And, if we enlarge our view, we will find that little if anything is completely one state or the other. In short, it may be our imperfect, subjective, and limited perspective more than anything else that determines whether something is light or dark, good or evil, positive or negative, and so forth. Indeed, it may be the perspective of the observer rather than any absolute, inherent quality of the observed that prescribes meaning. Yin and yang may not be so much fixed properties as they are fluid possibilities and momentary manifestations.

Another implication is that everything shares both qualities and nothing is purely yin or yang. Each contains the seed or possibility of the other. Rather than operating as two discrete, separate forces, yin and yang are complementary. You may be less familiar with the philosophical interpretations of the symbol. The stereotypical gender assignments notwithstanding, the yin and yang concept expresses a very important theory of creation, personality, and psychology.Ī common example is the yin and yang symbol, which you have probably seen before. Whereas light, active, male energy forms yin energy, yang energy is formed from dark, passive, female energy. In various Chinese cosmogonic myths, light and dark have a prominent role as essential features and forces of the universe. Hesiod’s Theogony says that “First of all, the Void came into being” and “out of Void came Darkness and black Night, and out of Night came Light and Day.” Even the Big Bang, which originated from our modern mythology of science, is described as an explosion of light. We are told that “the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” Later, “God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Ultimately, “God divided the light from the darkness.” So initially, in this telling, darkness and light are connected-if not one-and later divided. For many Western readers the creation of the universe given to us from Christianity is well-known.

Between light and dark