
23 Mar Are Yin and Yang & the Five Elements Scientific?

Yin Yang and the Five Elements are the Standards of Oriental Medicine to Classify Our Body
‘Yin’ is Having Too Little Energy, and ‘Yang’ is Too Much Energy
‘Yin and Yang’ is the Conceptualization of Functions of Organs
The ‘Endocrine Theory’ of Modern Medicine is Another Expression of ‘the Theory of Five Lines’ of Oriental Medicine
Looking into the Yin and Yang and the functions of organs, it is clinically proven that decreased performance of the kidney has a greater probability of causing heart-related diseases. This kind of phenomenon is explained as the weakening of ‘water-energy which makes it difficult to control ‘the fire energy’ in the concept of the Five Elements. It describes relationships of these energies to be compatible(상생) and incompatible(상극) to express more complicated functions of the human body. This concept of the Five Elements is very similar to the Endocrine system of Modern medicine. The endocrine system explains the constant cycle of excreted hormones by offsetting each other’s power, creating a balance. This organic structure of organs explained through the Endocrine system is synonymous to the concept of the Five Elements.
Though the jargons and ways of explaining the concepts are different, the Yin and Yang and the Five Elements of Oriental Medicine can be said to be identical to the concepts widely accepted and used in Modern Medicine. Or, considering that the idea of sympathetic nerves and parasympathetic nerves are found only recently (less than 100 years ago), Oriental Medicine, which studied and confirmed through practice these concepts thousands of years ago, can be said to be more ‘accurate’ and ‘practical’.