How to Use the Yin-yang Concept to Address Adverse Events and Develop Sustainably

Definition

“Yinyang, in Eastern thought, [designates] the two complementary forces that make up all aspects and phenomena of life. Yin is a symbol of earth, femaleness, darkness, passivity, and absorption. It is present in even numbers, in valleys and streams, and is represented by the tiger, the color orange, and a broken line. Yang is conceived of as heaven, maleness, light, activity, and penetration. It is present in odd numbers, in mountains, and is represented by the dragon, the color azure, and an unbroken line. The two are both said to proceed from the Great Ultimate (taiji), their interplay on one another (as one increases the other decreases) being a description of the actual process of the universe and all that is in it. In harmony, the two are depicted as the light and dark halves of a circle.”

Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Aug. 2024

According to Chinese philosophy, yin and yang represent the two aspects of nature as we perceive it, present in everything and in the whole. It is a framework that helps to understand nature, even though it may at times seem abstract. So, please take it lightly (in fact, it must be taken lightly!), but please be open to it, and consider using it. Because if you do, you will probably be amazed by how helpful it can be in guiding your life, your personal development, and those of the organizations you lead. Everything, really.

Some Examples of Yin and Yang Pairs 

In the list below, the yin value is given first, the yang value second.

Feminine – Masculine
Mother – Father
Below – Above
Magnetic – Electric
Matter – Spirit (energy)
Particle – Wave
Earth – Air, Sky
Receiving – Giving
Dark – Light
Inner – Outer
Water – Fire
Moon – Sun
Silver – Gold
Absorbing – Penetrating
Black – White
Resting – Doing
Silence – Noise
Cold – Hot
Soft – Hard
Quality – Quantity

Yin and Yang Are Temporary, not Fixed 

If I suggest taking the concept “lightly” it is because, precisely, the yin-yang wisdom itself defines these two poles as never fixed, but dancing with each other in cyclical ways. Yin and yang are in a relative position to one another and cannot exist separately, without each other. If there’s a father, then there’s a mother. Imagine a slice of bread, with its two sides. Now imagine that you slice that slice again in two new, thinner slices. Well, each new slice will still have two sides. In fact, one side implies the other. The sun emits light, Earth and the moon are lit. 

Yin and yang move, and so does our perception. Nothing in creation can ever be absolutely and uniquely yin or yang. They are so only relative to each other. Something which is above another thing can be placed below. Something which is above another thing can also be, at the same time, below yet a third thing. Sometimes we lead, sometimes we are led. 

And it’s not just about the object moving positions, it’s also about how we see the object and the position we (the observer) are in. There’s a yin-yang relationship as well between the observer and the observed. Einstein would give us a big part of the science behind all this in his study of relativity (but I won’t). Quantum physicists also have a lot to say about how particles may become waves and vice versa (check them out).

Not only are these positions not fixed in time and space, but they also contain each other, as the Tai Chi symbol suggests—white dot on the black side of the circle, and black dot on the white side. This is obvious when we understand the very logic of yin and yang: both are in everything… including in themselves. For example, the South facing mountain side receives more light overall, but can be dark at times. The North facing side still has some light and may get more light than the South facing side at times. The moon (yin) is lit by the sun (yang), yet in turn reflects the light outward (yang). All human beings harbor both yin and yang aspects, regardless of their body shapes. Famous Swiss psychiatrist and therapist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) spoke about the animus (yang, or masculine) and anima (yin, or feminine) in our human psyche, and how important both are, and their harmonious relationship, to our wellbeing and development. A person can project a mostly yang behavior at certain times, for example when managing and directing others, but not at all times. A person can project a mostly yin behavior when feeding a baby, but not at all times.

Yin-yang and Sustainable Development 

Internal and External Reality

Most sustainability professionals, amplified by the media, speak about climate, animal species, or other natural things occurring outside of, and around humans. They use the term “environment” often. And they want to change those external things. These professionals seem to completely forget that they themselves are part of nature, completely immersed in it, and in fact that they cause most of the problems they see as external. It is quite ironic that many of them lament the ‘externalities’ of our economic system—which they say we need to “internalize”—when, in fact, the main externality in their system is the human “internality,” that is, what happens inside human minds and bodies. When applying the yin-yang framework to make sense of these behaviors, we see that most sustainability professionals dominantly see the yang (external) aspects of the world, and seldom its Yin (internal) aspects, if at all. Interesting, don’t you think?

Above and Below, Sky and Earth

Let me give you another example: the sustainability discourse is currently dominated by the climate issue. Yes, of course, climate matters to humans, but so does everything else, particularly human health and what happens here on Earth. In the (terrible) expression, “decarbonize the economy,” one can see that the focus on removing something from the atmosphere has even leaked into the economic discourse, in quite an indigestible way. Climate is a dominantly yang value (above, air, sky), relative to humans. Here again, we can observe a clear over-focus on a yang value and a clear underestimation (to say the least) of yin values (earth, water, below, soil, matter, women, children, etc.).

Math and Art, Thought and Sense, Models (of Reality) and Reality (Itself)

Let me give you another example: our over-focus on words and numbers (yang), and our virtual blindness on feelings and senses (yin). Do we really think that nature is like a computer, and we can manage all its components to fall into some kind of arrangement that will be convenient for us? Models help. But they are not the part of nature they represent. The drawing of a table is not the table. In fact, when we understand better nature’s laws, we learn to trust that the part of nature that’s around us will just “do its thing, naturally,”  with just the necessary and sufficient intervention from us, humans. The oak seed becomes an oak, when in the right circumstances. As part of nature, let’s just do strictly our thing too–not someone or something else’s. Yang wants to control yin these days. Let yin be free, so yang can also be!

The Problem: Fixating Natural Things in Yang Positions, thus Forcing Yin Things to also Be Fixed

Many sustainability professionals (most of them, based on my experience of over 40 years) are quite assertive (yang value). They think they are right (yang value). And they talk and talk forever, trying to “convince” others. Oh my! So many words! You guessed it: yang again! 

Can you see a pattern forming here? If we apply the yin-yang framework to what’s happening in our life and in the world today, we will very quickly realize that we are not only vastly over-focused on yang values but also fixated on them. Too many climate folks are literally obsessed with climate, and want all of us to be obsessed with the same obsession. We are gripping to yang values as if we feared something terrible would happen if we did not.  

Conversely, we are not just underestimating yin values, we are neglecting, belittling, abusing, and harming them. Matter is a dominantly yin value. We are abusing matter; and we are gripping to the abuse. And please pay attention to this fact: the words matter and mother have the same root. We are abusing, violating the Mother of all things. 

We Must Stop Gripping Immediately!

There is no “bottom” (yin) to how evil humans can be, in the same way as there is no “ceiling”, or upper limit (yang), to how good we can be. Gripping onto one’s (ego-centric) perspective, as if it was an absolute truth, is evil. We, the human species, will surely disappear from creation if we persist in fixating what must flow. Be on guard, for example, with anyone who pretends to be part of a “best in the world” kind of club, in sort of a permanent way. We all know some of those people. Well, no one is on a pedestal (yang value) except very temporarily and circumstantially, for example when winning some specific competition. As an executive coach, I only take clients who are sufficiently open to coming down from their pedestals, or not constantly seeing others on pedestals, even at the price of a little (temporary) pain. Come if you are ready for new and liberating adventures!

Every time we grip to our knowledge and insist we are right, we are making a step backwards on our developmental journey. 

To develop (sustainably), we must come back to peace and harmony. We must melt the tension between yin and yang poles to solve humanity’s crises. We must dare to see the other side, both outside and inside of us. And we must restore our relationship with that other side, with both our sides. We must learn to dance with the other side. We must see all the ways in which we are the other side too, and get us to love both sides equally, over time and space.

Start today. Be intentional about seeing yin and yang values and aspects in your daily life and experience. Many simple practices can considerably help rebalance and move yin and yang, including Qigong and Tai Chi, dancing, singing. Here’s a powerful practice: start writing one short sentence a day for a month with your non-dominant hand, and observe what this practice can do for you over time. You’ll be amazed. 

The law of polarity, or duality, is everywhere in nature. We must see it in our own human nature too, and flow with yin and yang. Or we shall perish. 

For more on this topic, you may also read Episode 12: Sustainability Is about “And.”

How do you navigate the yin and yang of your life as a sustainability professional? Have you noticed anything already and made some shifts? It would be so precious to all of us if you’d only share one example from your own experience in the comments.

 

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