Liver

Published on Digestive system.

The liver belongs to the tree (or wood) element of the five elements of eastern philosophy. It is the largest internal organ of the human body and it has many uses. The liver is the laboratory of the human being. It desintoxicates the organism. It deactivates and hydrolyses the toxins we ingest and those already present in our body that are later eliminated through the kidneys and gallbladder. In other words, it works as a blood filter. So, the first keyword in understanding tensions in the liver is ‘discernment’. The liver, as a filter, needs to be able to distinguish toxic from non-toxic substances.

The liver is also the factory of the body and a reserve for amino acids. It metabolizes albumin (a protein made up of amino acids). It produces human albumin from animal and plant albumin in food, thus changing the order of amino acids, breaking them down or synthesizing them. In other words, the liver accomplishes a qualitative jump from the animal and plant kingdom into the human dominion, but without ever compromising the identity of the components. For this reason, it is said that the liver makes possible the union of the human being with its origins. The liver represents unity on Earth. It operates a unique process, a process of reconnection. Here the concept of discernment doubles in strength, as the human being must realize that “all are one”.

In addition, the liver stores energy. It produces and stores glycogen (energy and strength). It also converts ingested carbohydrates into fat, which is stored in different parts of the body. It produces glucose (energy) from ingested amino acids and fat, and emits bile, which is stored in the gallbladder.

Consequently, the liver is a true energy factory and we know that any person, any body, with lack of protein or energy has a problem. For this reason, the body must have all it requires so that the person may feel energetic, vitalized, and healthy.

We now arrive at the second keyword associated with liver: scarcity, or, more precisely, the sense or fear of scarcity. Therefore, we have two keywords: discernment and fear of scarcity.

After the pancreas, the liver is the most yang organ of the body. Chinese philosophy refers to it as the General of Armed Forces. It is a hard-working organ. Thus, when a person experiences liver problems, the first thing to check is the relationship with the biological Father, the husband, or the male model imposed by society. People with liver problems are megalomaniacs and have a great desire for expansion, to the point of losing any sense of discernment of what they truly need. This extends to what they eat and drink. Since the beginning of time that megalomania is a masculine characteristic. The great territorial conquests, conquests of power, and love conquests, were perpetrated by men.

The person with hepatic problems is a person with an overly masculine behaviour, excessively yang, lacking discernment, and with a great fear of not having enough. This person fears having no energy, energy which he needs to make sure that his children, mainly if they are minor, want for nothing. That fear of scarcity may be associated with affection, support, safety, nutrition, or even comfort, depending on the person and his perception of what is superfluous.

Hepatic problems show a need for moderation, rest, continence, abstinence, freedom, and concentration. The lack of discernment and the sense of scarcity may derive from the clan, from a family with weak livers. It may result from the way of thinking of the clan, the same old way of thinking that does not change at all because what is important is to be loyal to the clan. Here we find ourselves in the middle of a family inheritance in the way of thinking. “On se bouffe le foie en famille depuis toujours”. This French saying means “We have always chopped liver in the family”. It is a family that is blocked and controlling.

The members of these families will insist on explaining that this is a lineage with weak liver and that nothing can be done, that it is in the blood. In this case, the presence of family members when the person is sick is harmful to the person, because it does not help change patterns.

The lack of discernment and the feeling of scarcity may also originate in a family with limited financial resources (“We won’t have enough to eat…!”). In this case, like in the previous, the mental pattern of scarcity settles in.

Lack of discernment and the fear of scarcity may also derive from lack of affection, of love in general, particularly as a child. The liver associates love to food.

Finally, the lack of discernment and the sensation of scarcity may come from a person who is afraid of dying from bowel cancer, (Discernment is also a keyword for the bowel, as the bowel must know what to assimilate and what to get rid of).

The skin is often connected with the liver and kidneys since it acts as the last filter following those two organs. Thus, liver problems are often apparent on the skin. However, they are not skin problems, they are liver problems. Skin problems are associated with tensions related to separation and difficulty in communication. Liver problems are primarily associated with lack of discernment, megalomania, and a sense of scarcity.

It is true that, sometimes, we have trouble distinguishing separation (skin) from scarcity (liver). They are different, though.

See Liver – cancer and liver disease, Liver – cirrhosis, Liver – hepatitis and Liver- jaundice.

© Copyright by Luís Martins Simões, developed by RUPEAL