Ancient Wisdom for Personal and Planetary Transformation.
Yin-Yang is also the quintessential symbol for recyclability because there is no waste in its design — what is dark, old, painful, and dying holds the seeds for light, richness, beauty, and renewal. Just think of compost. Plant growth (Yang) feeds decay (Yin) and the building of nourishing soil to grow more plants, which in turn creates more compost. Compost is the essence of fertility and why chemical agriculture is a total insult to Yin-Yang harmony, thriving, and fecundity. What’s more, while we might not see the immediate effects, acting against this natural law breeds disease. For example, you might be able to cheat on good sleep for a time, but eventually you will experience discomfort and dis-ease that forces you back to balance, for which you will have to lean just as far into the opposite of what you have been doing — getting extra rest — in proportion to having engaged in extra activity.
Yin-Yang offers the insight that we need all aspects of our psyche to maintain homeostasis, just as we need all aspects of the seasons and their unique, holistic contributions to maintain homeostasis in the biosphere. Yin-Yang theory understands that actions turn into their opposites. For example, when Yang is overemphasized and thereby in a perverse or diseased state, as it is in our world today, it turns into perverse Yin, which is death without renewal. Burning up the planet through consumption (Yang) leads to depletion of resources (Yin) and more pollution and suffering in a downward spiral. If this pattern continues, increased disease and eventual death result. Replenishing resources through natural, non-chemical, non-polluting ways of consumption means feeding fertility, recyclability, and thriving. This is crucial wisdom for us to understand and for how to turn this disease pattern around, as I’ll discuss soon.
In holistic thought — which is the holism represented by Yin-Yang and what makes life work most prolifically and smoothly — the black half of the circle is considered Yin while the white half of the circle is considered Yang. Yin is archetypal feminine, Yang is archetypal masculine, and both exist in each of us and all of nature. Further, because black and white are each contained in the circle and given the same amount of real estate, neither is ultimately more important than the other. In fact, each is needed to make the other what it is. There is not Yin (dark) without Yang (light) and there is no Yang without Yin. We witness this reality each day; night time is meaningless without day and daytime is meaningless without night.
We cannot be active unless we have also rested. We cannot rest well unless we have been active. The whole of the Earth itself is naturally divided into northern and southern hemispheres, with relatively opposite seasons occurring in each. We also know that the ocean currents, which traverse the entire globe, contribute to the warming and cooling trends in both hemispheres. The poles are cold (Yin), while their opposite direction in the equator is warm (Yang). The whole globe itself is connected in the dialectic of Yin and Yang.
Therefore, there are two core truths of Yin and Yang. One is that Yin and Yang are entirely interdependent. The second is that Yin and Yang generate and support one another. These truths guide Chinese medicine practice and living according to natural law. For example, the Yin-Yang heating and cooling of the planet also manifests inside our own bodies. Again, cold or coolness pertains to Yin and heat to Yang. Herbs, foods, exercises, acupuncture techniques, as well as lifestyle recommendations, that cool the body are used when there is too much heat, and vice versa for cold conditions. In imbalance and disease, Chinese medicine in its precision is able to shunt heat and coolness from one organ system to the next to create balance. We aid this process on a planetary level by participating in the world in natural, sustainable ways, so that nature itself can continue in homeostasis. In the end, Nature is boss. When we do not follow natural law, we will lose.
On a planetary level today we need to increase Yin, which is getting burned out by Yang. We also need to decrease Yang. This means we stop burning and consuming so much. It also means to get good rest and to “remain cool” as much as possible and appropriate, by doing our best to live in moderation. With this said there is the appropriate, balanced, place for the expression of fire and anger, as I discuss here).
When we get poor sleep and do not rejuvenate ourselves, we burn out and tend to be imbalanced in mind and action, leading to more mindless consumption and actions, until we reclaim balance. So, tending to Yin-Yang inside us is crucial for caring for Yin-Yang balance outwardly. This applies not only to physical measures like sleep and rest but our own psychology as well. Conscious awareness (light) is incomplete without awareness of our unconscious (dark). Bringing consciousness to what is dark in us, unites the Yin-Yang symbol in wholeness. This is what Carl Jung meant by making the dark conscious; this is the Yin-Yang symbol in action. I discuss this more shortly.
Without coolness, heat has no relief. Without heat, coolness cannot warm itself up. Each condition in excess leads to decline and death. Therefore, Chinese medicine regulates the preponderance of Yin and Yang so that the circle remains in tact, so that wholeness is maintained and promoted. We would be wise to apply this wisdom to the environment as well; Yin-Yang has so much to offer our modern-day unsustainable interface with nature.
As mentioned earlier, the circle of Yin and Yang is also a representation of the yearly cycle, of the seasonal progression from Spring into Summer into Fall into Winter and back to Spring again. So, the seasons shown below proceed in a clockwise direction, round and round from birth into life into decline into death into rebirth. The darker, cooler seasons of the year pertain to Yin, the dark half of the circle. The brighter, warmer seasons pertain to Yang, the white half of the circle. In fall and winter the energy of plants descends and moves towards the Earth, reaching its nadir at the winter solstice (where it says “winter” in the diagram below), which is also the time of year when there is the least amount of sunlight. As the proliferation of life and goodness, fertility in the natural world is achieved through a balance of growth and decay, daytime and nighttime, rest and repose, expansion and contraction, Yin and Yang, respectively.
As representative of this dynamic, consider compost (including loam, as the decay of plant matter) and plant growth. Compost, made in the hidden, dark and moist recesses of nature, captures the nourishing essence of the sacred feminine and the fertility of the world — everything Yin. This Yin-rich compost and loam also provide a home for the microorganisms that break down (Yin) the just-fallen plant matter and convert it into nutrition for plants, and for humans. Without compost, we’d have nothing but burned out Monsanto chemical soil and days. During the Yang months of spring and summer nature is busy growing leaves; it is using the energy (Yang) from sunlight and nutrients from the soil (Yin) to build branches, foliage, and fruits. This way, plant life, like us, is a beautiful combination of Yin and Yang, mutually supporting one another. This growth phase (spring into summer) of the seasonal cycle relies on the fallow death and decay phase from autumn and winter. This way, Yin and Yang both support one another for life, for fertility.
So, the growth phase, which includes all the plant food we eat, is produced primarily during the Yang months. But, again, this growth phase can’t happen without the decline cycle of Autumn and Winter, the Yin-dark phase of the yearly cycle, when the soil is nourished by the same plant matter that it gave rise to the year before. Through the making of compost and the production of food, and back to compost again, we glimpse how each part of the natural cycle, Yin and Yang, is needed to nourish the life cycle. Darkness is not inherently bad; it is needed for sustainable light. And light without darkness burns everything out and separates us from the ground, the life-giving soil, earthly everyday life and care. This also means that what is dark and painful in us is merely an opportunity for learning, growth, and greater love. There is nothing permanently evil and un-healable inside us when our darkness has a venue to be vented and loved back into wholeness, which brings me to the psychology of Yin and Yang.
This model of Yin and Yang, of compost and outward growth, also applies to our inner, emotional lives. In Chinese medicine spring and summer correspond with the outward expressions of creativity and joy, respectively. Autumn and winter correspond with the deeper, sinking experiences of grief and decline, fear and death, respectively. These are all traditional correspondences. Just as these Yin seasons are needed for fertility and sustainability in the world of green nature, they are necessary for our own sustainability, inner richness, and health. See the correlation?
Written by: Jack Adam Weber
Jack Adam Weber, L.Ac. is a Chinese medicine physician, author, celebrated poet, organic farmer, and activist for body-centered spirituality. He is also the creator of The Nourish Practice, an Earth-based rejuvenation meditation. Jack is available by phone for medical consultations and life-coaching, via www.JackAdamWeber.com. His books, artwork and provocative poems can be found at his website www.PoeticHealing.com. And you can connect with Jack directly at www.Facebook.com/JackAdamWeber or by emailing Jack@PoeticHealing.com