On Yin and Yang and Being Human

           As a doctor of eastern medicine, I have learned to look at life and everything in it through the lens of Yin and Yang. Most people are familiar with the Taoist Tai Chi symbol of the intertwined swirls of black and white, each carrying a dot of the opposite color within it. Many are also familiar with the general idea of Yin and Yang as opposites. Few, however, are aware of the principles that govern the interactions between these two opposites, and that is really where the wisdom lies. Up to this day, I have yet to find one thing I cannot explain through the theories of Yin and Yang. As someone with AuDHD, my brain is wired to understand details as part of patterns instead of isolated facts, and the philosophy of yin and yang gives me the blueprint I need to sort details by patterns into a congruent story I can comprehend. It has become the basis for everything I do in life and is the main influence behind my somewhat abstract views on life. Since so much of what I will address in my writings uses this ancient philosophy of the interactions of opposites as their base patterns, I figured it would be a good idea to start out explaining what these interactions between yin and yang entail in the way it makes sense to me.

            I see Yin and Yang are symbols for the first step in the creation of life out of the vast nothingness of the universe that holds us all. They represent the polar opposites of light and darkness, energy and matter, the masculine and the feminine; they are two phenomena born out of one that cannot be separated and can only be understood in relation to each other. While they are opposites, they are not enemies; they are complementary forces that are the basis for all life as we know and define it. Everything in life contains both yin and yang at all times, just in different proportions and configurations that are in constant flux and change. Our bodies are made of flesh but are moved by unseen energies. Humans are born as a baby, full of yang energy, we grow into adults where we find a balance between yin and yang, and then we enter old age and die, when yang transforms into yin. Without energy, matter becomes static and dies, and without matter, energy remains unseen and unmanifested. Life is created when unseen energy enters inanimate matter, and both begin their eternal dance through time and space in a newly manifested form. In eastern medicine, we describe the point of death as the moment when yin and yang separate. The energetic frequencies that our body manifested in form in this incarnation separate from the body and the matter they animated and leave a dead body as they transcend into nothingness again. Yet, even though the body is considered dead, it is still transforming. Instead of moving and consuming life, it now becomes nourishment of other lifeforms, it becomes the food that life needs to renew itself. Life is a continuous circle of birth and death, of yin and yang repeatedly birthing each other as they die in each other’s arms, scaffolded in patterns and frequencies throughout the universe as it expands and contracts, painting its stories on the canvas of time and space. There are four basic principles that govern the interactions between yin and yang: opposition, interdependence, mutual consumption, and inter-transformation.

1.     Opposition

Yin and Yang are polar and complementary opposites of qualities we see in life. It is a binary way to sort the endless possibilities of life into two camps: Camp Yin and Camp Yang. Concepts associated with yin are darkness and night, the feminine and womanhood, cold and winter, dampness and water, matter and manifestation. Concepts associated with yang are light and day, the masculine and manhood, heat and summer, dryness and fire, qi and energy. While all of these qualities fall into the general definition of either yin or yang, none of these qualities ever express in pure form. There is no absolute darkness and absolute light in nature. Stars will lighten the night sky and shadows will darken the light. Even if it is completely dark in one corner of the world, in a different part of the world, it is day. The fact that neither exists in pure form is symbolized by the two seeds of the opposite within the forces. Yin contains the seed of yang within itself just like Yang contains the seed of yin within. One cannot exist without the other, they are reliant upon each other for life to exist. If there was only night, nothing could grow. If there was only day, everything would die. We rely on the rhythmic dance between night and day with its gradual changes during dusk and dawn for life to exist. We are all human beings, made of the same stuff, yet we do need sperm and egg to create a new life. Without complementary opposites, life could not exist. This brings us to the interdependence of yin and yang.

2.     Interdependence

Even though Yin and Yang are opposing qualities, they cannot exist without each other. For example, movement and action are yang qualities, while rest and sleep are yin qualities. We could not run forever without resting and allowing our body to recuperate. If we stayed in the cold for too long, without adding warmth to our bodies, we would freeze to death. If there was only day and no night, nothing could grow or live, everything would burn and dry up in the light. This also shows that there is never an absolute state of yin or yang, both are constantly intertwined in a rhythmic dance. If yin and yang were two absolute qualities, everything would simply be on and off. There would be no dawn or dusk, it would be all white, or all black, and neither state would allow for life to happen.

3.     Mutual Consumption (quantitive changes)

Since both yin and yang share the same space, they directly affect each other. When we drink alcohol, which is yang in nature, we feel the uplifting and energizing effect of the beverage, which is why alcohol is often jokingly called liquid courage. As we drink, we add yang energy and heat into our bodies, which now in its excess starts to dry up the yin of the body. As yang energy grows in our bodies, the yin energies will wane, drying up under the increasing heat. Physically, that manifests in the dehydration we feel when we drink too much, because alcohol inhibits the production of the antidiuretic hormone (ADH), which leads to increased urination, which in turn disrupts the water balance, leading to an imbalance in yin. That’s also why hangovers can be curbed by making sure to drink water with electrolytes between alcoholic drinks; it adds yin to the body in between the yang infusions, supporting the body in balancing itself.

4.     Intertransformation (qualitative changes)

Mutual consumption and intertransformation are both very similar, but while mutual consumption changes the proportions and the quantities of yin and yang, with intertransformation, one transforms into the other. A good example for this is fever shock. When one has a high fever, the yang starts to burn up the yin of the body. If the fever continues for too long, yang cannot maintain itself anymore because it has burnt up too much yin to sustain itself, so the body goes into shock. What happens during shock? The body goes all cold, blood pressure drops, and organs can fail. The presentation of excessive yang has collapsed into a presentation of all yin, the skin that was previous hot and dry to touch is now cold and clammy to touch. In this case, the balance between the two opposing qualities wasn’t sustainable anymore, so yang retreated into the seed within the yin it birthed.

One thing I learned from western science as well as in my studies of design is that form follows function, and that energy determines the configuration of matter. In terms of yin and yang, I consider form to be the yin aspect, and function to be the yang aspect. I think one of humanity’s biggest faults is to insist that we can change energy by changing the body. We get a tumor, we call it a disease, so we removed the tumor, trying to restore health. Yet, many times, we see the same tumor coming up again. Some people heal completely, others continue to get sick. What is the difference between these two presentations? Moreover, there are recorded cases where humans were deemed terminal with cancer, and then miraculously healed after treatment was switched to a hospice care approach since the patients convinced themselves that the reduced care was a sign of them getting better. We call it the placebo effect, yet instead of studying it, we put it aside because we don’t really understand it. Why is it that we don’t explore the placebo effect more?

The fact that it was observed shows that it plays an important role in how life works. For me as a forever student, this effect was what fascinated me most. However, in a world obsessed with absolutes of right and wrong, and a world obsessed with profits and winning, the placebo effect is of little interest, because it cannot be monetized, and it will always have certain dynamics we cannot understand from our limited human perspective. In terms of yin and yang, yang is the unseen energy that moves matter, and yin is the matter that is animated by yang. When both start to interact, life is observable. Here are three Youtube video that demonstrate the dance between energy and matter, between yin and yang. In these experiment, a tone generator and speaker are attached to a metal plate that is then covered with sand. As frequencies move through the plate, the particles align in very specific patterns depending on the frequency. As frequencies get higher, the patterns become more complex. There are frequencies at which only chaos ensues, and frequencies that create symmetrical patterns. Make sure to watch all three videos, because each one gives you a slightly different angle for the same phenomena.

When I look at these videos, there are multiple ways you can look at the meaning of this experiment. You can see the sound/frequency as the universal frequency that permeates us all, kind of like the song of outer space or of God or a higher power, the plate as the earth as the container and stage for us to manifest these frequencies in lived form, and the sand as life forms that align themselves along the different universal frequencies, manifesting these frequencies in form and shapes. In this example, the sand is bound by a predetermined frequency given to them and will be pulled into the new patterns as frequency changes without much choice of whether they want to move or not. However, how the patterns align, and at what frequencies they align in which pattern doesn’t only depend on the frequency, but also on the stage or container through which the frequency runs. Depending on the composition and size of the plate, different patterns will emerge with different frequencies, proving that there is no one absolute way frequencies will manifest with matter. Why is that? Because the stage is made of particles themselves that are assorted in a certain way, and those specific configurations will determine which frequency creates which patterns. I know this all sounds quite abstract, but let’s look at it in its manifested forms.

You can view our planets as the stages for life to take form. They are not isolated, absolute organisms, they are influenced by where they are in the whole of the universe, and where they are in relation to each other. In our solar system, for example, the sun is the light we need to grow and thrive, yet the rotation of the earth around itself and around the sun ensures what we get times where we don’t experience the burning light of the sun so we can rest in the darkness of light. We have the moon that is bound to circle the earth, and that depending on where it is in its cycle and rotation, will reflect some of our sun’s light back onto earth during the dark of night, and on some nights, will stay hidden in the darkness of space because the earth blocks the sun’s light from hitting the moon. All three elements, the earth, the moon, and the sun, are moving through space at incredible speeds, each following its own pattern of movement, creating different images and manifestations depending on where they are in relation to each other, and, through the eyes of the observer on earth, creating different images for us depending on where on planet earth we are at any given moment in time.

Now consider that every life form has a specific make-up. We are all made of the same basic elements, but how they interact with each other and how they manifest is quite different between different life forms. A tree looks very different from a human being, and their physical manifestation is quite different; most humans can freely move around, whereas most trees are bound to the place they were born in. Trees consume carbon dioxide and create oxygen, humans consume oxygen and exhale carbon diaoxide. Yet, both humans and trees grow, both are affected by the energetics around them, both adjust their functions based on the time of day, both age, and both eventually die and change form. Not only that, both are in a symbiotic relationship since each uses the other’s “waste products” as source of life for themselves. We eat the fruit the tree bears and breathe the air the trees clean. The tree gets nourishment from the carbon dioxide we exhale, and gets nourishment from decomposing bodies. All these are examples of the continuous interactions between yin and yang qualities, painting countless different pictures of what life can be. None of these presentations are absolute yin or yang, they are always both qualities, just in ever changing presentations and proportions.

I remember when my son was about 9 years old. We walked on a street, and I was walking on the right side, he was walking on the left side. I mentioned to him that we are representing yin and yang with me being female, and walking on the right, both of which are associated with yin, and him being a male and walking on the left, both of which are associated with yang. When we turned onto a busier street, I told him to let me walk to the left, facing the street, and him walking to the right next to the houses. He said that now we messed up the yin and the yang. I explained that we simply express different qualities of yin and yang at the moment: I am the adult, the protector of my child, which is a yang function that is walking on the left and yang side now, and he is expressing the role of the child that needs to be protected, which is a yin function, on the right and yin side. Even though being male is considered mostly yang, there will always be yin aspects within this yang, starting with the body itself, which is mostly yin. All these examples show that we are never just one thing, we hold the possibilities of everything within us at all times. It is this pool of possibilities we manifest every moment of our life from. Each moment, we choose which aspects of ourselves we are going to manifest.

I believe that each one of us was born into this incarnation with a soul that carries its chosen vision for the future. I see the soul as the invisible energy, the yang aspect of our beings, that is born into a lump of flesh (the egg of the mother at time of conception), and that flesh, that body, represents the yin aspect of our beings. Without interaction between these two states, there is no life. That’s where in my opinion the nervous system and mind comes in. The mind and by its extension, the nervous system and brain, are what mediates between the dreams for the future, the experiences of the past, and the shared realities of the present moment. Soul communicates through raw emotions, which the body feels because of the sudden shift in frequencies, and the mind needs to translate and make sense of by running the energetic changes through the filters of the past and the current situation and interferences of the present. Life is a constant stream of thoughts and visions within ourselves that are trying to connect with the 3D world of life, looking for others to bring these visions to life in real form. But to manifest, we need others, and not just humans. We cannot build a house without cutting trees for wood, or manipulating rock and other innate materials this planet provides. EVERYTHING we create depends on the sacrifice of others, and of ourselves. And this sacrifice is a modification of our yin and yang aspects that includes all the energetics and interferences that are present in each given moment.

            Imagine a human being in the middle of a forest. This human being wants to build a shelter out of wood. To cut the wood, the human needs an ax or a saw. Both of these don’t just grow naturally on trees, they are trees and metals and other materials combined into one form that will allow the man to cut the tree. Also, while it is technically possible to build a shelter all alone, we usually need other humans to help with it. Let’s upgrade the image to a small tribe of 5 people. The first step in this scenario is that the 5 people need to communicate how they see the shelter in their mind. They may draw pictures into the sand (disturbing the previous way the sand was arranged) with a stick they broke off a tree close-by. They may talk about why they want the house the way they imagine it. Yet, each one will have a slightly different drawing of how they envision their house, and all 5 need to come to an agreement of the final shape of the shelter, because you cannot build two different ones in one place. If all five participants can agree on one final version of their shelter, they will be able to work together and create a communal home. If some of the 5 cannot agree and refuse to let go of their exact idea of what they want, then the group will split up, and create two separate tribes that will build two separate shelters. Five humans building one shelter together will take less space and less sacrifice from the environment around them. Two groups with one of two and one of three building two separate shelters will require more space and more sacrifice and resources from the environment around them. So even with the simplest of interactions, there is a lot of personal sacrifice in how we use not only our own resources of yin and yang, but also how much resources of yin and yang are taken from others and the environment.

            In nature, nothing is either/or; everything is either AND or. Nobody is all bad or all good, everything is a mix of the two, and how we perceive it and label it is completely dependent upon where we stand in relation to what we are judging. Time changes the configurations of yin and yang constantly, adding its own eternal rhythm to our fleeting individual dance in the time we are given. Nothing stays absolute, everything follows the ebb and flow we see represented in all natural phenomena. We are born unable to care for ourselves and express ourselves, growing up to a peak where we feel like we are on top of the world, only to realize that time is slipping away, and our yin and yang are deteriorating to the point where we will be once again dependent on those around us to guide us to the complete separation of yin and yang in form of our death. The old idea of a perfect mix of yin and yang needs to die before a new idea can manifest. That is what generations are for, and that’s why it is so important for us to embrace the downs just as much as the ups, because it is the downs that teach us about the shadows we left for others to deal with while we were up. We cannot live a fully realized life if our whole mission is to stay on top forever.

            Life is the magic created by the eternal dance of Yin and Yang. We are nothing but configurations of star dust, catching and reflecting the light of the universe, and throwing a shadow behind every spark of light we catch. If we continue to only focus on the bright and light and happy aspects of life, we will lose track of our shadow. For one to find their individual "perfect" balance, we have to start embracing our own shadows instead of continuing to project them onto everything and everyone around us. Eternal peace is found in the acceptance of both life and death, light and darkness.