Lecture 6: The Theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements

Topic of this section: What is the Five Elements of Yin and Yang?

In China, whether you are rich or poor, noble or low, you will definitely do two things in your life, one is to "see a doctor" and the other is to "see your fate". When you leave your mother and come to the world, your parents will also do two things for you, one is to ask for a doctor, and the other is to ask for your life. The purpose of seeking medical advice is to seek health, and the purpose of asking for life is to seek peace in life. And these two kinds of personnel behavior involve a fundamental theory, that is, the essence of traditional Chinese culture, "Yin and Yang Five Elements Theory".

So what is the "Yin and Yang Five Elements Theory"?

The "Theory of Yin and Yang Five Elements" is a scientific method that is very strict in the objective logic of clear thinking, regular sequence, clear rules, skillful skills and standardized patterns accumulated by the Chinese nation through life experience.

Now many people are questioning the scientific nature of the theory of the five elements of yin and yang, especially in Westerners questioning Chinese medicine, questioning the theory of Chinese medicine, not recognizing the scientific nature of the theory of Chinese medicine, in the case of Westerners questioning Chinese medicine, many Chinese have also begun to question their ancestors, questioning the basic theory of Chinese medicine theory "Yin and Yang Five Elements Theory" scientific, so the theory of yin and yang five elements has become a chicken rib, and even some people say that the "Yin and Yang Five Elements Theory" is a pseudoscience that thousands of people scold.

So I'm going to ask you, what is real science?

To understand what science is, we must first understand the cultural meaning of the word "science." The correct understanding of "science" should be an objective logical thinking method with clear ideas, regular sequences, clear rules, skilled skills and standardized models for human beings to understand nature and transform nature for long-term recycling.

Now the question is, is the "Yin and Yang Five Elements Theory" an objective logical thinking method?!

In the eyes of Westerners, the establishment of all theories must have objectivity, and the popular understanding of "objective" is to look at the world from the perspective of a third person, or it can be said to use third-party thinking to see the world through brain comparison, analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization, and so on.

Now the question is here, the question is whether the "Yin and Yang Five Elements Theory" is whether Chinese see the world through third-sex thinking through brain comparison, analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization and other thinking methods, and observe and analyze the natural world through logical means such as concepts, judgments, and reasoning.

Of course, after the emergence of Socrates, the cultural direction of the West reversed, and Western culture first abandoned natural science and developed into a culture of wisdom and love, while Chinese culture has adhered to the influence of natural science on human beings since the emergence of Confucius, followed the laws of nature, and developed the laws of nature with human wisdom and love coexisting for future generations.

This is the crux of the problem! The root cause of Western culture's disagreement with Chinese classical culture is that Westerners think that Chinese classical culture is a chaotic culture, without a clear classification of disciplines, confused, disorganized, and without evolutionary primitive memory. This idea of the West can be obtained from Hegel, who said: "Confucius is only a practical sage of the world, and there is no speculative philosophy in him." "The philosophy of Confucius is the philosophy of the state"

Hegel concludes that Lao Tzu says, "Therefore...'Tao' is... Primordial reason, which produces the universe and dominates it, is like the spirit that governs the body. ”

Hegel also argued: "The history of China is essentially ahistorical; No progress can be made from it. These views of Hegel basically represent the understanding of Chinese culture by Westerners for more than 200 years.

So are Hegel's views correct?

Basically correct!!

Before the formation of civilization, human beings did not have cultural cognition, that is to say, before human beings developed civilization, there was no objective logical thinking, and human beings, like animals, would only understand the world through intuitive thinking and sensory thinking.

Allowing the human brain to generate the power to recycle cultural cognition is a human need for future exploration, but this condition can only be created after humans evolve into higher animals.

The process of human beings seeing things with the naked eye in understanding and transforming nature, and then transmitting them to the brain through senses, and then identifying the form and nature of things through the brain, and observing and analyzing the natural world through logical means such as concepts, judgments, and reasoning, is the development process of human civilization.

The process of judging and reasoning about the nature and laws of things through brain comparison, analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization, etc., this kind of thinking process is called the objective logical thinking method today, or the dialectical method of materialism and idealism, and all these thinking processes are only possessed by higher animals, and ordinary animals do not have this advanced thinking method.

Westerners began to develop and apply this method of thinking, also known as the method of wisdom and love, from Socrates, and later exported it to Japan, which the Japanese translated as the philosophical method.

Now the key question is whether the Chinese have this way of thinking, this is a big problem, this is the decisive question that determines whether Chinese classical culture is an advanced civilization!

In the eyes of Westerners, China's 5,000-year-old civilization is just "primitive rationality", a historical memory without speculation, and there is no "wisdom and love" method at all.

Is it true that Westerners think so?

Now it looks partially correct!

First of all, Hegel said: "Confucius is only an actual worldly sage, and there is no speculative philosophy in him." "The philosophy of Confucius is the philosophy of the state" is correct!

Why?

Because Confucius's method of thinking comes from the mathematical principle of "Hetu", that is, 22 gets 4, 446... The principle of multiplication without research, Confucius said in the "Zhou Yi Dictionaries": "Yi has Taiji, which is to give birth to two rituals, two rituals to give birth to four elephants, and four elephants to give birth to gossip." This principle is the principle of binary multiplication, which is where the principle of cultural dualism comes from.

The principle of cultural dualism is also called intuitive thinking, sensory thinking.

In layman's terms, when you see a steamed bun, you will use your brain to compare and analyze whether the steamed bun is good or bad, whether you can eat it, this process is divided into three steps to think, that is, intuitive thinking, sensory thinking and objective thinking.

However, the principle of cultural dualism only has intuitive thinking and sensory thinking, and it lacks the third level of human thinking methods, that is, the lack of objective and logical thinking methods, so Hegel said: "Confucius is only an actual worldly wise man, and there is no speculative philosophy in him at all." In other words, classical Chinese culture lacks logical means such as concepts, judgments, and reasoning to observe, analyze, and understand the natural world. In his view, Confucius's philosophy is intuitive thinking or comparative thinking, as mentioned above, when you see a steamed bun, you use intuitive thinking plus comparative thinking to decide whether to eat the steamed bun, you do not analyze whether the steamed bun can be eaten or how to eat it through speculative philosophical methods such as concept, judgment, reasoning, etc., so you can only be regarded as a very practical wise man, not a philosopher.

Is Hegel's view right? Now I see that it is partially correct.

Why?

Because Confucius did limit the development of people's third level of thinking, that is, objective logical thinking, the accurate expression is the objective idealistic logical thinking method of human beings, and this thinking method is the objective idealistic thinking method after intuitive thinking and sensory thinking, and its thinking method is at the psychological level, so it is an object thinking method.

So is the principle of cultural dualism missing the objective and logical thinking method of human beings?

It is now safe to say that the principle of cultural dualism is completely lacking in the thinking method of objective idealism, and there is no doubt about this. This is because the objective logical thinking method is the "spiritual" (ideological) thinking method, which is the guest thinking method, while the cultural dualist principle does not contain the "spiritual" (ideological) thinking method, that is, there is no guest thinking.

There is no doubt about this, in terms of cultural classification in the world today, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism developed in China are all atheistic religions.

If you do not agree that there is a god in the natural world in terms of cultural beliefs, then it is impossible for you to have objective and logical thinking, no "spiritual" (ideological) thinking, and no guest thinking in terms of ideology and culture.

Why, then, does objective logical thinking have to agree that there is a god in the natural world? Because all living organisms that live in this world are supported by "qi" before they become living creatures. This sentence is very easy for Chinese to understand, and Chinese often say: people live a breath, and trees live a skin. The "breath" in this sentence is a spiritual concept in Western culture.

However, Confucian culture does not agree that "people live a breath", but Confucian culture recognizes that "a tree lives a skin".

Why?

Because of the dualistic principle of Confucian cultural sources. Confucianism believes that "it is easy to have Taiji, which is to give birth to two rituals, two rituals to give birth to four elephants, and four elephants to give birth to gossip." Confucianism believes that the world is round, and there are two points that support the repeated movement of the world, and that this circle is void on one side and solid on the other, yin on one side and yang on the other. The two poles of yin and yang go back and forth, virtual and real, real and virtual, yin and yang, yang and yang, yang and yin, and there is real in the virtual, there is virtual in the real, there is yang in the yin, and there is yin in the yang, which is confused. There are only two in the world, from two to four, from four to eight, from eight to eighty-sixty-four... Multiplication is infinite, which is the core theory of Confucian culture. This theory is not correct, it is completely correct! Because this world is the world of binary numbers, and the whole world and even the whole universe are in the calculation of binary numbers.

But there is another set of theories in this world that are also calculating the fixed number of this world and even the entire universe. That's the law of trigonometry.

In other words, there are more calculation methods in the world we live in, which can calculate the fixed number of this world and even the entire universe. The laws of trigonometric geometry are another such calculation.

The laws of trigonometry believe that the world is square, and the number of poles obtained by combining infinite triangles with polygonal triangles is fifteen, forming a quadrigon, and in the quadrangular body, no matter you add three directions to the number on a straight line, it is fifteen. This principle is consistent with the mathematical principle of "Luo Shu", that is, three three see nine, nine nine eighty-one... There is no principle of multiplication. Lao Tzu summarized it in the Tao Te Ching as the ideological concept of "one life two: two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things", and the principle is the principle of trigonometry, that is, the principle of cultural triadism.

The principle of cultural triadism holds that the world is square, the world is clear, the rules are clear, the rules are clear, democracy, compromise, struggle, plunder, sharing, openness, and so on. Ideology stresses democracy.

The principle of cultural dualism believes that the world is round, the world is chaotic, and the circle is one, emphasizing equality, fairness, closure, harmony, equality, centralization, sharing, and so on. Ideologically closed.

From this, it is not difficult to see that the cultural perceptions due to the differences in cultural roots are also completely different.