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Working With The Elements

M.K. Gandhi once wrote: "The human body is composed of what the ancient philosophers have described as the five elements. These are earth, water, vacancy, light and air" and there is a saying in the teachings of Yoga demanding that one become knowledgable in the ways of the five tattwas (elements) to practice the highest form of Yoga. There is a great deal of teaching on these five elements of space, air, fire, water and earth, which is doubled if you substitute aether or quintessence for space and follow the "natural science" of Aristotle, Hermeticists and Neo-Platonists. However, there is no body of literature on the practical and metaphysical applications of the five elements that surpasses the canon of the Bön Buddhist tradition of Tibet.

This article is in preparation and will be available before mid March 2007