CONSULTANT, author and lecturer Raymond Lo is an expert in geomancy and traditional Chinese lifestyle topics such as ancient metaphysical theories.
Mr Lo, who is in his 50s and who lives in Hong Kong, graduated from Hong Kong University with a degree in economics and accounting but went on to study traditional Chinese theories such as the five elements and how they relate to people's lives.
my paper caught up with Mr Lo - who will be in town to give a talk on Jan 10 next year - to chat about the five elements and whether ancient Chinese theories are science, or superstition.
Can you explain the five elements?
The Chinese use the five elements as a generalisation of all lateral forces in the universe, categorising all matter into metal, water, wood, fire and earth.
These represent the physical objects but also pertain to your mood, events happening. Even your internal organs are supposedly related to these five things.
It is the foundation of Chinese medicine.
The basic principle is that if all the elements are in balance, you are in good health.
Can you explain what it means to have one element out of balance?
The Chinese believe that fire is related to the heart and blood circulation, for example. If your fire is too strong, for example, you may get high blood pressure.
If it is too weak, you may have low energy levels.
To take it further, water is related to the kidneys. Water tempers fire, and so if one has problems with high blood pressure, a Chinese medicine practitioner may look at the kidneys to see if the water element is strong enough.
What about how the five elements are related to moods?
In terms of moods, fire is related to joy, metal has to do with sadness and depression. And once an element is out of balance, your organs are affected.
Once your organs are affected, your general well-being is affected, too. Your mood will naturally be affected. The logic is quite simple, if you think about it.
Where did this traditional knowledge come from?
We can trace the history of Chinese metaphysics to the Yellow Emperor. In 2,700 BC, he associated everything with the five elements.
What is mysterious is who exactly came up with the theory, and how our ancestors discovered this different kind oflogic.
Chinese metaphysics - is it science or superstition?
Science is something you observe, then you formulate certain theories. You apply the theories to things in life, and you get predictable results. That's science.
The five-element theory is the same. The only mystery is who formulated those theories, and how they did it.
There are many things in the world, in life, you can't explain with science - why a baby is conceived, for example. Science can't prove that. But it happened.
All it means is that science hasn't reached the standard to explain that - yet.
