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Yin and Yang
Cosmic harmony and polar opposites
by Reg Harris
Copyright 1999 by Ariane Publications. All Rights Reserved
(Click on any image to return to top of page)
Opportunity for discovery
Every year I have at least one student who wears a patch,
necklace or other ornament with the ancient Chinese symbol of the yin-yang.
When this happens, I try to take the time to introduce and explore the
yin-yang and the concept of cosmic duality and harmony which it represents.
Students usually are interested in the yin-yang and its
meaning. Moreover, the concept of polar opposites within a single "system"
(and the tension created by the interaction of these forces) can lead
to some interesting and exciting insights about literature, film and our
own lives.
Cosmic duality and balance
The yin-yang is a symbol for cosmic duality and balance,
a synthesis of mutually dependent polar forces. Each force exists only
in relationship to its opposite, each is "completed" by its opposite,
and each gains life and expression through the patterns generated by the
perpetual interplay with its opposite.
The yin-yang is composed of five elements: a circle,
two tear-shaped "opposites," and two dots within these opposites. The
circle is symbolic of the universe, of totality and completeness. We can
see this circle-as-whole archetype in images as varied as the mandala
and the oroboros (right).
Yin and Yang: Source of Existence
Within the circle are two "opposing" forces, yin and
yang. Yin, the dark half, is associated with feminity, the negative, moisture,
passivity, north, cold, shadow, even numbers, and earth. Yang, the light
half, is associated with masculinity, positive, dryness, action, the south,
warmth, and the sun.
Yin and yang swirl around each other. Each in turn grows
to its fullest expression (its largest, filling half of the circle), and
then naturally give rise to the "seed" of its opposite, the dot of the
opposite color. These dots express the mutual dependence of the two poles,
each striving for "completion" in the other. In a sense, it is like a
plant growing to its fullest expression, flowers, producing a seed and
dying, allowing the seed to continue the process of creating life.
In Chinese philosophy, it is the interplay between yin
and yang provides the tension that creates the universe. The natural flow
created by this movement is called the Tao, and in Taosim, one's goal
is to put oneself into harmony with this flow.
Implications of the Yin-Yang
The yin-yang expresses many important concepts. Perhaps
the most important is the relative nature of all things. Darkness, for
example, can exist only in relationship to light. Good is defined and
shaped by bad, and vice versa. Tall is only tall when there is short.
(If everyone were tall, no one would be tall.)
The principle of the relativity of all things tells us
that we can't have one pole without the other. Even just acknowledging
one pole implies its opposite. To speak of light, we must imply its opposite,
the absence of light, or darkness. To speak of being, we must also acknowledge
non- being. In Chinese, this truth--that opposites arise automatically
and naturally from each other--is called hsiang shen, or "mutually
arising." In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu writes,
- When people see some things as beautiful,
- other things become ugly.
- When people see some things as good,
- other things become bad.
- So being and non-being create each other,
- Difficult and easy produce each other.
- Long and short arise from the contrast of one with
the other.
- High and low depend on each other for definition.
- Musical notes become harmonious through their relationship
to one another.
- Before and after follow each other
Explicit duality, implicit unity
Hsiang shen occurs because what appear to be opposites
are really just two poles of the same reality, like the poles of a magnet.
They cannot be separated because they are not individual forces, but rather
two aspects of one system. This is a difficult concept for the western
mind, which has learned that opposites are in conflict with teach other:
good battles evil, light battles darkness.
Yin-yang tells us that these forces are eternally connected
because to elicit one means to elicit the entire system, and thus both
poles. They are created by each other and defined by each other: darkness
is the relative absence of light, good the relative absence of evil. In
his book, Tao: The Watercourse Way, Alan Watts calls this "an explicit
duality expressing an implicit unity."
On a more abstract level, this concept suggests that
things which we have traditionally viewed as separate may actually be
one sustem. For example, one cannot be an observer (that which observes)
without an object (that which is observed), nor can an object exist without
an observer. The observer, by the conditions of her observation, defines
the object observed, and the object defines the observer by forcing her
to take a position from which to observe. (Consider how this applies in
quantum physics.)
One might also say the question is shaped as much by
the answer sought as the answer is determined by the question. In a similar
sense, I do not exist outside the context of my experiences, and my experiences
cannot exist without me. We define our experiences and our experiences
define us. Each produces and fulfills the other.
Yin-Yang in Literature
We can even apply the principles of yin-yang to characters,
conflict and plot in literature. An example would be Hamlet and Laertes
in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet is the man of thought without action;
Laertes is the man of action without thought. Through their contrast,
they define each other, and when they fight in the final scene, their
struggle is the physical enactment of the perpetual movement of Yin and
Yang as negate each other to restore balance and harmony.
Even King Hamlet and Claudius express a yin-yang relationship.
Claudius is the evil manipulator, while King Hamlet is the pure idealist.
Furthermore, Prince Hamlet is perplexed by the paradox that good and evil
can coexist in one being (his mother).
Another example comes to us in Steinbeck's Of Mice
and Men. George and Lennie are polar opposites, both in size and intellect.
However, as Lennie says, "I got you and you got me," and so they are one
system, whose poles are constantly pulling at each other, giving the relationship
life and meaning. Another yin-yang relationship existes between Slim and
Curley.
In addition, the concept of "mutually arising opposites"
tells us that when a system falls out of balance, it produces the seed
of its opposite (the dot of contrasting color in the Yin-Yang). This seed
is, in a sense, the seed of its own destruction. That is, when a force
has reached its fullest expression, it carries within that expression
an element which causes its own demise. As a government which relies on
control reaches fullest expression (absolute control), it spawns a revolution,
which generates anarchy.
In literature this concept is illustrated in Romeo
and Juliet. The children of the opposing poles (the opposing dots)
fall in love and, ironically, bring about the death of the animosity.
As Prince Escalus states at play's end, "heaven finds means to kill your
love with hate." And it is their love, blooming out of the families' hatred,
which ends the fighting.
Even in Jungian psychology, we see the tension between
the conscious ego and the unconscious shadow. We project our shadow onto
others and into our relationships. Eventually the shadow, like the contrasting
seed, demands expression, and drags the ego kicking and screaming into
a new stage of harmony.
Yin-Yang as Hero's Journey
One could make the case that the movement of the Yin-Yang
in our lives, the tension between within the "me/experience" system, is
the mechanism of the Hero's Journey. We move along in our lives until
we reach a point of "untenable tension," and the "seed of the opposite"
is our call to adventure, our call to seek change, to restore harmony
and balance.
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