Elements
Yesterday, I was thinking about the elements. Without being didactic, today the word refers to the possible atomic configurations represented on the periodic table, which includes elements that are unfamiliar or nonexistent in nature, but possible in a laboratory. Once, of course, the word referred to Earth Air Fire Water. According to the atomic notion of elements, these are not elements at all but are rather composed of the elements (or the combustion thereof).
But the traditional notion of elements still seems to have relevance overlooked by science–this shift of theory of elements seems different to me than other scientific advances where an erroneous notion of reality was replaced by a more accurate one, like the Ptolemaic cosmos or creationism. Because ecologists, geographers, and geologists will still tell you that the four fundamental forces that shape and comprise the natural world can be grouped into Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The ancients recognized that there were different types of “earth”; they didn’t think that the one word described the most fundamental component that could be discovered, but they did recognize that “earth” was material that had a distinct set of properties. It seems that in this case science has wrested a word away from traditional knowledge, which is a natural and laudable development as our language becomes more specific and useful to scientific advancement. But we must not forget to restore Earth, Air, Fire, and Water to their rightful places of respect.
Rather than elements, Earth Air Fire and Water are natural presences and forces; they are at once energy levels (temperature) and aspects; they are forces of transformation and change. They are not the most basic components of physical existence (elements), but they are the dominant aspects of natural existence. Each carries its own uses and associations, its own energies–water can cool, fire can cook, earth can build. I also think that each one carries a subtle set of associations that we respond to as humans, a relationship of deep signification built over the evolution of our species, ingrained deeply in our collective unconscious. If you have a camp fire or a bonfire and manage to pull yourself away from staring into the flames for a moment to watch your friends around the fire, you’ll see the obvious and powerful pull that the element has on the core of their beings. When I am in the presence of water, my mind is set at ease. Yesterday, me and two of my friends sat by a creek to meditate. I sat on a rock down by the water, he sat on a boulder high above me, and he sat on a sun-drenched rock directly in the sun. I am a water sign, he is an air sign, and he is a fire sign.
I think it’s important to reclaim the category of natural elements because I would like us, as a western culture, to be able to open up dialogues between traditional sciences and our potent and inspiring scientific advances. Many traditional systems of medicine are built around these four natural forces. Astrology depends on them. A dialogue like that would go no-where if it amounted to a squabble over the definition of the word “element,” but it would be fruitful if Western science could become more sensitive to subtle and natural energies and if traditional knowledge could become more rigorous and able to justify itself.