Fire element in our modern world culture is extremely out of balance – this is why we’re getting climate change among many other ills – war, bombs – there’s too much heat being pumped into the atmosphere – that’s the most worrying thing about climate change – there’s too much heat because we want too much fuel to drive round in our fast cars or fly across the world or burn it in various other ways – we have this culture that values intensity so the more intense you are the more ambitious you are the more fire you have – of course outbreaks of anger go with that –
fire can be so devastating – of all the five elements fire is swift – so balancing fire is much harder than balancing earth which is slow moving – or water – and air is very responsive so once you get fire out of balance, the heat in the atmosphere – winds start going faster –
So fire is the one to find ways to balance – I hope as I’m speaking you’re feeling the fire force as a force, not just as an idea – let’s feel it for a moment – heat – fire is not all just flames – it’s also heat – and lack of heat – cold – that’s all fire element – feel the force of heat – how volatile it is – how quickly fire can burn everything down – if it gets away and becomes out of balance – I don’t like you, so let’s set off a nuclear bomb – bang – we all go –
How do we find ways to balance this element which is presently destroying us – there are two ways to balance the elements – one is to not do so much fire, and get more water and earth happening and air – that’s the simple way – when you’re hot you have a shower, cool down – when you’ve been running about you rest which is earth – those are ways of balancing by bringing in another element to stop stoking up the fire – pour water on the fire and it goes out, hopefully –
We’ll look at how do we balance within the fire element itself – how do we understand what is healthy fire – when the element is balanced – the healthy qualities of fire come out – feel the energy not just the ideas of this –
If you have an extreme of fire like we have now – things are too hot, too fast, too intense – on an emotional level that can lead to anger and fury – ambition – wanting to be president – wanting to be the top one – competition – lots of emotions, when they become too extreme we end up with the situation we have now – at the moment we value those things – it’s great to be president, have lots of money, go to the moon go to Mars – climb Mt Everest – feel the forcefulness of fire that pushes us to achievement and pressure –
what does the fire feel like in your body –on this emotional level – feeling anger and intense pressure and desire for more or better –
on the other extreme is lack of energy – all of us with ME, long covid, old age – we don’t fare well in a culture that only values fire – we don’t have enough to cope with that, to keep up – and it gets too cold – the climate at the moment is either too hot or too cold – that’s all fire – cold doesn’t feel like fire, it’s a lack of it –
let’s move to the middle – when you have a nice fire in your grate giving just enough warmth that it can cook your dinner, keep you all happy – not burn the house down – then it’s beautiful – people stare into the fire – at beautiful flames leaping and dancing – fire element is beauty and creativity – the bliss of being just warm enough – just right – seeing those dancing flames – bliss, delight and joy – light is also fire – when the lovely light shines without sunlight being too strong and burning us – daylight – gentle daylight –
feel in your body-mind, in your energy field, the dancing creative fire that delights us – that’s just right – once we can really feel that, we can feel when it gets too much or too little – and we can go back to centre – if we know the feel of healthy fire – enthusiasm, interest – taking an interest in life – without trying to grab it, capture it and own it – enjoying life – without needing to have everything –
the love that goes with fire is sympathetic joy – joy that sees and delights in the goodness in people and in the world – and can feed that back – oh, you did this lovely thing – what a nice thing you did for us – you made a beautiful painting – sympathetic joy is encouraging, supportive – that kind of fire – helping people develop their good qualities –
again feel what’s that like when you do that for others or others do it for you – sympathetic joy – appreciating – it sets the flame burning and not too much – can you feel that in your body – oh you’ve done something really lovely – feel that flame in your body – lighting and warming you –
with fire we have to relax – tension is fire – if we tense up too much, we burn the place down – or get burnt – we burn down – stress tension – burnout – relax deeply with fire – let the warmth be gentle –
let’s spend a few minutes getting a feel for how our culture could be if we went for middle fire – instead of the extreme – how much would we all have to shift what we want out of life – instead of saying I’ve got two days off I’ll fly to Timbuktu – if we found more middle way amounts of fire in our life – it’s all right to sit around and be a bit bored – or it feels boring not to rush around – you wouldn’t necessarily be bored, but it feels like it if you want to rush instead – what would it be like to not rush – not to need to make as much profit as possible – to value the warmth – value the good qualities – mutual appreciation -I don’t have to be top dog to be appreciated – I could be appreciated for being a good neighbour –
feel the creativity of this – how delightful creativity is – beautiful – entrancing – our life could be like that – get a feel for that – gently – and relax while you do it –
are your eyes gently shining – how’s your body – does it feel warm gently warm – comfortable – then all the other elements – water wouldn’t be rising into the sky – earth would be fertile – you wouldn’t have the terrible fires we’re having now – the air would not be pushed too hard into hurricanes – we’d have lovely gentle weather – get a feel of that for a moment –
CLIMATE EMERGENCY El Fire m ox 230110 tr ed