The four great elements are also the great deceivers:
The Saṅgaha states: “Matter is twofold, namely: the four great essentials, and material phenomena derived from the four great essentials.”53 The Saṅgaha then lists the great essentials (mahābhūtāni) of earth (paṭhavī), water (āpo), fire (tejo), and wind (vāyo). As noted above, these four fundamental elements (dhātū) are the basic properties of all matter, and so all other matter is considered derivative of these four elements. Earth (as solidity perceived by touch), fire (as temperature sensed as heat or cold), and wind (as movement experienced as pressure) can be contemplated in order to develop liberative insight. (As the property of cohesion, water is the one physical property the Abhidhamma states cannot be directly sensed, only inferred from the integrity of an object.) Like all dhammas except nibbāna, they continually arise and pass away, and so to observe them closely and directly is to see the impermanent (anicca) nature of the world…
…If one does not see that these elements are constantly changing (dying and renewing in every micro-instant), the seemingly seamless flow of materiality deceives one into the perception that the objects around us are real and lasting. For this reason, when commentaries give the meaning of the term “great essential,” mahābhūta, they parse the word as mahā, “great,” joined to abhūta, “deception.” Mahābhūtas are then defined as ”great deceivers,” as they trick one into a mistaken view of the world. Buddhaghosa, in the Aṭṭhasālinī, his commentary on the Dhammasaṅgaṇī (the first book of the Abhidhamma), refers to the great essentials as like magicians (māyākārā). He also likens them to demons, called yakkhas, or demonesses, yakkhinīs, dangerous creatures who lure people to themselves by taking on pleasant and pleasing appearances.54
Braun, Erik. The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism & the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw (Buddhism and Modernity) (p. 55). The University of Chicago Press. Kindle Edition.
Renaldo