The Year of The Dragon

January 23rd 2012. Chinese New Year. The Year of The Dragon.

The Dragon symbolises passion, flare, excitement, unpredictability, exhilaration, intensity. A true Fire sign, it can blaze up at any moment and be extinguished the next. But perhaps this is an ominous sign given the "predicted" end of the world this year?

When I attended the British Acupuncture Council conference in 2009 there was a fascinating keynote lecture given by Michael McIntyre, a well-renowned acupuncturist from Chipping Norton.

The essence of the lecture focused on the change in health from common 'Cold' diseases centuries ago, to 'Warm' diseases prevalent in today's society. Mostly centred around a pattern of disharmony known as Yin Xu (or Yin deficiency).

Most people are aware of the black and white symbol of Yin and Yang, their original meanings being "sunny side of the hill" for Yang and "shady side of the hill" for Yin. Of course we all know these two opposites should be perfectly balanced but continuously changing. The change of day into night. The change of summer into winter. Activity followed by rest. Warmth and cold. Masculine and feminine. White and black.

What started as a seminar about individual health, eventually turned into a seminar about global issues.

Yin Xu in the individual is marked by low grade fever, night sweats, hot flushes, tiredness. All symptoms commonly seen around the time of menopause. A lot of these symptoms are caused by our lifestyles. Always on the go, rushing around from here to there, never stopping, work, work, work, grab a coffee, have a drink, must see so and so, got to go, kids to feed, mum to look after, things to see, things to read, things to buy, spend money, want this, want that, next new thing, onwards and upwards, go, go, go. Leading a Yang lifestyle.

But what about the world that we live in? For a least two centuries the world has been in a state of dramatic and continuous growth, since the birth of the industrial revolution, and has grown even more exponentially since the birth of the digital revolution. We live in, what many would agree is, a masculine world. Electricity. Automobiles. Population growth. Central heating. Mass farming. More mouths, more crops, more livestock. Plane travel. International communication. Computers. Nuclear power. Economic growth. More consumption. Keep on drilling. Drought. Anger. Conflict. War.

The world has been living in a constant state of Yang, by consuming the earth's most precious of Yin substances. Oil.

By it's very nature, oil is the epitome of Yin. Black, viscous, cold, buried deep within the earth, produced over thousands of years of 'rest'. And what has been the cause of consuming the earth's Yin substance? Global warming. The world has become Yin Xu.

So has our consumption of this commodity caused the acceleration of the world's Yin Xu? It's an interesting theory to ponder. And our we being directly affected by the world's Yin Xu? Is this why we as individuals are suffering with more Warm diseases nowadays? As a direct consequence of oil consumption? I can only guess at the truth, but it does make me wonder...

So, this is the Year of The Dragon. Unpredictable and fiery. True Yang. In the theory of Yin and Yang, it is said that one cannot exist without the other. If we continue to consume the planet's Yin and live in an internationally Yang society, what will that mean? In a world where the countries leaders are fighting for economic growth and expansion, how can this be sustained?

I write this blog, not to be all "doom and gloom", but to make you think about the bigger picture. Something, somewhere, at some point, has got to give. Perhaps instead of growth and expansion what we should be striving for is rest and reflection.

I don't have all the answers, just my own thoughts and actions. But what we definitely need to strive for is balancing a world that is very much out of balance.

2012. The Year of The Dragon. Passion, flare, excitement, unpredictability, exhilaration, intensity.

Will it burn bright? Or will it burn out?