I have recently been meditating on kataphatic and apophatic perception - active and passive ways of seeing/describing an experience. What it "is" and what it "is not." These terms are used in Christian literature to describe approaches to union with God.
The concept of active force and passive force exists in many applications and cultures. Hegel's thesis - antithesis - synthesis; Gurdjieff's law of three...and the ancient Chinese idea of yin-yang.
Yin is characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet, and passive; and is associated with water, earth, the moon, femininity and nighttime. (formless, receptivity)
Yang, is fast, hard, solid, focused, hot, dry, and aggressive; and is associated with fire, sky, the sun, masculinity and daytime. (form, causality)
Yin and yang thus are always opposite and equal qualities. The potential for each exists within the other. Thus, they transform each other. A one is receding the other is becoming, like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall. The interaction of the two gives birth to things. whenever one quality reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to transform into the opposite quality: for example, grain that reaches its full height in summer (fully yang) will produce seeds and die back in winter (fully yin) in an endless cycle.
What it "is" and what it "is not." Like living and dying…. like this:
“Wisdom is knowing I am nothing,
Love is knowing I am everything,
and between the two my life moves.”
― Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Sources: Yin and Yang Wikipedia:
Osgood, Charles E. "From Yang and Yin to and or but." Language 49.2 (1973): 380–412 . JSTOR. 16 November 2008, jstor.or
Beautiful Artwork by Sharon Cummings at fineartamerica
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