duality

[Trixter Streetcat]

hello,

 

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on understanding the play of duality in everyday life. what I am interested in is being aware of the constant and all-pervading play of the opposites in order to eventually "predict" (though this word is far from what I actually mean) the way the pendulum is going to swing.

 

for instance. it is my understanding that the colder something gets, the hotter it will eventually have to get. the tighter a muscle is, the more important it becomes to distend it. these examples may sound simplistic and they are, because our (or my) awareness of the play of opposites is so limited. the universe, in it's constant play between the opposites, is actually always looking to balance itself out.

 

one way of talking about it that I have encountered is "investing in loss". "tao"-wise, if you invest in loss, you will eventually end up gaining. if you invest in gain, you'll end up losing everything (which is the old "you can't take your coins past the death border" scenario). (does this make sense to anyone?). being in harmony with the tao becomes not only realizing this play but merging with it, realizing it is beyond your reach and moreover, finding the "middle way", a way in which the opposites are so closely balanced that they actually disappear in a single unity.

 

I know buddhists out there are going to jump out saying that duality is a state of illusion. that enlightenment comes from unity. i agree to agree to a certain point, and yet, i find it important for me to realize the play of yin and yang all around me, because I usually don't. basically, it's something about doing yang things to get yin effects and vice versa. but for this to work you actually have to be able to notice yin and yang, and yin and yang are so subtle and all pervading that you seldom ever notice the play going on.

 

a couple for instance. a couple that works as a "unity" (so to speak), will need a balanced yin yang to work properly. If either the yin or yang element is out of balance, the couple will have this-or-this out of balance. for instance. for us (normal) mortals, it is easier to have weeks of celibacy and then a single session of mind-blowing sex. or a prolonged period of normal sex. but a prolonged period of mind-blowing sex will eventually be replaced by a long period of imposed celibacy from the tao. i'm not interested in chi depletion but in the way that it's impossible to be all yang, all the time (mind.blowing sex forever). and I'm not interested in mind-blowing sex techniques. i'm just trying to bring your attention to the fact that sex, like all things tao, needs balance.

 

all in all, I'm looking for ways to recognize the yin and yang in everyday life, so as to create a balance between them. we (I) usually don't. no matter how "trapped" in the dualistic world i am, i am nearly always only seeing one side, completely ignoring and eventually becoming unexpectedly overcome by the other side of the coin, which is often something I could've expected. resting to become active, yelling so there can be silence...

 

perhaps my question simply addresses awareness. how to be aware other than actually forcing your attention on things? how to flow correctly? and moreover, is it possible to "flow correcty", or is "flowing correctly" simply "going along"?

 

I know this sounds pretty confusing, but I hope i got meaning out there. i really can't talk about the tao so i don't expect you will. tai chi is the closest actual training for this that I've come up with. but i actually feel it should ongoing and effortless (thought tai chi, in essence, should be effortless, shouldn't it?)

 

now I'm just rambling :-)...

 

hope this gets somewhere...

[picnic]

I like to translate Yin and Yang to English as verbs "Yining" and "Yanging" as they are in motion, not static. Something completely Yining, is completely not Yanging and so its potential to start yanging is high, as you say. Nothing is one or the other. Displaying an apparent all Yang is also displaying a lack of Yin, look both ways, see the complete.

 

Whilst something is yining, something else is also yanging. As you force something, something else gives. The importance in the all embracing Tao is that Tao is both of these aspects, it is able to yin whilst it is yanging. To recognise the unity, or both halves, to spot what you feel you are missing, you often just need to negate, in words, the action of what you are doing.

 

If you think all of the things around you are Yin, then you are missing the Yang. Waves go up and down on the ocean, up and down is a wave; if they just peaked with no trough, then they would not be waves, just a high flat sea.

[Trixter Streetcat]

thank you....