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Yin Yang Philosophy
Discussion on the Metaphysics / Philosophy of Yin Yang
The Metaphysics of Space and Motion & the Wave Structure of Matter
On the Harmony of Opposites in the One Universe (Space)
Yin Yang Pictures
The Great One produces the two poles (Heaven and Earth), which in turn give rise to the energies of the dark (yin) and the light (yang). These two energies then transform themselves, one rising upwards, and the other descending downwards; they merge again and give rise to form. (Lu-sih ch'un-ch'iu - Spring and Autumn Annals)
The created universe carries the yin at its back and the yang in front; Through the union of the pervading principles it reaches harmony. (Lao tzu, Tao-te ching)
(Gottfried
Leibniz, 1670) Reality cannot be found except in One single source,
because of the interconnection of all things with one another. ... I maintain
also that substances, whether material or immaterial, cannot be conceived in
their bare essence without any activity, activity being of the essence of substance
in general.
Transformation
contains both change and stability, plurality and unity, movement and constancy.
It has the nature of life, namely, to connect organically the polar opposites,
the stumbling blocks of logic, and to unite them in an all embracing rhythm.
(Lama Govinda)
The
world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject
and object are only one. The barrier between them cannot be said to have broken
down as a result of recent experience in the physical sciences, for this barrier
does not exist.
(Erwin Schrodinger)
Introduction to Metaphysics of Yin & Yang
The idea of opposites (Yin Yang, the union and harmony of opposites) has existed in both Eastern and Western philosophy since ancient times. Of the Ancient Greek Philosophers, Heraclitus and Parmenides both understood that the Universe was One and Dynamic. As Bertrand Russell writes on Heraclitus;
For Heraclitus the unity of things was to be found in their essential structure or arrangement rather than their material. This common structure or Logos, which was not superficially apparent, was chiefly embodied in a Single kinetic material, Fire. It was responsible both for the regularity of natural changes and for the essential connexion of opposites - Heraclitus adopted this traditional analysis of differentiation - through balanced interaction. The regularity underlying change was for Heraclitus the significant thing .. (Bertrand Russell on Heraclitus, The History of Western Philosophy)
It is also interesting to read the original fragments of Heraclitus' own writing;
Listening to the Logos rather than to me, it is wise to agree that all things are in reality one thing and one thing only. (Heraclitus)
Things which are put together are both whole and not whole, brought together and taken apart, in harmony and out of harmony; one thing arises from all things, and all things arise from one thing. (Heraclitus)
As a single, unified thing there exists in us both life and death, waking and sleeping, youth and old age, because the former things having changed are now the latter, and when those latter things change, they become the former. (Heraclitus)
Parmenides viewed this Oneness in a different manner to Heraclitus;
The One is infinite and indivisible. It is not, as Heraclitus, a union of opposites, since there are no opposites. Parmenides apparently thought, for instance, that 'cold' means only 'not hot' and 'dark' means only 'not light'. ... Parmenides seems to think of it (the One) as material and extended, for he speaks of it as a sphere. But it cannot be divided, because of the whole of it is present everywhere. (Russell, 1946)
However, it is clear that both Philosophy and Metaphysics are founded on this Dynamic Unity and Order / Harmony of Reality, as Nietzsche (rather grandly) states,
(Friedrich Nietzsche, The Greeks, 1880)
Greek philosophy seems to begin with a preposterous fancy, with the proposition
(of Thales) that water is the origin and mother-womb of all things. Is it really
necessary to stop there and become serious? Yes, and for three reasons: firstly,
because the proposition does enunciate something about the origin of things;
secondly, because it does so without figure and fable; thirdly and lastly, because
it contained, although only in the chrysalis state, the idea :everything is
one. ... That which drove him (Thales) to this generalization was a metaphysical
dogma, which had its origin in a mystic intuition and which together with the
ever renewed endeavours to express it better, we find in all philosophies -
the proposition: everything is one!
This understanding of the Unity of the Universe is also shared by many Eastern philosophers (in fact one could say that this the foundation of the Eastern world view - All is One and Dynamic).
Though One, Brahman is the cause of the many. .. Brahman is
the unborn (aja) in whom all existing things abide. The One manifests as the
many, the formless putting on forms. (Rig Veda)
The word Brahman means growth and is suggestive of life, motion, progress. (Radhakrishnan)
While this webpage is on Yin Yang, it is primarily concerned with the metaphysics of Yin Yang, and what this knowledge is telling us about physical reality.
(Bradley,
1846-1924) We may agree, perhaps, to understand by Metaphysics an attempt to
know reality as against mere appearance, or the study of first principles or
ultimate truths, or again the effort to comprehend the universe, not simply
piecemeal or by fragments, but somehow as a whole.
In particular, it is now quite easy to show that the Metaphysics of Space and Motion and the Wave Structure of Matter (WSM) provides a simple explanation of these ancient ideas of the universe (All is One, Interconnected, Dynamic). From this perspective of describing reality in terms of One Dynamic Thing, Space, and its properties as a Wave-Medium (rather than 'particles and fields in space-time) we find simple sensible solutions to many of the current problems of modern Physics, Philosophy and Metaphysics.
The Wave Structure of Matter
Describing Reality from the Most Simple Science Foundation
From 'Particles' & Spherical 'Field's in 'Space-Time', to Spherical Waves
in Space.
Please see links on the side of this page for the main articles which explain and solve many of the problems of postmodern Metaphysics, Physics and Philosophy from the new foundation of the Metaphysics of Space and Motion and the Wave Structure of Matter (WSM).
The Ancient Greek Philosophers were
often very close to the truth, as reflected in Parmenides realisation that the
One existent is material (substance), extended (Space) and a Sphere (caused
by matter as Spherical Waves in Space). Further, the Wave-Center of the Spherical
Waves, which causes the discrete particle effect, is not a division, but rather,
a production from the One Unity, the Focal-Point of Spherical Standing Waves
that determine the size of our finite spherical Universe within an Infinite
Space.
The Spherical In and Out Waves of the Wave Structure of Matter explains the
change and harmony of opposites in the One Universe.
We greatly appreciate any comments
on how we can improve this website and its content. So please feel free to write
to us.
Geoff
Haselhurst
Yin Yang Philosophy Quotes
Quotations on (the union of) Opposites, One, Transformation & Diversity
There is a good principle, which has created order, light and man; and a bad principle, which has created chaos, darkness and woman. (Pythagoras).
(Gottfried
Leibniz, 1670) Reality cannot be found except in One single source,
because of the interconnection of all things with one another. ... I maintain
also that substances, whether material or immaterial, cannot be conceived in
their bare essence without any activity, activity being of the essence of substance
in general. ... In conclusion, nothing should be taken as certain without foundations;
it is therefore those who manufacture entities and substances without genuine
unity to prove that there is more to reality than I have just said; and I am
waiting for the notion of a substance, or of an entity, which successfully comprehends
all these things; after which parts and perhaps even dreams will be able one
day to lay claim to reality.
(Lama Govinda, 1977) The fundamental element of the cosmos
is Space. Space is the all-embracing principle of higher unity. Nothing can
exist without Space. Space is the precondition of all that exists, be it material
or immaterial form, because we can neither imagine an object nor a being without
space. According to ancient Indian tradition the universe reveals itself in
two fundamental properties: as Motion, and as that in which motion takes place,
namely Space. This Space is called akasa, and is that through which things step
into visible appearance, i.e., through which they possess extension or corporeality.
Akasa is derived from the root kas, 'to radiate, to shine', and has therefore
the meaning of 'ether', which is conceived as the medium of movement. The principle
of movement, however, is prana, the breath of life, the all-powerful, all-pervading
rhythm of the universe.
Transiency is as necessary to immortality (or to
the experience of eternity), as the body is to the soul, or as matter is to
mind. And in saying so, we might note that these are not irreconcilable or totally
exclusive opposites, but rather the extreme points in the amplitude of the swinging
pendulum, i.e. parts of the same movement. By becoming conscious of the inner
direction and relationship of our transient life, we discover the eternity in
time, immortality in transiency- and thus we transform the fleeting shapes of
phenomena into timeless symbols of reality.
Liberation is not escapism, but consists in the conscious transformation of
the elements that constitute our world and our existence. This is the great
secret of the Tantras and of the mystics of all time. (Lama Govinda,
Creative Meditation)
Transformation contains both change and stability, plurality and unity, movement and constancy. It has the nature of life, namely, to connect organically the polar opposites, the stumbling blocks of logic, and to unite them in an all embracing rhythm. (Lama Govinda, Creative Meditation, p184)
The perfect mutual interpenetration of forms, processes, things,
beings, etc., and the presence of the experiencing subject in all of them -
in other words, the simultaneity of differentiation and oneness, of individuality
and universality, of form and emptiness - is the main thesis of the great Buddhist
philosopher Nagarjuna, who lived in the second century of our era.
His philosophy of the “Middle Way” consists in a new orientation
of thought, freed from the rigidity of the concept of “substance”
or that of a static universe, in which things and beings were thought of as
more or less independent units, so that concepts like “identity”
and “non-identity” could be applied to them and form the basis of
discursive thought.
Where, however, everything is in flux, such concepts - and a logic derived from
them - cannot be adequate and, therefore, the relationship of form to emptiness
and vice-versa cannot be conceived as a mutually exclusive nature of as absolute
opposites, but only as two aspects of the same reality, co-existing in continuous
co-operation. Because “form” (rupa) must not be confused with “thingness”
or materiality, since each form is the expression of a creative actor or process
in a beginningless and endless movement, whose precondition, according to Nagarjuna
is precisely that mysterious “emptiness” (or “Plenum-void,”
as it has been aptly called) expressed in the term Sunyata.
In this experience of timeless reality beyond the realm of opposites, the relative
is not annihilated in favour of the absolute nor is the manifoldness of life
sacrificed to an abstract unity, but the individual and the universal
penetrate and condition each other so completely that the one cannot be separated
from the other. They are as inseparable as time and space, and like
these they represent two aspects of the same reality: time is the dynamic aspect
of individual (and therefore incomplete) action and experience; space is the
sum total of all activity in its ever-complete and therefore timeless aspect.
(Lama Govinda, Creative Meditation, p286-7)
(Fritjof Capra, 1972) In Indian philosophy, the main terms
used by Hindus and Buddhists have dynamic connotations. The word Brahman is
derived from the Sanskrit root brih . to grow - and thus suggests a reality
which is dynamic and alive. In the words of S. Radhakrishnan, The word Brahman
means growth and is suggestive of life, motion, progress.
The Upanishads refer to Brahman as 'this uniformed, immortal, moving', thus
associating it with motion even though it transcends all forms. The Rig Veda
uses another term to express the dynamic character of the universe, the term
Rita. This word comes from the root ri- to move; its original meaning in the
Rig Veda being 'the course of all things', 'the order of nature'.
The central aim of Eastern mysticism is to experience all the phenomena in the
world as manifestations of the same ultimate reality. This reality is seen as
the essence of the universe, underlying and unifying the multitude of things
and events we observe. The Hindus call it Brahman, The Buddhists Dharmakaya
(The Body of Being) or Tathata (Suchness) and the Taoists Tao; each affirming
that it transcends our intellectual concepts and defies further explanation.
This ultimate essence, however, cannot be separated from its multiple manifestations.
It is central to the very nature to manifest itself in myriad forms which come
into being and disintegrate, transforming themselves into one another without
end. In its phenomenal aspect, the cosmic One is thus intrinsically dynamic,
and the apprehension of its dynamic nature is basic to all schools of Eastern
mysticism.
Modern physics then, pictures matter not at all as passive and inert, but being
in a continuous dancing and vibrating motion whose rhythmic patterns are determined
by the molecular, atomic and nuclear structures. This is also the way in which
the Eastern mystics see the material world. They all emphasise that the universe
has to be grasped dynamically, as it moves, vibrates and dances; that nature
is not a static but dynamic equilibrium.
The
world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject
and object are only one. The barrier between them cannot be said to have broken
down as a result of recent experience in the physical sciences, for this barrier
does not exist.
(Erwin Schrodinger)
Links / Yin Yang Philosophy
Govinda,
Lama - Tantric Buddhist Lama Govinda correctly realised
the importance of Space (Akasa) and Motion (Prana)
as the Foundations of Eastern Philosophy and Dynamic Interconnection of Brahman.
Eastern
Philosophy: Buddha: Buddhism Religion: Nirvana - 'All
phenomena link together in a mutually conditioning network.'
The Wave Structure of Matter (WSM) explains Nirvana (Truth)
Karma (Interconnection).
Eastern
Philosophy: Chakras - On Resonance, Harmonics and the Seven Chakras.
Pictures, Quotations, Chakra Information.
Eastern Philosophy: Kundalini
- Discussion of the Philosophy and Metaphysics of Kundalini,
the divine / cosmic energy that lies within every human being.
When Kundalini is awakened we experience our true nature, Self as Universe.
Eastern Philosophy: Taoism - Ancient Chinese Philosophy correctly realised
that One Thing (Tao) must Exist to Connect the Many Things.
Help Humanity
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
(Mohandas Gandhi)
"When forced to summarize the general theory of relativity in one sentence:
Time and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter. ... Physical objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially extended. In this way the concept 'empty space' loses its meaning. ... The particle can only appear as a limited region in space in which
the field strength or the energy density are particularly high. ...
The free, unhampered exchange of ideas and scientific conclusions is necessary for the sound development of science, as it is in all spheres
of cultural life. ... We must not conceal from ourselves that no improvement in the present depressing situation is possible without
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Humanity is going to need a substantially new way of thinking if it is to survive!" (Albert Einstein)
Our world is in great trouble due to human behaviour founded on myths and customs that are causing the destruction of Nature and climate change. We can now deduce the most simple science theory of reality - the wave structure of matter in space. By understanding how we and everything around us are interconnected
in Space we can then deduce solutions to the fundamental problems of human knowledge in physics, philosophy, metaphysics, theology, education, health, evolution and ecology, politics and society.
This is the profound new way of thinking that Einstein
realised, that we exist as spatially extended structures of the universe - the discrete and separate body an illusion. This simply confirms the
intuitions of the ancient philosophers and mystics.
Given the current censorship in physics / philosophy of science journals (based on the standard model of particle physics / big bang cosmology) the internet is the best hope for getting new knowledge
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