What is the theory of unity between man and nature?

Autumn is the season when all things mature and the harvest is festive. It is also the season when the autumn wind is bleak, thousands of trees fall leaves, and hundreds of flowers wither. Most Chinese literati mourn autumn. Liu Yuxi, the "great poet" in the Tang Dynasty, has a famous poem that says: "Wherever the autumn wind comes, the fluttering of wild geese is sent away; when the court comes to visit the tree in the garden, the solitary guest is the first to hear it." There is also "A Dream of Red Mansions" in the literary masterpiece "A Dream of Red Mansions". I already feel that the autumn windows are full of sorrow, and the autumn rain can help the desolation." The moving poem. Are the sad and desolate feelings of autumn a result of literati and poets pretending to use their writing style to complain for no reason? No, science has proven that there is indeed a reason for autumn sadness, and it is the emotional response of many factors to people.

Chinese medicine believes that human beings are part of the natural world and form an indivisible whole with inherent connections with everything in the world. The life activities of the human body and the movement changes of internal organs are affected and restricted by the movement changes of the entire natural world. This view runs through the entire theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine and is reflected in medical practice. This dialectical thinking and method of studying the human body and understanding diseases is far superior to the mechanistic thinking and method that treats the human body as an isolated individual and mechanically divides the human body into several independent parts for study. Below we will introduce the theory of "correspondence between nature and man" in detail.

As early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, Chinese traditional medicine put forward the famous argument of "the correspondence between nature and man". "Heaven" represents nature, and "correspondence" means that changes in nature will inevitably cause human body reactions. If the movement of nature changes abnormally and exceeds the normal physiological regulation function of the human body, people will fall ill.

First of all, the four-season climate and day and night cycles will have an impact on the human body. There are certain rules in the seasonal changes of spring, summer, autumn and winter in nature: spring is warm, summer is hot, autumn is cool, winter is cold, and spring is windy, summer is hot and humid, autumn is dry, and winter is cold. This change in climate rhythm has a profound impact on all living things, including humans. In spring and summer, human skin is loose, blood vessels dilate, and more qi, blood, and body fluids flow to the body surface, so it is easier to sweat and urinate less; in autumn and winter, human skin is dense, blood vessels constrict, and more qi, blood, and body fluids flow toward the body. So you sweat less and urinate more. Once climate changes are too drastic or abnormal, the human body cannot adapt and diseases will easily occur. For example, if spring is cold when it should be warm, people will easily feel wind and cold; if summer is too hot, people will be susceptible to heatstroke. In addition, seasonal epidemics may occur, such as measles in spring, intestinal diseases in summer, malaria in autumn, exogenous coughs in winter, etc.

Secondly, changes in the day and night cycle also have a great impact on the human body. Generally speaking, most patients' conditions are relatively stable in the morning and during the day, and tend to worsen in the afternoon and night. This is why many patients often die around midnight.

Thirdly, the geographical environment also has a profound impact on the human body. When southerners first arrive in the north, or when northerners first arrive in the south, most of them feel unwell, and in severe cases even fall ill. For this phenomenon, people usually call it "acclimatized". This is because due to different natural environments, people also have differences in physiology, Qi and blood, body shape, skin color, etc. If the natural environment that they are accustomed to is suddenly changed, the human body's regulatory function cannot adapt for a while, and it will naturally cause illness.

The theory of "correspondence between nature and man" in Chinese medicine has been confirmed by many discoveries of modern science. For example, in recent years, some people have observed that the life activities of the human body often change periodically with changes in day and night and seasonal climate. For example, a person's body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, endocrine system, basal metabolism, etc. all have 24-hour rhythmic fluctuations. Rather than having a "stable internal environment" in the human body as people thought in the past. People also discovered the detoxification function of the human liver and the secretion function of bile. It is generally low in summer and high in winter. At present, this science that studies the regularity of biological periodic activities is called "biological clock science". A large number of experiments have shown that traditional Chinese medicine’s views on the impact of the four seasons and day and night cycles on the human body are basically scientific. In addition, scientists have discovered in recent years that the periodic activity of sunspots is related to the periodic fluctuations of human blood, hemoglobin, and blood pressure, and is also related to the morbidity and mortality of epidemics, infectious diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. This science that studies the movement of celestial bodies and the impact of climate change on the human body is called "medical climatology." The development of this new science also effectively reveals the scientific value of the theory of "correspondence between nature and man".

The theory of "correspondence between nature and man", as a simple materialist thought in ancient my country, has played a positive guiding role in the development of medicine in my country. The main manifestation is that it emphasizes that the occurrence of diseases is not the result of ghosts and gods, thus inspiring people to seriously study the laws of natural movement, consciously adapt to these laws, and fight against diseases. As the "Nei Jing" says: "You must know astronomy at the top, geography at the bottom, and human affairs at the bottom, so that medicine can exist for a long time."

It is under the influence of this kind of thinking that many famous doctors in ancient my country Doctors are all scholars who know astronomy, geography, and human affairs. Therefore, they are able to specialize in medical skills and even accurately judge life and death.

For example, Qian Yi, a pediatrician in the Northern Song Dynasty, could predict the patient's life and death based on the climate of the four seasons when he was seeing a doctor. Once, he treated the son of a prince and nobleman. After checking his pulse and color, he said, "This child can heal on his own without taking medicine." It happened that the prince's other youngest son was also present at the time, but Qian Yi pointed to the child and said , “He is going to be seriously ill, but he will be fine after noon three days after the illness.

"The prince was very unhappy after hearing this. He thought Qian Yi was playing tricks and didn't mind. Unexpectedly, the next day the child who was not sick actually developed a high fever and kept convulsing. His condition was very critical. The prince had to summon him. Qian Yi came for treatment, and as mentioned above, the disease was cured at noon on the third day. The prince felt strange and asked Qian Yi what was going on. Qian Yi replied: "I gave you the other one." When the young master was seeing a doctor. I accidentally discovered that the child's face was red and his eyes were straight. This is a sign that both the heart and liver are affected by wind evil, so he boldly predicts that he will suffer from a severe illness. Unexpectedly, the misfortune was correct. The prince asked again: "Why did you say it would be fine after noon?" Qian Yi replied: "Yang Qi is strongest at noon. After noon, Yang Qi gradually declines and Yin Qi becomes stronger." The master's illness is a symptom of the heart meridian, so he will naturally be cured after noon. "This story comes from the biography of Qian Yi in "History of the Song Dynasty". It vividly illustrates how ancient Chinese doctors used the perspective of "correspondence between heaven and man" to observe and explain the outcome of human disease and judge life and death.