Subdivisions of Nature – English

Let us begin by becoming better aware of the degree of difference in relating to the world and to the perceived structure of nature between speakers of English and speakers of Chinese, so that we can begin to recognize the complexity of the obstacles that we are facing in attempting to understand the Dao.

According to modern physicists, nature is composed of two fundamental components, space and time. Modern humans all have a similar degree of awareness of relationships in space and time, but different cultures can develop differences in organizing their understanding of these relationships. An important example concerns how different cultures subdivide their awareness of space and time. How many subdivisions of space and time do speakers recognize as natural? How many subdivisions of nature are there, really?

Science is a Western development. According to modern science, we live in a world of three dimensions of space and one dimension of time, for a total of 4 dimensions of space and time. Why three dimensions of space, and not some other number? Why one dimension of time, and not some other number? Is this a truism of nature itself, or does the Indo-European grammar of our language somehow influence our understanding of nature? What does the word dimension mean anyway?

Subdivisions of Space

Speakers of English ‘naturally’ recognize that all of space, and all of the world around us, is subdivided into FOUR directions:

In ancient times, speakers of Greek, a language that is related to English, recognized that all that exists in space exists as a combination of FOUR elements, which compose all matter in space:

Among other things, these FOUR elements symbolize the FOUR states of matter in space that speakers of English traditionally recognize:

Air is an example of a gas, earth is a solid, water is a liquid, and fire symbolizes energy.

The ancient Greeks recognized FOUR forces in space, known as:

The names have long since changed, but modern science still recognizes that there are FOUR forces of nature, FOUR forces that affect things that occupy space, known as:

When things that occupy space are put in the mouth, they can produce a taste. Speakers of English recognize, not coincidentally, FOUR tastes:

Geometry is represented by 4 fundamental units of existence in space, which represent our awareness of dimensions in space:

Subdivisions of Time

The grammar of English causes its speakers to recognize FOUR primary measurements of time:

The importance of the day, the month, and the year are easy to understand, as changes in these units of time are clearly based on changes that are seen in space. The day is based on the rotation of the earth, the month is based on the revolution of the moon about the earth, and the year is based on the revolution of the earth about the sun. The primary importance of the hour is explained in depth in the book. Other units of time, such as the week and the minute, are not primary units of time, but are secondary units.

Each year is subdivided into FOUR seasons:

Each month is subdivided into FOUR weeks:

This division of the month into FOUR weeks was more exact in ancient times, when the ancestor of English used lunar months, instead of the solar months that are used in modern times.

Each day used to be subdivided into FOUR parts. Just as the subdivisions of the month were themselves composed of 3 months, subdivisions of the day were composed of 3 hours. In ancient times, these roughly corresponded to:

Because the position of the speakers of the English language within the context of the evolution of our species, speakers of English are naturally guided by their grammar to recognize that all units of time and space are naturally subdivided in a primary way into groups of FOUR. To speakers of English, it is natural that there are 4 primary subdivisions of nature.