Sunday, January 29, 2012

Earth

                                                                    

The element earth is the fifth of the five pancha mahabhutus. It comes fifth because it has evolved from the previous four elements: water, fire, air and ether.

The elements are as simple as a child's toy stacking cups: five different colors of cups, five graded sizes that fit into each other, so simple yet so profound and subtle in their metaphor.

Now if you turn the cups upside down and build a pyramid from the ground up, ether would represent the final cup, the first element. All the elements are born of ether and contained within earth.

Ether provides space for earth to exist ... Air provides earth with subtle propulsions at the sub-atomic level ... Fire is an expression of latent energy, bound by chemical bonds that hold the earth structure together ... Water acts as the bridge between gaseous matter (ether, air, fire water) and solid earth. As the process of densification narrows down, matter becomes solid, forming earth, the human body and the structure of the universe.

- Earth Magic - Earth Religions - The Worship of Mother Earth - As Above, So Below - All is contained Within -

The sense associated with earth is smell. Through the nose we take in the scents of consumption and elimination. These impressions enter the mind, body and consciousness deeply, affecting us physically and emotionally. Through the sense of smell the basic organic drives of attraction and repulsion operate and cannot be ignored.

The rectum is the organ of action. Through consumption and defecation the earth element is balanced.

Earth acts as an emotional container when we are feeling ungrounded, insecure, insignificant or vulnerable. Hence, the desire to consume comfort foods when we are feeling lost or unloved. (The safest place on earth being the heart centre, where we nestle and nurse our babies.) The danger is in going too far and being consumed by consumption itself (Mother), or an entire cycle of consumption and elimination in a struggle to regain balance. The entire body is dependent upon the earth element for its health and well-being.  

A person with a deficiency of earth is unable to stand up against the challenges of the world and is easily pushed aside by stronger forces. A person of substance has the quality of earth.


Excerpts taken from
Dr. Marc Halpern
Light on Ayurveda Journal.

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