![]() ![]() I’m willing to stick my neck out based on the fact that I realised the suggestion made by Yin-yang. I’ll at this point claim God (of a kind) does exist. It is a part of understanding enlightenment, and becoming the individuals we are meant to be. The answer to what Yin-yang is has busied the minds of monks for millennia. Either your journey ends here, or maybe it somehow loops back to Stage 1. You experience time passing more quickly. The turning point – the transformative path gets you unstuck, and moving counter-clockwise along the circumference. You are stuck in this orbit, until … Stage 4 – the backwards “S” which is the boundary line between the black/white boteh shapes. You go around and around the outer edge, clockwise. You spiral outwards, clockwise, wandering into darkness, slowing down. Stage 2 – the black boteh (or buta, or “paisley”). While I may someday learn how to cast it into a flowing animation, I can try to describe it here. But I digress.Īt roughly that same time, I thought of a lifecycle-oriented way to interpret the yin yang symbol. Alas – that was from way before our current era of streaming entertainment. They even had the hardback (first) edition of JBP’s “Maps of Meaning – The Architecture of Belief” for me to stumble upon. There was a time when our public library had a rich collection of books. I’m sure there are other interpretations of the ying yang symbol, and readers will know better than me, but this one will stick.Ĭourtesy of Somewhat related is the Symbol Sourcebook, by Henry Dreyfuss, and you might also like these hobo signs and symbols, from the archives. The fact that the thing that you’re engaged in grips you, which is really an unconscious process, is because your nervous system, which has adapted to the environment of chaos and order, is telling you that if you’re engaged and interested you are in the place where the balance between chaos and order is perfect.” Your nervous system basically tells you when you’re there by making you interested in whatever it is that you’re engaged in. “So where’s the proper place? The Daoist answer is right on the line, where you have one foot in order so that you’re fairly stable, and you have another foot in chaos so that new and interesting and compelling and transforming things are happening to you. That indicates that the optimal position for a human being isn’t in chaos or in order, because if it’s too orderly then it’s totalitarian, and if it’s too chaotic then it’s disgust and fear and emotional pain and depression. “The final thing that’s interesting about this symbol is a brilliant idea because Dao also means ‘the way’ and the way is the line between the two. So even though these two things oppose each other in some sense there’s a continual dynamic interplay between them. But by the same token, if you’re in a place that’s orderly and predictable something can happen that casts you into a chaotic situation right away. The reason for that is the Daoists also recognised that chaos can turn to order at any moment, so a new order can rise out of a chaotic structure. “Another interesting thing about the yin yang symbol: The black paisley has a little white dot in it and the white paisley has a little black dot in it. It’s permanent, so it’s part of the existential landscape of human being. No matter where you go there are things you know and things you don’t know, and it doesn’t matter who you are. In fact they’re hyper real, because one of the things that defines real is that it’s permanent. “A typical person will look at this and think, “Well, those aren’t real.” They are real. “So in some sense these are symbolic representations of the most unchanging elements of being - the most real things. The reason for that is quite straightforward - wherever you go, and whenever you live, and whoever you are, each environment that you’re in is composed of things you understand and things that work the way that you expect them to, and things you do not understand and that can pull the rug out from under you at any moment. And for the Daoist being is made up of these two elements - order and chaos. Being is what you experience as a conscious creature. “Now, being is not the same thing as objective reality. “The yin yang symbol is interesting for a variety of reasons, because the Daoists believe that the symbol represents “being.” It’s a symbol I’ve seen throughout my life but I’ve not heard it explained in this way, and thought it was worth a share. In one of Jordan Peterson’s older university lectures he shared an interpretation of the meaning behind the yin yang symbol. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |