Cloudscape

Either too much yang or too much yin will break down into nothingness, and so nothing can still be gained from them unless they are recombined with their opposite. Until then, their energy is lost.

If all space is filled, it is empty of space. If all space is empty, it is filled with space. If there is too much of either it destroys both its opposite as itself.

The world is like an infinite drawing of black and white ink. Whether you start from a black paper or a white paper, when you begin, the paper is still empty, and if too little or too much of either is used, it will return to this state of emptiness, whether it be black or white. Too little of either, and there is nothing to begin with at all.

Complexity cannot be achieved except through a combination of either, and without complexity, there is but vacuum. Wherever there is complexity in the universe, this pattern is met, because all complexity comes down to this pattern in some way or other, that is, the pattern of opposites combined into one. There cannot be complexity without this pattern because it is synonymous to complexity. By far the most complex structure in the universe we know is the biosphere, and it constantly interchanges emptiness and fullness, down to the very atomic level of our own bodies.

Too much fullness is like an explosion, too much emptiness is like a vacuum. Both can kill you. If you are in a state of either too much fullness or too much emptiness, seek for its opposite, and only for its opposite. At this point, do not focus on protecting what there was in excess, for as long as it is not combined with its opposite, it will inevitably destroy itself no matter what, and no matter how you focus on protecting it, it will not avail anything. If it is not supported through this combination, it will collapse, and so the only way to retain it is to pay no attention to retaining it and concentrate instead entirely on its opposite. The more excesses are fed, the faster they will destroy itself.

Anything will collapse if there is too little of its opposite. If opposites are not combined, the only way that balance can be restored is through disintegration.

If one goes too fast, it is much more likely for balance to be lost. On the other hand, if one goes too slow, this is in itself an imbalance. In the end, one still goes fastest if one goes so fast that one meets difficulties, but only if one can deal with those difficulties. Even if you cannot go faster, you can still work to enable yourself to go faster. When you cannot advance further, you can still make preparations to advance further, so that you do not truly need to slow down, for advance may happen in subtle ways. You will go fastest when interchanging slow and fast in balance. To find this balance, know yourself. Do not overestimate or underestimate yourself.

That our society inclines towards yang might be because of our primal ancestry, for the African jungles in which they lived are a very yang environment: basking in sunlight, broiling with heat, brimming with life, whirling with activity and abundant in food. Vivacity, hedonism, sociability, industriousness and materialism are all values characteristic of our species, and they are also all very yang. Scientists have already found that war is something we inherited in common with primates from our evolutionary ancestry, and so are language and community; why then, not materialism? That so much of the earth's surface is covered with our factories might be a direct consequence of the fact that we share our original homes with the primates.

Yin and yang can be hard to reconcile. The only reason that nature has managed to combine them is that this was necessary for it to exist at all, since neither yin nor yang can exist by themselves in any form at all. It was needed for nature to achieve this balance between yin and yang in order for it to be able to evolve at all. We must be cautious to retain this balance.

Yin and yang cause one another; yet at the same time, they also avoid one another, as night shuns day and day shuns night. Try at all times to be mindful to be balanced between the two. Do not fear sadness when you are in joy, and do not fear joy when you are in sadness, but try to accept that one flows into the other as day and night. There can be joy in sadness and sadness in joy, and neither is above the other.

As our species are more yang than yin, we tend to fear sadness rather than joy, even though, when our joy remains too long, it will turn into anxiety. Some who are in sadness, on the other hand, fear joy when it comes to them. Try to accept both. Do not deny your sadness, but neither deny your joy. We must accept it when one has to succeed the other. The same counts for all things yin and yang, such as work and rest, or society and solitude.

See also:

Opposing Opposites

Positive and Negative

The love of man and woman is the same as that of all things hard and soft in the universe.

Do not be afraid to be content, even though you dream of more, but always keep dreaming even when you are content, and keep being content even when you dream of more; so that your thankfulness, and so your happiness, might help to make your dreams come true, and that your dreams might also help to make you happy.
Day and night must alternate within you; but so too, in some part they must be one. When night falls, keep the light of day within you, and when dawn comes, keep the dreams of night within you.

Yang seeks out what it loves; yin loves that which it finds. The yin side of love is to be thankful for beauty; the yang side of love is to nourish it.

To be loving, one must be both thankful (accepting, yin) as caring (giving, yang).

Compare everything to absolute nothingness, so that you are thankful for that which you already have; at the same time, compare everything to absolute perfection, so that you can be ambitious to strive towards it.

When unsatisfied about something, imagine what it would be like if it weren't there at all. When apathetic with something, imagine what it would be like if it were complete.

It is perfectly possible to be both thankful and ambitious at the same time; to combine these in balance will bring us most beauty. Yet again, we are here faced with the question of combining yin and yang.

Earth needs water, or it will crack; water needs earth, or it will stagnate. Either put alone will destroy itself.