5 LIGHTS:  The 5 Lights are the method used here to structure and frame reality. It is used to structure time, cross reference philosophies, balance food, orchestrate farming, and establish purification events. It has a long history of use among thoughtful humans. In Bon, Pythagorean, Gnostic, Manichaean, Buddhist, Taoist & Jain philosophy, the Five Lights or Elements are the building blocks of everything in the Universe. This System is ordered around these Lights. (Many of the allocations are unique to this system and differ from other 5 Element Systems.)  For further associations of things under the heading of the five Lights, see 5 Light Associations in various Spiritual Paths.

It is important to note that the categorizing of things into fives here is not dependent on their outer manifestation as in some systems. For instance, the Chinese system of 5 elements often categorizes food solely by their outer 5 colors. Here food is categorized by underlining botanical realities -  something that was not available before modern science. This five fold system is inspired by many ancient viewpoints, but is not constrained by them. Where science has made available deeper realities, deviation from traditional allocations has been made based on new information unavailable to the ancients. A global awareness of cultural and historical limitations and miopic viewpoints has made five fold analysis of larger and larger concepts and patterns possible.

So this Teaching is structured around the concept of  the "5 Lights". These 5 Lights form the backbone and structure of this system. These 5 Lights have 5 colors, 5 tastes, 5 stars, 5 seasons, 5 Religions, and so on. Since everything is organized around this five-fold system, it is worth taking a moment to introduce these Lights. They are not just the 5 elements of Pythagoras and the Greeks and states of matter like solid, liquid, gaseous, but indicate something different:
 

• Fire: Striving, Expanding, flourishing, warm, active, work, labor, cooking, gym, spiritual practices, yoga, energetic, productive, creative. Light, energy, electricity, sun, moon, time, calendars.  Symbol: Mars star. Main Color: Red, Orange.  (Called "Light" by Mani)
• Wind: Growing, Rising energy, Wood, Greenery, plants, plant foods, incense, air, forest, wooden mala beads. Symbol: Jupiter star.  Main Color: Green, tourquoise.  (Called "Air" or "Wood" in some systems)
• Zephyr: Learning, study, philosophy, religion, zazen. Admiring, attracting, alluring, relationships, gatherings, dna, reproduction, pollination, art, beauty, food, seeds, flowers, the void. Symbol: Venus star.  Main Color: White.  (Called "Void", "Ether" or "Space" in some systems)
• Earth: Encorporating, All solid structured things, diminishing, falling things, sleep, elderly, sick, government, buildings, construction, plowing, mining, farms, soil, rocks, foundations, gravity. Contracting, storing, harvesting, pantry, fridge, freezer.  Symbol: Saturn star. Main Color: Yellow, tan.   (Called "Fire" by Mani)
• Water:  Surviving, All liquid, adaptable, flowing things, irrigation. Stability, purity, washing, onsens, fasting, cleaning. Symbol: Mercury star.  Main Color: Black, Dark Blue. Purple.

Some of the river civilizations also categorized things as male and female, or yin and yang, which is something also used in this system. For example: Aramaic esoteric movements of the middle east considered barley a male grain, and wheat a female, and  emphasized barley and critiqued wheat as a "Greek" food. Barley is emphasized in this system as well, but not for this reason.  Here we will speak mainly of the five fold division of things even tho we also recognize a yin yang aspect to each of the five as well. The various Mountains often had an origin of all things tradition that placed the five lights at the beginning of things. The system here seeks to delve down to the core essence of things and all phenomenah, including our own consciousness. Having foundational traditions that echo this approach is informative. The tradition of seeing things as manifestations of five root energies manifest in most of the 5 Mt regions: The Bonpos of Tibet categorize almost everything into 5 buddha families or 5 elements. The Pythagoreans and Gnostics were known to acknoweldge 5 elements as well. Manichaeans were famous for their 5 Lights and fivefold categorization of everything. Zen practicioners saw things organized by their five Dhyani Buddhas, and the Mandaeans had their 5 Kings of Light and 5 Kings of darkness.
 

• Fire: The Bon teachings speak of the "Odnga", the 5 pure lights that arose in the primordial purity. "The Five Pure Lights is an essential teaching in the Dzogchen tradition of Bon and Tibetan Buddhism. For the deluded, matter seems to appear. This is due to non-recognition of the five lights."
• Wind:  The Gnostic teachings speak of 5 Seals: “These are the glories that are higher than every glory, that is, the Five Seals...” (Trimorphic Protennoia 49:26), but Jungian annalysis emphasized four and four times four.
• Zephyr: The Manichaean  teachings are ripe with pentad framing, and speak of 5 Lights at the beginning and as the underlining structure of all things, including consciousness which they say has five aspects: Reason, Mind, Intelligence,  Thought &  Understanding.
• Earth: The Zen teachings speak of the five Dhyani Buddhas at the heart of everything.
• Water:  The Mandean teachings speak of the 5 Kings of Light and 5 of Darkness.

 

The propensity to delude oneself, to blindly accept false traditions, and to yield ones core values to the "group" is very strong. It is an inbred part of the human psyche. No one is totally immune. It pervades all religious thinking. Even the best spiritual paths contain erroneous ideas and customs. By simultaneously working with 5 or more diverse spiritual Paths we open ourselves up to a check and balances system that highlights universal common themes as well as exposes individual weaknesses and cultural oddities that bear no real meaning on the road to individualization.  Sometimes a Path will have a unique insight into something valuable, or a practice or tradition that is either meaningless or even harmful. Here are a few random examples:
 
 

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