Earth, Air, Water, Fire

To the Greeks, these were the four elements. They are usually the elements of mythology, and are therefore commonly used in Fantasy Fiction, of which I am a big fan. They are also the starting point for both and old and new game, called Alchemy. Alchemy was an old DOS game that was reborn as a smartphone game. You combine the different starting elements to create new elements. Now, different games have different combinations, but some are obvious, like water + earth = mud.

I recently starting playing such a game on my phone, which is one of the genesis points for the thoughts that follow.

Each Tuesday night, the Barony of Bryn Gwlad (Austin, TX) holds its fighter practice. At the age of 54 and after a rather embarrassing number of years away, I have been trying to get back into SCA Armoured or Chivalric Combat. Last night, for the first time since coming back, and after an embarrassing number of months fighting, I finally felt like my feet were not cast in blocks of concrete.

Now, I should explain that I have been taking it rather careful as I have been getting back into this endeavor. It is a strenuous sport, and the last time I tried to come back, I pulled a muscle and was unable to fight for several weeks afterward. But, in addition to being careful, I have just felt slow and old. Last night, I still felt slow and old, but I no longer felt slow and old and stuck in concrete.

That is the second of the genesis points of the thoughts that follow.

Miyamoto Musashi was a samurai who lived from 1584 – 1645. He was a supreme fighter and wrote The Book of Five Rings. Mushashi's five rings were Ground (Earth), Water, Fire, Wind (Air) and Void.

This is the final genesis point of the thoughts that follow.

To begin, let me give my own thoughts on Earth, Water, Fire and Air as they relate to fighting. My thoughts are not based directly on Musashi, though The Book of Five Rings had an effect on these thoughts.

For Earth, consider a boulder, it is hard, unmoving. It is not swayed or moved easily. Solid and unaffected are good descriptions of earth. Water flows. It can seem calm and suddenly move, but the movement is generally smooth and flowing. Water follows around the obstacles in encounters. It conforms to what it encounters and envelops. Fire burns, obviously. Fire is passion. In fighting, fire is the sudden and constant attack. Air provides no resistance to what come at it. Try hitting the air, and it doesn't work. Air as a fighting style is often described as not being there when the attack comes.

I am a large man, and I have always been an Earth fighter, solid, moving slowly, enduring attack, and then usually striking back. As I grew older, this has become more and more true. When I lost a step, it did not seem to effect me as much as others, because that step was never very fast to begin with.

My recent moment of enlightenment had to do with combining the concepts of Musashi with the combinations created in the Alchemy game.

If you combine Earth with Water, you get Mud. Mud still remains a type of earth, and yet it can now flow around the attacks of an opponent, but more than flowing around them, mud is sticky. Once you get into the mud, it can be hard to get out, mud sticks. This is a very appropriate metaphor in combat. To flow around your opponent and then stick while you defeat him.

Earth and Fire yields Lava, lava flows around obstacles, but burns them as it does. Lava is connected to Volcano, which can explode. To burn while flowing around the attacks of your opponent is extremely appropriate and many attacks can be compared to explosions. A volcano can rumble for years, and yet still explode suddenly. To be able to explode suddenly can be a powerful advantage.

By thinking about Earth combined with Water and Fire, the earth fighter has new ways to think about combat. The fighter need not abandon earth to see new ways to defeat his opponent by the introduction of water and fire.

I am still working on how to combine Earth and Air in combat. In the game, Earth + Air = Dust. I have yet to find a good way to use dust as a metaphor for fighting, but it may still come.