Yin and yang

“If we never experience the chill of a dark winter, it is very unlikely that we will ever cherish the warmth of a bright summer’s day. Nothing stimulates our appetite for the simple joys of life more than the starvation caused by sadness or desperation”

These lines have their roots in the ancient Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang. This is based on the concept of dualism and it’s interconnectedness in nature. Good and bad, black and white, strong and weak, feminine and masculine, though opposites are complementary to each other. In a way, they actually define and give rise to each other.

According to the Chinese philosophy yin( Chinese for female or moon) is considered to be all those which are dark, cold , passive, feminine and receptive, while yang ( Chinese for sun or male) is the exact opposite. The choice of yin and yang pair varies for different situations. They are relative.

The crux of the philosophy is that, everything is interdependent. Each event is contingent on the happening of some other event. Therefore, instead of looking down upon terms like dark, cold, ugly, poor, it is imperative on our parts to comprehend their essential roles in emphasizing the existence of bright, warm, beautiful and rich.

The symbol of yin and yang, which I will be adding towards the end of the blog, has a lot to convey. It is half white and half black, with each part carrying a small dot of the other colour representing the fact that each carries the seed of the other. So, life becomes fulfilling only by embracing the dualities.

Here is a poem that tries to bring out the importance of dualism and it’s role in the better understanding of the interconnected events of the universe!

Because I worship silence, your tree bears the fruit of voice
Had you not suffered in indecisiveness,
What cure could have been brought by an apt choice.
No matter how much the sun burns to shine
Isn’t it obscure without the dark night ?
Until someday, you were momentarily blinded
I know , you didn’t notice the power of your sight.

What expounds your beauty
If not the striking concept of ugliness?
Busy, filling every blank space
Don’t you think, a cup, a pot, a mug
are valued only because of their emptiness?
What stokes your masculinity
Better than the gracious femininity
Without hours spent in the lap of passivity
What do you think can drive you towards activity?

You wouldn’t know how wealthy you are
Without the penury sprinkled on streets
Until you are ignored and walked out
You wouldn’t feel the necessity to greet.
Sometimes, because you grapple with your fickle focus
You breathe joy, as a book you devour
You need plates of insipid food
To intensify the pleasure, as a delicacy you savour.

They say, yin is all the dark and cold
And yang is all the bright and warm
But unless chaos wreaks havoc
Would you ever want to be calm?
On the land of juxtaposed dualism
Yin and yang are fertile bodies
Carrying the seed of one another
The quintessence of interdependence, each embodies.