Heat rises

When one jubilantly inwardly express how much more ‘grounded’ one has become, there is the obsessive-compulsive part of me that is decidedly uncomfortable. Uncomfortable regarding the movement in only one direction – downwards.

There’s a nagging part that dislikes the incongruity; where there is down there must be up. Whether this is a false dichotomy remains to be seen.

Why do fire ants hurt so much?
Why do bulls charge at red flags?
Why is the token animal of Gryffindor in ‘Harry Potter’ a lion, and its colours scarlet and gold?
Why do we use snakes and rats to describe treacherous people?

And why are the elements, silly as they seem, replete in fictional stories new and old?

“Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.”

– Katara, ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’

Was it a conscious choice to use ‘Fire’ as the aggressor? Would it feel just as coherent if the ‘Water’ nation attacked?

You might say, well humans, like other fruit-eating creatures developed specialized areas of photo-receptors to locate red fruits like apples, peaches and an assortment of berries: strawberries, raspberries, etc. That’s probably true – definitely true according to Darwin, but they’re not mutually exclusive are they?

The point is this: the implicit assumption both parties make when writing and reading this phrase: “I need to be more grounded” is that there is a metaphorical middle ‘ground’ (hah) so to speak between the earth and the sky. We take concrete, physical reality and turn it into abstraction for communication, in fact it doesn’t seem as if there’s a better way of imparting one’s thoughts. Any person instinctively understands what it means to be more ‘grounded’. No teaching in schools or explanation in dialogue is necessary. We simply understand. Isn’t that weird?
“I need to become more earthy, solid. Part of me has become soil.” In what universe does that make sense ‘rationally’?

“…till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

– Genesis 3:19

If one is too ‘hot’-headed then perhaps one is too impulsive, too rash; bursting with passion but all for nought, as flames don’t burn forever without fuel. Their heat energy rises into the air, warming the upper atmospheres and condensing into water droplets in the form of clouds, eventually to fall effortlessly back onto the surface of the Earth.
And so the cycle continues.

http://www.plosin.com/work/AristotleMean.html

Whilst out running with an old acquaintance of mine, she shared her view of ‘balance’ as a life philosophy. Then, upon researching Confucius’ ‘Doctrine of the Mean’ (孔子的中庸), I chanced upon this essay. The author refers instead to Aristotle’s ‘Doctrine of the Mean’ but encapsulates what I’m trying to convey; I believe it is actually tantamount to the ‘Middle Way,’ or the ‘Dao’ (道).