House of the
Five Elements is a website gateway to an understanding and
appreciation of the five elements: how our body and the global
environment interact in their recycling, how cultures have
advocated for their integrity, how their roles in human culture
have surpassed physicality to become vocabulary and templates for
science, literature and value systems.
House of the Five Elements has a dual mission. The first part of
the mission is to build a case for the natural elements as a
ubiguitous (globally accepted) template of knowledge to explain and
support "Vitalism". Vitalism, which includes philosophic
materialism, is the universal practice and belief that nature
includes unseen forces which work through the five elements, and
that everything is in some sense "alive" and vital to the web of
life. The second part
of the mission is to demonstrate the effectiveness of configuring
related information in mandalic clusters. Such clusters can then be
grouped into families of related content or themes. I believe that
this method not only stimulates both hemispheres of the brain, but
it also facilitates the creation of webs of significance or
semantic networks. As I examine the five elements in the arts and
sciences of various cultures, I will be highlighting the elements
in the three senses by which they are often understood : as content
in a physical sense (e.g. the natural elements), as model in a
process sense (e.g. Chinese medicine), and as metaphor in a
metaphysical sense (e.g. ancient cosomology). This approach or
aspect of the House of the Five Elements is the Space aspect, a
Consciousness which empowers equality and
broadmindedness.
Image Maat (above)
- Natural Five
Elements
Image Graphic
(above) - Earth Icon
Those who view
the cosmos as a vital and living environment filled with the
mystery of power and love have encouraged the growth of the human
family toward its highest potential through five element
teachings.Their contributions have appeared in many parts of the
world in many different eras. Some are ongoing, with sources in the
mists of prehistory and guarded by traditions, and some are
original and modern and very accessible. Readers can return to this
site periodically, via RSS technology, to view my interpretation of
this global community of "Vitalists". House of the Five Elements is
my attempt to bring this five element community of vitalists into
greater public view-- a "honor museum" so to speak, of their words
and images. I trust that readers will find encouragement in knowing
more about these individuals and their contributions. This aspect
of the House of the Five Elements is the Water aspect, a Heart
which impowers purity and natural order.
Image Maat (above)
- Five Bodies
How
do we communicate our inherited understandings, both material and
subtle, to present and future generations? One model of explanation
appears consistently in world literature, science, and art : the
five element cluster or, as I like to call it, the "Vital Wheel."
The Vital Wheel has a long history of providing a user friendly
interface for community members to access community resources and
"databases" of cultural wisdom. And even today, the Vital Wheel
supports strategies for multi-culturalists to integrate global
Modernism with local indigenous life. Simply expressed, with the
Vital Wheel, the image of the message and message of the image are
one. As I highlight this ancient wonder of information design in
its uses for modern day concerns, I will examine other artifacts of
information design along the timeline of history. This aspect of
the House of the Five Elements is the Air aspect, a Mind that
empowers clarity and liberty.
Image
Maat (above) - Five Element Vital
HealthWheel
Image Photo (above)
- "St. Mary Magdalene" courtesy of and © Robert
Lentz.
===================================================
Given
sun,soil,air,and water, a plant does not need to be told how to
grow.
-Urie Bronfenbrenner
===================================================
Editorial Notice
Since
new insights emerge in unexpected and delightful ways and human
errors surface all the time, this site will be under constant
construction. Unless otherwise noted, all narratives, photos, and
art work at this site are the work of Clay Moldenhauer, or are
public domain objects. No copies are permissible except for
personal use or educational use as accepted under fair use doctrine
of copyright law. Staff at this site follow the same fair use
principle, but if you have concerns, please contact us. If there
are materials or graphics that you would find useful in your work,
feel free to contact Clay Moldenhauer, the webmaster of this site.
Use the email address at
the bottom of this page, without the term "SPAM".
Other
images, not used at this site, can be found at
ClayMoldenhauerImage
at phanfare.com
