2025.02.17 - Everyone Should Understand the Five Elements

Title: 2025.02.17 – Everyone Should Know the Five Elements

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The Master said: “To be respectful without propriety is to labor; to be cautious without propriety is to be timid; to be brave without propriety is to cause chaos; to be upright without propriety is to be tangled. When a gentleman is sincere toward his parents, the people flourish in benevolence; therefore, if the past is not neglected, the people will not steal.” — Analects

“New‑Age Wellness” Is Trending: This Generation Is Living Like Seniors https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/1CvwAjMFPsP2lrPgEFRBIg
The phenomenon of “spiritual seniors” has sparked heated debate online. Some see it as young people giving up—“to lose ambition and vigor at a young age is unacceptable.” Yet another camp, including myself, argues that in today’s hyper‑competitive and exhausting environment, the “spiritual senior” mindset is precisely the alternative healing each of us needs. Trim non‑essential desires, cut off unnecessary external distractions, follow natural rhythms, live in the present, and engage mindfully. In an orderly, grounded, and focused way of life, internal friction and anxiety naturally fade away.

“Ne Zha 2” Is a Smash Hit, Yet We Prescribed a Wellness Regimen for Shen Gongbao https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/oPnoj8NunJA1AvlMMKsjDw
With “Ne Zha 2” dominating the box office, Shen Gongbao has become a figure many empathize with. Diligent, earnest, never slacking in his training, and even bringing back a hundred baskets of fish and shrimp among the medicinal herbs he buys for the people of Chentang Pass. I expected him to be a villain, but he feels more like an ordinary person we might know. Still, his chicken‑chest posture and hoarse voice make us want to write him a “wellness prescription.” If he practiced the second movement of the “Eight Brocade”—“Drawing the Bow Like Shooting an Eagle”—perhaps he could straighten his back and sharpen his voice to be even clearer than Ne Zha’s!

Nona | Everyone Should Know the Five Elements, Not Just Aspiring Acupuncturists https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Oj65bVsso4C47WQxVvhwAQ
Everyone truly should understand the Five Elements, not only those who wish to become Five‑Element acupuncturists. The knowledge is universal and helps us better grasp human nature. I’m fortunate to have started teaching early; after earning my acupuncture credentials, I began lecturing on Five‑Element acupuncture at a night school in London. In London, anyone can attend night‑school classes—unemployed people, young adults, and a mix of others. They aren’t there to become acupuncturists; they’re there out of genuine interest.

Fu Peirong: Why Do Modern People Suffer So Many Odd Ailments? A Passage from Zhuangzi Predicted It https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Q5LSE2aSN8MLc6ZF-tATyA https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/auVdYzENIA3lh_rAhzC1Fg

Where there is mechanism, there must be organic matters; where there are organic matters, there must be an organic mind. When the mind resides in the chest, purity is lacking; when purity is lacking, the spirit becomes unstable; an unstable spirit is not supported by the Way.

How a Person Without Schemes Can Enter the World https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/nU53lQzy0T8PtdctnhZSGA
Regarding entering society, there are two deep‑seated biases. The first assumes that only scheming people are fit for the world—here “scheming” is a neutral term. Those without schemes, with simple hearts and good natures, are deemed unsuitable because they can’t navigate complexities and may be taken advantage of. I, however, contend that only such unscheming individuals can truly “enter the world” in the genuine sense, provided they find the right path and maintain self‑integrity. That is the core of this article, to be elaborated later. The second bias lumps all unscheming people together as foolish. While that may be true for some, it overlooks a second possibility: there are two kinds of unscheming people who are not only not foolish but are especially favored by heaven.

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Originally written by Ping Xia (平侠) and published in Chinese on 拾一集 (Weekly Reflections). Translated and adapted for DriftSeas with permission.