Four Elements in the Universe and Man

By definition, Plato, and the elements, or elements - that's what it consists of and what the complex body decay. In other words, the elements are simple, primordial substance, which, according to the esoteric traditions of all ancient civilizations, are the basis and the cosmos, and humans.

Noting in general terms, what are these elements, we would like to explain why we are talking about four of them. The number "four", as is the number "seven" in all exercises, trying to find an explanation for the existence of the world and living beings, attached great importance. The number "four" is not taken at random. It is inextricably linked with the cosmos.

The tradition has always existed notions of the four basic elements that make up the universe, the macrocosm and microcosm (ie, including humans), although in different languages, and they were called differently.




These four elements, or elements are Fire, Air, Water and Earth. These terms are well known to us and familiar, but these elements do not completely coincide with what we call a fire, air, water and land, although include those concepts.
The word "space" makes us a sense of something huge, infinite, not giving any awareness or calculus so that seemed to be slipping away from us. We prefer not to think about it, all proposed explanations seem to us fantastic, devoid of logic, rather, the result of imagination than anything else.

This is the secret of the cosmos: according to ancient tradition, it is the third stage of a complex process, which is usually in the form of a triangle. The first stage of this process - Chaos; but chaos is not like a mess, but as infinite as that could potentially occur once. For infinite Chaos should Theos. This second phase comprises the sum of schemes, ideas and concepts that contribute to the transformation of the original Chaos, its organization and systematization. And finally, the third phase of the process - Space that arises and is based on the two previous items: Chaos, giving infinite and Teos, the shaping and order

. Cosmos, using the terminology of the ancient teachings, starts to develop, materialize, or, in other words, the series takes on a more concrete form, going through the seven stages, or parts, of the process.

The fact that we are aware of these four, another - barely, and the other two remain a mystery, forces us to focus on those that we know well. The lowest, the most concrete, the material element is the Earth. This is followed by a more subtle element - water, even more thin - the thinnest and Air - Fire. For them to go fifth element, which is called ether, and the characteristics of which are still unknown.

The land is related to the matter, with all that has dimensions that can be weighed, measured, move. The Earth - is what has a specific shape, weight, and not only on the scale of the cosmos (the form of planets and stars), but also in relation to the person (ie his body)

. Water symbolizes life, penetrating matter. This energy, washing it, the force impelling matter to the action, so that she did not remain inert. This is so that we can walk, talk, have a temperature, we can say that we live. It gives life to everything that moves in space, obeying immutable and mathematically perfect laws. Thus, the water - it is life energy, "blood" of the Earth and its life force

. Air - a "psyche", the soul, the combination of our emotions and feelings; this is what determines our attitude to things - positive or negative, is what motivates us in terms of feelings. This is the essence of Air: the expression of feelings, emotions world

. Fire - a world of thoughts and ideas. Moreover, the process occurs at an abstract term and can be perceived only as an abstract instrument, what we have is a way of thinking. Such is the nature of fire in space.

We are talking about the cosmic elements, but also speaking about the elements of the human: the fact that in the cosmos is the primary substances, incomprehensible for us a way embodied in matter, in man - fire the mind, air as feeling, water as a vital energy, the Earth as a body.

So macrocosm as it creates its like - Microcosm, that is human, and gives it the same content, the same structure, the same characteristics in miniature. Thus, due to the macrocosm man is connected with the cosmos, and may strive to know their secrets. Moreover, these secrets attracted him, as in the nature of people laid the nature of the cosmos. for the human body - is the same as the body of the universe; what is life energy for humans, it is also for the Cosmos; what is the scope of his senses, it is the same thing on a larger scale, and what we call mentality is simultaneously fire all universes whose existence we today perceive intuitively, and we hope to find in the future.

Always there was something deeper, unknown not only to the elements, the elements (in the sense that they are open to us in nature), but also in terms of human mysteries, combines all four elements. The myths that have reached us from the depth of even more ancient times, tell us about that, just as today we are in a state of the people, once before we went through a state of minerals, as if being part of the earth. As a result, a plurality of cycles of evolution we are in a state of the plant, being an element of water, passed through the stage of evolution of the animal world within the element air and finally reached the human stage of evolution, belongs to the element of fire, which is marked by the emergence of thoughts, thinking.

When ancient people turned to the gods of the elements, worship Fire, Air, Water and Earth, they do not mean just their physical manifestations, and intuitively felt the presence of something standing for terrestrial phenomena, sensed the hidden essence of the underlying elements. To the ancients always remained the undisputed fact that the planets and stars - it is not dead education, rotating in space, without any logic, and the living body, in its development is subject to the laws of evolution, concluding the spirit, just as a person, as a result of this constant relationship between macrocosm and microcosm.

Hence the desire of man to understand his spiritual identity - to further understand the nature of others, spiritualized nature. Therefore, said elements of the gods. Moreover, it was believed that these four basic elements repeatedly subdivided, and each respectively composed of seven smaller. Thus, there is an infinite number of sub-elements, which are operated by those whom the ancients called elementals. This word, the meaning of which is often not available to us, means entities that control the small elements, sub-elements, parts of the elements. When we talk about fire, water, air and earth, which we face a daily basis, it is conducted on the divisions of the earth element.

Fire - is the element underlying the most striking symbols of all religions, not only at the level of deity or entity representing the fire, but also in terms of building temples

. For example, the pyramids. All design, enclosing a typical configuration of the square, lying on the ground, and the triangles, forward up, like a flame, and converging at the endpoint - it temples dedicated to the Fire. The word "pyramid" encompasses the concept of Fire (from the Greek "Pyros" - "fire"). This temple, aspiring to that, being at the top, contains everything else, including what always, symbolically speaking, to attach greater importance than all the rest.

It is noteworthy that in all civilizations particularly important gods were associated with fire. At the same time we should not forget that in these cases there was a fire in mind, not only as a physical phenomenon.



Alchemists claimed that the four elements are correlated with metals: Fire - gold, air - with silver water - mercury and the Earth - with lead. Of particular interest is also matching the four cosmic elements of the four psychological qualities of the human person: Fire is associated with Knowledge, Air - with Audacity, Water - with the desire and the Earth - with silence. Briefly touch on the fact that the mean alchemists.

If the fire - this is mind, the ability to think, understand, work with ideas, the Fire will undoubtedly means Wisdom. Thus, the fire - it is knowledge, and knowledge - the culmination of human

. Air - this is courage, courage that helps us come to know. It is more than the force; This momentum, faith. Dare - so fearlessly rush ahead to attain Wisdom

. Water - is the desire. In other words, to be brave and wise, you first need to really want to. It's not as easy as it might seem at first glance. We used to say 'I want to leave "," I want to see the movie. " "Want" became the word unimportant and therefore practically does not reflect the will to act. But this quality is much better properties. It comes from the very essence of man, and extends to the last stages of humanity.

And finally, the earth element corresponds to silence. Silence - the first stage of the journey. In all ancient civilizations, we draw attention to the fact that the great knowledge were of esoteric nature. Why esoteric? Why closed? Yes, because if you do not keep quiet, it is very difficult to want; if not silence, it is very difficult to dare, it is difficult to know.

Those who was a great connoisseur of the human soul, such as Pythagoras, considered mandatory for their students to remain silent for five years (the so-called Pythagorean school akusmaticheskaya stage). Whether it was an ordeal? The silence was a necessary tool to ensure that the pupil was able to learn the basic - listen. Do not just listen to everything around, but listen to yourself, to find peace of mind, to suppress a vortex, causing constantly want more and more, without knowing exactly what it wants.

Now, when we try something to learn, first of all it works criticism and only then - knowledge; First, we ask the question: "Why?", "how do I explain this?", "how would you like it to be?". Pronounced so many unnecessary words that a particular result is almost impossible to achieve. And all the ancient schools possessed the wonderful mystery of silence, know that you first need to understand the essence, and then everything else.

That silence was intended to be a curtain on the way to the secret teachings - not in order to hide them, but to preserve, protect those who, not understanding and not knowing how to apply, would use them to harm, and not for the benefit of
Many of us want (why not?) To work with these teachings, not even always knowing what they are. The danger lies not in our curiosity. The danger is that, since these teachings are based on the laws or natural processes, we do not know them, we can make serious mistakes, cause considerable harm to themselves and to the rest. The silence was a kind of protection method protection; not with malicious intent, but rather due to the huge sense of responsibility.

Hence - esotericism as the castle, which is locked on knowledge. So today we often notice how little we have words and phrases with which it would be possible to talk on the still unusual for us theme. Before unusual that not being the subject of daily discussion, they seem to elude us.

Yet the ancient, esoteric skilled, left us the key that can open the locked door and enter through the silence - symbols. The characters that make up the universal language, to be accessed by all people, regardless of whether they speak the language. When we want to preserve, protect anything, we need a minimum number of simple, clear symbols. But Nature also carries a great symbols, for which, as a rule, concealed the great knowledge. Four elements comprise the great keys to understanding that can be applied both to the cosmos and to man, as a great and a small.

Our task - to decipher these characters, learn their language and mysterious again to understand each other, communicating in a common language, once again feel the brothers in a single tradition, in the same knowledge. Again, back to basics, to find the roots of the old, old fate and path to that fate. Then, perhaps, it has the feeling of brotherhood, which we are now so lacking.

I personally is not my purpose to fully disclose topics raised here. They deserve a deeper analysis, require more time. I suggest to open and manage symbols. I would like to see everything we wanted and were able to return to the true, the real, deep-seated elements that belong to us, because it came from the depths of our history. I would like to see all of us together could aspire to the goal, to the basics, to what we call the future, a future history.

Author: Delia Steinberg Guzman