More exciting content, please follow us.
The Huangdi Neijing on Emotions:
The five emotions correspond to the five organs; illness arises from the heart, and emotions determine human health.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) posits that “illness arises from the heart,” suggesting that the occurrence of disease is related to “emotions.” This aligns with modern medicine’s understanding of the relationship between mental health and disease. Research in modern medicine also shows that over 75% of diseases are closely related to psychosocial factors. Therefore, maintaining a healthy mind is one of the essential conditions for ensuring physical and mental well-being!
Everyone is familiar with the term “seven emotions and six desires,” but when it comes to the specifics, only a few may know. The so-called seven emotions refer to the seven types of human feelings and emotions. Different schools have similar interpretations of the seven emotions.
The six desires refer to the six innate desires of humans, which do not require teaching. The concept of six desires was first introduced in the “Lüshi Chunqiu – Guisheng”: “What is meant by full life is that all six desires are appropriately satisfied.” So what exactly are the six desires? The Eastern Han philosopher Gao You commented on this: “The six desires are life, death, ears, eyes, mouth, and nose.” Thus, the six desires broadly refer to human physiological needs or desires.
It should be said that the seven emotions and six desires are fundamental psychological and physiological emotions of humanity. However, excessive emotions can harm the heart, and intense desires can harm the body. If issues arise with emotions and desires, how should we address them? The Huangdi Neijing provides excellent answers to this question.
The Huangdi Neijing categorizes what we commonly refer to as the seven emotions and six desires, grouping joy, anger, worry, thought, sadness, fear, and shock into five categories, represented by joy, anger, thought, sadness, and fear, known as the five emotions (五志, wǔ zhì). The five emotions correspond to the five organs; if the seven emotions become excessive, they can disrupt the flow of qi (气, qì) and blood (血, xuè), leading to various ailments.
As stated in the “Suwen – Yin Yang Correspondences,” “Anger harms the liver, joy harms the heart, thought harms the spleen, worry harms the lungs, and fear harms the kidneys.” This indicates that excessive emotions can directly affect the physiological functions of the internal organs, resulting in various pathological changes. Different emotional stimuli can harm different organs, leading to distinct pathological changes. Specifically, the internal harm caused by the seven emotions includes:
1. Joy harms the heart
Joy can promote the flow of qi and blood, relax the muscles, and help eliminate fatigue. However, excessive joy can damage heart qi. When yang is damaged, heart qi becomes agitated, leading to scattered spirit and extreme evil qi, resulting in palpitations, insomnia, forgetfulness, and even dementia. Therefore, one must learn to control their emotions and achieve a state of “not being happy with external things, nor being sad with oneself.”
2. Anger harms the liver
Anger causes qi to rise, harming the liver and leading to feelings of gloom, irritability, dizziness, and is also a significant cause of hypertension, coronary heart disease, and gastric ulcers. Thus, when faced with troubles, one must learn to remind oneself that “everything will pass,” “losing money avoids disaster,” and “contentment brings happiness,” which will lighten the mood and calm the mind.
3. Thought harms the spleen and stomach
Excessive thinking can lead to qi stagnation, causing the nervous system to malfunction, reducing digestive fluid secretion, and resulting in loss of appetite, poor digestion, fatigue, and feelings of depression. If you are someone who tends to overthink, find someone to talk to; sharing your thoughts can help alleviate your burdens.
4. Worry and sadness harm the lungs
Worry and sadness are closely related to the lungs; intense sorrow can harm the lungs, leading to dry cough, shortness of breath, hemoptysis, hoarseness, and changes in respiratory rate, severely disrupting digestive function.
5. Shock and fear harm the kidneys
Shock and fear can disrupt the nervous system, leading to tinnitus, deafness, dizziness, impotence, and even death. In life, there have been many cases where people have died from fear-inducing language.
It is evident that psychological and mental states have a significant impact on the flow of qi and blood and the five internal organs. The saying that illness arises from depression reflects this principle. Therefore, our approach to health preservation must not overlook the aspect of emotional health.
MANJIEXUAN
Scan the QR code to gain more health preservation knowledge.