Ancient Wisdom 1: Balance in all things

Believe it or not, modernity isn’t good for you; it’s a balancing act that sets you up to fail, when all you actually need is balance.

Despite the apparently constant turmoil that appears in the movement of all matter, the laws of science and nature seem to naturally create balance in all things.

As long as there is energy or an enacting force, there is some sort of movement; when the energy or force ceases to affect the object, movement likewise ceases. A layman’s understanding of evolution and the process of adaption suggests that every action has an equal and opposite reaction — I can’t help but feel like someone else used that term for something completely different — and by that I mean, changes lead to appropriate responses, and all responses have consequences: extinction or survival.

I’m sure that you the reader can think of many, many more examples. Hopefully you might agree, then, that nature appears to strive for balance, or at least that there is a certain balance in all things naturally.

So, on to the good stuff: the duality of yin and yang.

Fore-warning: I am not an expert. Assume that there is value to what I say if I am correct, then go find out yourself. If that didn’t turn you off, thanks for sticking around. Now we’ll get to the fun part.

Harmony

Yinyang is a simple concept, in that this one analogy encapsulates an entire philosophy and understanding of existence. Pretty hefty for just seven letters.

The image most associated by people in the 21st Century with yinyang, though the technical term is taijitu.

Here, in all its glory, is one of the most easily recognised symbols on the planet. Though the symbol itself is most correctly called taijitu, which the wonderful scholars at Wikipedia translate as “supreme ultimate”, we need only know that it represents the principle of yin yang.

The black teardrop, yin, represents the masculine, the sun, and is both positive and active; the white teardrop, yang, represents the female, the moon, and it both negative and passive.

Now, before we shoot the messenger, I’m not saying anything about the nature of masculinity and femininity, that’s a topic I will leave completely alone. All that…