Correspondences
I like to think about correspondences, looking for patterns and connections among seemingly disparate things. One that perpetually seems to return to me is the four basic elements of any number of systems. North, south, east, west; air, earth, fire, water; time, space, matter, energy; etc.
It just occurred to me that there could be another fundamental set, the basic physical needs for survival: air, water, food, and shelter. Air and water would have the obvious elemental correspondences. Food seems earthy as what we eat either grows or runs upon the earth. And fire makes sense for shelter as warm and dry are the key factors most of the time.
As with the elements, air would seem to correspond with space and time with water. Food is a reasonable fit with matter and fire seems obvious as energy.
I never did find a satisfactory correspondence with the cardinal directions. I suppose my culture never presented me with any meaning for them other than geographical, so it’s harder for me to feel what their connections might be.
I find it interesting that of all these sets, survival needs are the only ones with a clear sequence of priority. We can live minutes without air, days without water, weeks without food, and an indeterminate length without shelter (depending upon one’s environment). I wonder if the connections drawn to other sets also give any indication of priority. Air before water before earth before fire? Space before time before matter before energy?
Having a distinct order also makes me think about the yin and yang qualities of the pattern. It seems that it would be yang (air, air, space), yin (water, water, time), yin (food, earth, matter), and yang (shelter, fire, energy). That reminds me of the connections typically drawn with the cardinal directions. They’re usually divided into two polarities, north-south and east-west. So if one were to face a yang direction and rotate in the corresponding manner, one would find the survival sequence (yang, yin, yin, yang). But that feels pretty tenuous, so maybe it’s happenstance.
Thinking is fun. 