Nature symbols: Unity beneath diversity and diversity within unity

Various element systems

The elements represent the basic principles of the lowest manifestation order, the physical world. As such, they do not refer to chemical elements belonging to science, but to manifestation states of the substantial order.

• The Greek tradition distinguishes four elements (Fire, Water, Air, Earth) ¹, disposed according to the compass points or related seasons. The derived Alchemic tradition has added a fifth element, called Ether or “quintessence”, although it is not an essence, but a substance. Containing all the other elements in an undifferentiated state, it stands at the Centre.
• The Indian tradition comprises the same five elements as the Alchemic, but disposed differently. Ether at the Centre; three of them (Fire, Water, Earth) laid out alongside a vertical axis in line with their ascending or descending move; last, Air, associated with a transversal axis as it suits its move.
• The Chinese tradition refers to five, but not identical elements: Earth at the Centre and the others (Fire, Water, Wood and Metal) disposed in relation to the compass points or seasons.

Elements in different traditions

Tradition	Elements	Representation	Centre
Greek (Alchemic)	Fire Water Air Earth		- (Ether)
Indian	Fire Air Water Earth		Ether
Chinese	Fire Water Wood Metal		Earth

The preceding table provides an overview of element systems in various traditions based on the common Chinese representation where South (Fire) stands “above” North (Water) ².

Elements at work

The Greek tradition makes a distinction between the active principles (Fire and Air) compared to the passive principles (Water and Earth). In order to represent the whole manifestation generation, the elements are laid out alongside two axes combining opposite principles: a vertical (Fire, Water) and a horizontal (Air, Earth).

This distinction between the elements appears more clearly within the Indian tradition where Fire participates in an ascending move, Air in a transversal one whereas Water and Earth are related to a descending move. Ascent means moving towards Heaven (the pure active Principle), descent moving in the direction of Earth (the pure passive Principle) and transverse keeping the balance between Heaven and Earth. Ether, the undifferentiated state of all elements, symbolizes the motionless fluid standing at the Centre and spreading in all element directions (North, South, East and West).

In the Chinese tradition, Wood symbolizes the centrifugal move whereas Metal represents the centripetal one. Naturally, it would be unthinkable that the elements could operate independently of the yin and yang relationships. In agreement with their spatial representation, Fire and Wood, located South and East, are yang compared to Water and Metal, situated North and West, which are yin.

The entanglement of yin and yang within the yin-yang symbol may help us to understand why the elements may not be fixed, but part of a dynamic process. In fact, they are continuously generating and destroying each other in accordance with the constant changes in our world:

• In the generation phase, Wood generates Fire, which, by becoming ashes, generates Earth; Earth generates Metal in her womb; hot Metal generates steam, which becomes Water when it cools; Water generates Wood.
• In the destruction phase, Wood breaks up Earth; Earth absorbs Water; Water extinguishes Fire; Fire melts Metal; Metal cuts Wood.

Element generation and destruction in Chinese tradition

In the Chinese tradition, Earth is obviously related to nature. Nevertheless, a question has to be shelved. How can Earth, on one hand, contain all elements in an undifferentiated state and, on the other hand, be one of them within the generation-destruction process ? In fact, Earth may be perceived at two different levels. When located at the Centre, Earth symbolizes the primeval and undifferentiated state of Nature, source of our contrasted and manifested nature. As part of the manifested nature, Earth participates as the other elements in the generation-destruction process. If you can do something complicated, you can do something simple. Earth symbolizes both the “active” (Nature) and “passive” (nature) aspects of the substantial world or what the Middle Ages” tradition called “naturing” (naturans) and “natured” (naturata) nature.

The generation-destruction process is nothing but a succession of death and life cycles. Any destruction or death within a manifestation state is always followed by a re-generation or re-birth into another one until another cycle takes over. An indefinite succession of cycles, source of the nature diversity. A diversity potentially contained within the Centre where all oppositions are fully integrated into the Nature unity.

During the nature manifestation, Earth or Ether is coming first, followed by the most active elements and ending with the most passive. On the way back to the undifferentiated state, Earth or Ether, comes last after the most active preceded by the most passive elements. This way back by degrees to the perfect balance state constitutes the first step on the track of moving from the “substantial” to the “essential” world.

What can we learn from this in relation to the environment ?

Within the environment, the relationship between the Centre or Nature unity and the manifested nature diversity is reflected into the basic functional unit of ecology, the ecosystem. The ecosystem consists in a self-contained community of beings, living in a close relationship within a physical environment (soil, water etc.). It can be as small as a garden pond and as large as the biosphere, the ecosystem of the planet earth.

All ecosystems are completely dependent upon their environment through continuous flows of:

• Substances essential to life, which obey to well known generation-destruction cycles. Their assessment is rarely balanced within ecosystems, in particular urban ones. Therefore, compensations have to operate among them as, for instance, between aquatic or marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
• Energy, particularly, sun radiant energy. Trapped by autotrophic organisms, mainly green plants and phytoplankton, the energy is converted into other energy forms stocked into organic molecules.
• Regulating information. The living beings have developed various information processes about their environment (thermic, hygrometric, chemical, electromagnetic, gravitational, vibratory, mechanical etc.). Thanks to these processes, messages are picked up, interpreted and responded to.

The specie diversity within an ecosystem creates interdependence often expressed by the food chain variety. As primary producers in any food chain, plants are used as a nutriment by herbivores higher in the chain (primary consumers). The herbivores constitute prey for carnivores even higher in the food chain (secondary consumers) etc. The non-used plants, lost to decomposing, will return to the environment after having been recycled.

It is obvious that plants, located at the beginning of a food chain, can only be numerous compared to the great predators at the end of the chain. Therefore, each food chain takes the aspect of a food pyramid. Its basis is occupied by plants, the intermediary levels by numerous animal species and the top by a single type of great predator. Under these conditions, we understand better how man is able to disrupt ecological balances as any external perturbation passing a threshold beyond which changes are irreversible. It is not by chance that man's interventions disturb the main outer factor of ecosystem relative stability, the climate. The climate change may have important consequences because the ecosystem relative stability furthers the specie diversity through the ecological niche expansion and the more diversified an ecosystem is, the more it will be in a position to respond adequately to environmental challenges.

Ecosystems represent secondary centres part of the main Centre, the biosphere. Their manifestation takes the appearance of constant swings between destruction and generation processes regulating the specie life:

Some generation-destruction processes of an ecosystem

In natural conditions, all these processes are balanced within the ecosystem unity. Considering the diversity of generation-destruction processes independently of their unity ends up in an indefinite series of balance ruptures. All the more so since that an ecosystem is not a closed, but open, where input-output flows are contributing in maintaining the balance of the different generation-destruction processes. Generation, destruction and maintenance (of the balance) are the three facets of the specie life conservation ³.

Bibliography

René Guénon:

“Man and his Becoming according to the Vedanta”, Sophia Perennis Publisher 2001;

Particularly, chapter 21 on the “divine voyage” of the being on the way to liberation.

Jean-Marie Pelt:

“The future is looking at you”, Fayard Publisher, 2003;

Notably, chapter 1 called “The human being is not a clone”.

^{1 back} A correspondence between the four elements and the four states or phases of the matter can be suggested: solid (Earth), liquid (Water), gaseous (Air) and plasma (Fire).

^{2 back} Moreover, the map orientation with south “above” north was not as unusual as we might believe it. It was notably in use from the ancient Romans to the beginning of the Middle Age.

^{3 back} Generation, destruction and maintenance constitute the triple manifestation (“Trimurti”) of the Indian tradition, symbolized by three Gods : Brahmâ (the Creator), Shiva (the Destroyer or more accurately the Transformer) and Vishnu (the Preserver). They represent the producer principles of the manifested beings. Issuing from Unity, the three masculine Gods are also endowed with their own feminine energy (“shakti”), respectively depicted by three Goddesses: Saraswati, Laksmi and Parvati.