The universe is like a fan.
When a fan spins it generates air, energy, movement through its blades. We understand the wind generated, the hum, the blur to be the result of the fan. All the blades that spin make the object “the fan,” but we don’t actually see the individual blades. They just create a blur. Sometimes when one closes their eyes when looking at a fan, the brain takes a snap shot of it, and one gets a chance to see each blade.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Five Element Theory, we can understand the elements’ interactions as we try to visualize how a fan works. There are four blades, opposing and equal, all attached to the center. As a fan spins, physically it moves in a circular motion, but in actuality, all the blades return to the center before they can take their step toward revolution. Earth is considered an element and the center element in Traditional Chinese Medicine. All elements return to Earth, the center, before continuing their natural cycle. The law of Yin and Yang dictates how these elements interact. Therefore, the center also has its equal and opposing force. In physical terms, this relates to mass and energy. When Yin and Yang are working in harmony, an object, where mass and energy are balanced, becomes animated.
For the fan, energy creates the movement of each blade. The mass of each blade propels the mass of its opposite blade through the energy that originates from the center. The motion creates energy and energy creates motion. Together, when four blades are balanced, the fan moves freely and continually. For the human, form and energy must also be balanced. When the Five Elements are all situated and balanced within the human, the human thrives.
Our role as humans relates to the understanding of this obligate symbiosis, this interaction, revolution, and continuum between Yin and Yang and among the Five Elements. If we understand this, we understand that we have been given a gift and a responsibility. The creativity we employ to conceptualize, relate to, and share this gift is based in balancing form and energy, regularly evaluating ego vs. survival, and acting with magnanimous intent. We understand the human in this state to be animated and attuned, buzzing with a glorious balance between form and energy, Yin and Yang. The attuned reality of a well-balanced human creates a note, a pitch, a tangible hum, just as the fan generates a buzz as it spins.
Music, in my humble opinion, specifically the human voice, is a manifestation of the universe’s micro/macro cosmic reality. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Earth Element is associated with the Spleen and Stomach and the sound affiliated is singing. The human voice is a perfect sine wave, with equal and opposing forces. In arguably all religions, this is the beginning. In the beginning there was the word, sound, and consciousness. This inspired active expression of the law of the universe, the interplay of Yin and Yang, form and energy, as a note is conducted through a musical instrument. The baseline for us, humans, is OM,
or the unique note each human generates. When expressing this, our note resonates with the rest of the universe and we become attuned. As we consciously conduct energy through our form, we are thus making note of the balance between Yin and Yang, mass and energy with intent and consciousness.
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