky appears black not because there is emptiness, but because the light from stars in those areas has yet to reach us. The light will probably never reach us. That’s how big the universe (or multi-universe) is. 

That said, given the expansiveness of the universe in terms of space-time, the location of our Solar system in our galaxy and the very short nature of human life compared to the universe, our “space-time” seems to exhibit some rather cyclical phenomena, dominated by the dynamic interaction of the Sun, Moon, Earth and other heavenly bodies.

In this posting, let us look at things nearest to us, i.e., our immediate earthly environment.

We feel a sense of belonging to a place because of our ability to orientate ourselves within our environment.  That’s the reason why isolated imprisonment is dreadful to the inmates, especially the dark cells. They get totally disoriented and eventual mental breakdown.

So we talk about South, North, East and West. We often forget the Middle. For without the Middle pointer, there would be no reference point for which to identify the other 4  pointers.

Lets look at these 5 pointers and their characteristics (for residents in the Northen Hemisphere) :

• East :  this is where we say the Sun rises each morning. It signifies the beginning of a day (broadly corresponds to 0300 to 0900 hr.), warmth and beginning of life. Given it is early part of a cycle, it is young and easily subject to change, we call this “Wind” characteristics. In the annual cycle, East corresponds to Spring. It is represented by Wood. These things can be summarily called the Wood Qi or Spring Qi “Chun Qi” (Qi means essence). Spring Qi likes to “ascend”. In Spring therefore, let all things flourish and grow. Never exert any repression during Spring Qi. (try controlling young children forcefuly and you will observe this Spring Qi reactions/behaviours).
• South : The Sun is at its strongest position, we feel heat/hot and the whole community is full of activities, burning energy, corresponds broadly to 0900 to 1500 hr. Things are at their mature cycle and exhibit strength. Annually it corresponds to Summer and is represented by “Fire”. We call this Summer Qi ”Xia Qi” or Fire Qi. Fire Qi likes to “float” and flare up. That’s why it is not a good idea to agitate somebody with high blood pressure in the middle of Fire Qi. His heat will travel upwards more quickly with the help of the Fire Qi. This you see regularly in movies and real life. Fire Qi needs to turn around at its peak (to meet its counterpart Water Qi eventually), otherwise life will perish.
• West : the Sun sets and we get that soothing “cooling” feeling, it broadly maps into 1500 to 2100 hr. It signifies the retreating/concluding of activities, getting ready to rest. It corresponds to Autumn and is represented by Metal (heavy and therefore going down. Note also that Metal is highly affected by changes of temperature. Its cools down when external heat is removed, but heats up when heat is applied). We call this Autumn Qi “Qiu Qi” or Metal Qi. Autumn Qi likes to ”descend”, as opposed to Spring Qi.  Autumn Qi is for people to get their score even. In imperial China, you therefore see execution being carry out in Autumn. If you work in Investment Bank, don’t ever step on your boss’ toe during Qiu Qi, it is highly suicidal.
• North : It is dark, quiet and things are settling down and recharging themselves during this 2100 to 0300 hr.  It corresponds to Winter and we call this Winter Qi “Dong Qi” or Water Qi.  Winter Qi likes to “sink” as opposed to Summer Qi’s “float”. It is important that during Winter Qi, things should stay as quiet and warm as possible inorder for the body to recharge itself. Night-shift is therefore to be avoided at all cost. Winter Qi, while sinking, needs to turn around upwards at its bottom (to eventually reunite with Summer Qi), otherwise life will perish too.

• Middle :  This is a unique pointer and probably the most important. It is not any of the above 4 pointers yet it is associated with all of them. For without Middle Qi, there cannot exist any of the other 4 pointers. We also call it Earth Qi “Tu Qi”, signifying the mother earth. Tu Qi converts everything it receives and turns them into nourishment for everything else on earth without claiming credits.

In summary, we have Spring Qi (ascend), Summer Qi (float upwards then turn around at its peak), Autumn Qi (descend) and Winter Qi (sink downwards then turn around at its bottom. In the central, we have the Middle Qi.

You may imagine Spring Qi, Summer Qi, Autumn Qi and Winter Qi forming an outer bigger rotating wheel when they work together harmoniously. The Middle Qi is the inner rotating axis.

Both wheels affect each other. So if the outer wheels is not functioning properly, it will affects the smooth function of the inner Middle Qi rotation and vice versa.

In human body, your Liver System exhibits Spring Qi, Heart System exhibits Summer Qi, Lung System exhibits Autumn Qi and Kidney System exhibits Winter Qi.

Have a nice day and keep the Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Middle Qi  in your body happy.

***************************************************************************