You have surely heard of opposites. Black and white, night and day, light and dark, pleasure and pain, wealth and poverty and similar innumerable pairs come to mind as opposites. Yin and yang represent, according to ancient Chinese philosophy, two opposing aspects of this entire universe as well as of human life, but with a difference. They not only oppose but also complement each other. Simply put, life is impossible without yin and yang at once opposing and complementing each other on a perennial basis. Yin is feminine, yang is masculine; yin is passive, yang active; yin is death, yang life and so on. If yin is thought to be receptive, cold, winter, moon, night, water, and even, then yang opposes and complements them by being creative, hot, summer, sun, day, fire and odd. They represent the essential parts of a duality. That only means that without either of them, the duality does not, and cannot, exist.
Yin and yang replace one another in cycles and are interdependent opposites that work in unison to attain a much-needed balance that sustains and runs this world, which by its very nature is always in flux. Yet they are not mutually exclusive, in that in yin, there is a tiny part of yang and likewise there is a very small seedling of yin in yang. They at once overwhelm and complement each other. This is a never-ending process.
Ancient scholars of China, who the emperors of the Han dynasty commissioned to study the earlier divergent principles of philosophy, came out with a unifying theory of the nature and alternating cycles of yin and yang. As yang increases, yin decreases and vice versa, in order to strike a natural balance. While it is important to have balance and harmony in nature, there are times of imbalance whenever yin and yang are deficient or in excess. This imbalance in yin and yang brings about unhappiness or misery in human life.
Manipulating your yin and yang
At such times, when you are in an unhappy state, you have to manipulate yin and yang in a way that restores the balance, by decreasing yin and simultaneously increasing yang or the other way round. Here, Feng Shui, an ancient Chinese art of space arrangement and placement of your possessions in particular directions or positions in your house, comes to your rescue. Depending upon the kind of distress you may be in or the kind of luck you want in your life, Feng Shui experts offer you suitable advice in order to make adjustments in the placement and directions of some of the objects occupying various spaces in your house. Many Feng Shui followers are also quite fastidious about using or wearing certain objects on their person, as they believe in the principle of balance in yin and yang that would bring them luck and turn their fortunes for the better.
This ancient Chinese concept of yin and yang may fascinate you. After that, you may want to see for yourself how these two, with their infinite ways in which they oppose and integrate with each other, ultimately affect your personal life.
