‘The Best of Times, the Worst of Times’
Yin & Yang in history, in life
The year is 1999. Remember talk about shutdowns, power outages or work stoppages, tripped, we feared, when the digital world was processing Y2K? Our worry was misdirected but perhaps not without cause. Did we know, on some level, we were in for big change? Now, here we are. There may be unspoken context which helps light the path, moving forward.
Faith Popcorn credits a Singapore born woman trader, Mei Ping Yang, with the following theory: Until the year 2000, all the dates in the last thousand years started off with the number 1, a ‘male’ number. Enter the year 2000 and now we have a feminine number in the lead. Would there be specific changes as we migrate from what, she hypothesizes, is a distinctly male designation of history into a feminine phase? Let’s play with the idea.
The masculine, like the number one which represents it, associates with the vertical straight line. In Chinese medicine, Yang, masculinity, is singular and directed, impelled by vision, determination and even a competitive drive forward. Yang associates with independence and ingenuity. The masculine millennia, then, would be the backdrop for progress: industrialization, technological advancement, air travel, the proliferation of communication networks. All these advances raised the standard of living, produced thriving economies, promoted the growth of cities and countries. Think ‘up, up and away’ as the moniker of the masculine!
As a rule, when the masculine is operative, we leap forward, economically and technologically. Let’s associate the masculine, as per Chinese medicine, with the passionate excitement associated with the word “YES!” An enthusiastic battle cry, peppered with progress and scientific advancement, but one necessarily requiring the precision and input of the feminine.
After all, the proliferation of options comes as a barrage: many channels, many destinations, many possibilities. The unbalanced proliferation of Yang dismantles concentration, promoting rampant ADHD. Too much positivity. Too many options, all potentially dislodging the values that would otherwise anchor us as we thrust forward, hopefully in a directed, useful manner. Alas, too much Yang and we have young men living in the basement, addicted to the video games that mesmerize them. Such fellows, ironically enough, get locked in Yin which, when out of balance, degrades into stagnation.
Moving into a categorically different millennia is a reset. The feminine priority comes into focus, whether it’s concern for ‘Mother Earth’, the appropriate calling out of misogyny or clamping down on exploitation of women, children and minorities. Yet, when the feminine ascends, if it’s not balanced by Yang, everything comes to a halt. The feminine, in excess, breeds an overconcern with feelings which threatens to derail the masculine thrust that must be exerted in order to prevail against entropy. The feminine, in its most inspired form, animates the best use of the word, “No.” Yin is your faculty that grounds you in higher values, animates your discipline, deploys unwavering loyalty to people and institutions. In excess, though, it can deteriorate into name-calling and cancel culture, the cultural version of a ‘nagging wife’.
The masculine millennia, characterized by proliferation and success, could be represented by the grand skyscrapers built during that phase. Then with 9/11, negativity struck, issuing a last word on the so-called sovereignty of the masculine impulse. The masculine millennia had brought us corporations and everything gargantuan. In the feminine millennia, smallness finds its power, like droplets that can bring down countries and economies. The feminine has its own means of prevailing.
In the feminine millennia, the word ‘no’ proliferates. There are less jobs, less affordable rent, theatres are closed and people are getting cancelled. Decidedly feminine (metrosexual) characters may get perched in leadership positions. Many people are working from home, so much time spent inside, the interior being associated with the realm of the feminine.
Here’s the principle that’s important. Chinese medicine teaches that health and mental health require the optimal balance of Yin and Yang. We need enough Yang to galvanize and act. We need enough Yin to aim properly, using best jurisprudence as a guide. If we fall out of balance, veering into either extreme, we move into a state characterized by excess. When Yin is excessive, we become negative, overly sensitive, calling everybody out. When Yang is excessive, we may start many projects and finish none of them. Worse, as noted by Frank Zingrone, “too much of anything makes us less likely to care about civil or humane outcomes.”
There is much talk about the transgendered amongst us. In these times, though, let’s not forget another definition of the word ‘trans’: ‘on or to the other side of’. I’d like to suggest that imbalances, relative to Yin and Yang, are rampant in the population. We each need to master the traits or faculty that is the other side of our dominant zone of preference. Specifically, we each need to properly master the feminine. To do so, we need to embrace and reengage concentration. Read books, not blogs. Say less, write more. Engage complexity. Avoid the urge to skim. Don’t fall into the state that characterizes these times, described by Zingrone:
“we watch gourmet cooks prepare complex meals on TV while increasing our consumption of convenience foods. We become increasingly sedentary while accessing escalating amounts of mass sport.”
If we fall into a type of Yin that is toxic, we end up doing Yang, but mostly as voyeurs, not as participants.
These times, characterized by Yin, require the best incarnation of settled focus that you can muster. Time to recalibrate your nervous, jumpy brain so trained by the digital tools at hand. The reset is upon us. Those who learn how to indwell, focus and tame the monkey mind can hope to be among ‘the last men standing.’ As always, those who light the path forward straddle the cosmic pattern of self and soul. We can remember the Genesis account. It describes man made in the image of the Divine: “Masculine and feminine, He created them.” Live true to those origins, and you will get your bearing, despite times that are strange, to say the least.
I’m producing a series of educational coloring books (“Color Me Yin”) designed to teach important psychological concepts while encouraging focused concentration away from devices. My first coloring book is: The Jordan Peterson Cheat Sheet.
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