Getting to Know Your Five Spirits

神
Shen

The ancient Chinese had a unique view of the spirit. They believed that there are five aspects of being, each arising from different sources and housed in different places. These spirits are responsible for our emotional wellbeing and social behavior. Since they’re hanging around in there, how about we take a moment to familiarize ourselves with these facets of ourselves and how to support them.

First, it’s important to note that ideas of spirit are not spiritual, as we understand it today. Chinese medicine is concerned with the practical not the ethereal. Religion plays no part. In fact, one of the most famous traditional doctors, Sun Simiao, stated that when treating a patient you should conform to their belief system to get the best results. Instead, the spirits are probably better defined as aspects of our psyche and should be considered as such.

This article will focus on Shen, the ‘chief’ among spirits, responsible for proper comportment and balancing the others.

Shen: The Heart-Mind

Shen is what we would call today ‘consciousness.’ It’s the aspect of ourselves that can deliberately reach out and affect the world around us. We can see it in the quality of someone’s eyes – someone with a strong Shen has vibrant and engaging eyes like a child. Conversely, someone with a weak Shen has dulled eyes that don’t seem present. Stored in and ruled by the heart, Shen is considered the ruler of the other spirits. But in perceiving the emotions of the other spirits it can be affected by them.

Shen is called the heart-mind because consciousness is how Shen can consolidate the other spirits. It has to be aware in order to rule. However, this leads it open to being overtaken by the mind. It’s my feeling that many who suffer from anxiety are experiencing this imbalance – they’re too much in their head, and the heart is shut out.

As such, the heart-mind is constantly in a conflict that defines this relationship; control. The heart controls the inner world, the mind controls how we interpret and interact with the outside world. Imbalance occurs when one thinks it knows better than the other and takes over. An overanalytical mind that attempts to control all situations will present with overthinking, depression, anxiety attacks, and insomnia. A heart that tries to carry all the load will result in erratic behavior, ‘following one’s heart’ regardless of consequence, palpitations, or chest pain.

Traditional texts will state that Shen is affected by joy. Great, you may think. You can’t ever be too joyful, right? In fact, the better word might be overstimulation. Cravings, desires, chasing that dopamine rush – these are excess joys that injure Shen and injure the spirit. In today’s world of instant gratification, we may be drawing too much on Shen and depleting it. Worse, the overstimulation often doesn’t even make us joyful.

Now we’re in a double-bind. Too much control one way or the other and we’re out of balance. Lose control and give in to stimulation and we deplete our Shen. So what are we supposed to do? Well… nothing.

Ok, that’s misleading. We can’t ‘do nothing’, the secret is in the how of doing. Enter the concept of wu wei. Translated literally, wu wei means ‘not do.’ The real meaning means not to force. In modern parlance it’s ‘being in the zone,’ where the doing seems spontaneous and effortless.

The irony that is the crux of the heart-mind interaction is that forcing anything only achieves the opposite result. You can’t force your heart rate to slow, that’ll only make you more anxious. Instead, you relax into it and the heart rate reduces on its own. You can’t force yourself to stop overthinking, that’s just more thinking. When you relinquish control and ‘go with it’, there are far fewer problems.

I encourage you to sit with that idea for a moment. Often, the instant reaction is skepticism. Our world is built on producing. Think of the messages we get:

God helps those who help themselves.

You won’t be given anything, you have to work for it.

No pain, no gain.

Wu wei is the contrast to this. You don’t need to force something. Better to be aware of the situation and act in accordance with it, than try to impose your will. Indeed, you may be able to achieve more if you push things, but there are consequences. We’re seeing them now in the high rates of anxiety, depression, disillusionment, anger and hopelessness.

When we relinquish control and learn to balance the heart-mind, the ruler is able to make appropriate decisions based on external circumstances and internal virtue.

心有所忆谓之意
意之所存谓之志

What the heart reflects on, that is called intention.
Where we focus our intentions, that is called will.