Note to philosophically sophisticated readers: Yin and Yang (“yinyang”) are more complex than presented below. The terms “masculine” and “feminine” are used not biologically, nor psychologically, but symbolically, similar to how Carl Jung uses “anima” and “animus.”
Like the citizens of Plato’s Atlantis, we moderners are proud. Blinded by hubris, we assume that scientific and economic solutions can heal moral and natural problems. This notion is, unfortunately, wrong. Without balance, without a goal, activity for the sake of activity yields ruin.
As hyper-capitalism idolizes masculine “doing” over feminine “being,” we rape nature (a reality) to produce money (an abstraction). Mother Nature protests. She protests (sadly) in vain, for humans — and especially the ones who tend to seek power — can hear but choose not to.
What is responsible for our deafness?
Our constant and unthinking need to act. Our lack of balance. Our inability to sit still in receptivity. Our devaluation of the feminine in favor of the masculine.
As was the case during and before World War II (ask Carl Jung), during the Gilded Age (including our current one), or — indeed — during the Roman Empire’s brutal occupation of the Levant (ask Jesus of Nazareth), a re-balancing is required: More Yin, less Yang.
For it is only through Yin (in Chinese philosophy, the “receptive principle,” classically associated with the feminine) that we can rediscover true value — nature, truth, love, beauty, honesty, humility, our imperfect humanity in this imperfect yet profoundly beautiful world.
It is only through Yin that we can use Yang (the “active principle,” traditionally associated with masculinity) healthily, as we must if we wish to repair this shattered planet.
Make no mistake: Earth is indeed broken.
Why?
Because we are broken.
Because we are human — all too human.
21st Century Gods, 21st Century Folly: The Need for Yin-informed Yang in a World Addicted to Yang & Frightened of Yin
Two weeks ago, soon after turning 30, I moved to New Orleans to begin a new career teaching law students. The experience has been inspiring, challenging, and an utter blessing.
After teaching my first three lectures and just before Ida’s rude arrival, I wrote of my fear that the hippies, scientists, and environmentalists who sounded the alarm yet were summarily ignored would be proven right — not only about Ida but also about this being only the first of many Idas.
After the destruction, I felt sadness. I was paralyzed — briefly — by receptivity, by too much Yin, by a sense of frustration and exhaustion. A deep mourning over the state of our world and the direction we are headed seized me.
Friends,
I do not have all the answers — I’ve been wrong several times in my life. But I suspect that if modern stupidity continues to supersede ancient wisdom — Christian and Buddhist principles as basic as humility, patience, and moderation, or Chinese philosophy’s caution that we consult our Yin before using our Yang — we are headed to a very dark place.
So . . . here are three Yin-inspired ideas:
- Do not confuse money for value.
- Do not confuse the bloated, foolish, exploitative egotists on television for role-models.
- Finally, do not confuse the billionaires rocketing to space on the fumes of this poor, shattered, and dying planet—our only planet, our precious “pale blue dot ”—for prophets.
These wanna-be gods are not prophets but, like all who confuse scientific potential for unlimited potential, fools. Charlatans. Dopamine-fueled sophists. Exploiters. They are bloated with the overconfidence of Yang and empty of the patient wisdom of Yin. (Again, behold Exhibit A — a joy-ride carried out during a pandemic — and pity anyone, male or female, who would utilize their Yang, their “active principle,” so obscenely.)
Because of their overflow of Yang, their addiction to activity over receptivity and domination over cooperation, these selfish oligarchs have knowledge but not wisdom; science but not morality; lust but not love; ambition but not intuition; and material wealth but not spiritual wealth.
It has been said that “the best lack all conviction, and the worst are full of passionate intensity.” Indeed. Perhaps it can also be said that the best have too little Yang and the worst have too little Yin.
Let’s all rediscover our balance. Together.
Billionaires like Bezos are not alone in misusing Yang. The natural world is sick because humanity’s connection to it has been severed as a consequence of our unhealthy lifestyles.
So we must all heal. We must elevate the collective quality of our being. We must rediscover stillness, receptivity, and the patient wisdom that comes from experiencing instead of dominating nature. We must embrace Yin for a time — only Yin.
How should we begin? Pray.
Pray for Louisiana, for New Orleans, for America, and for the world.
Pray for wealth-hoarding, modern-day lords as well as for their overworked and underpaid employees.
Pray that we can heal the inhumanity of humanity before Ida — for now, a valuable warning of the consequences of human stupidity, greed, kleptocracy, patriarchy, and corruption — becomes the first of many tragedies.
Pray that humanity remembers that we are not above nature. Nor are we below nature. We are a part of nature; if we abuse nature, we abuse ourselves.
It is only after this time of rest, prayer, and hope — only after a collective re-valuation of Yin — that we can act properly, using Yang as an ally to Yin and nature instead of its oppressor.
So: What does Yin-informed Yang look like?
I don’t know; I’m not an ancient Chinese philosopher, just a Lebanese-American lawyer.
That said, I suspect that a wiser Yang, a Yang that has been balanced by Yin, doesn’t look like building rockets during a time of great need. I suspect it looks healthier, calmer, more purposeful. I suspect that instead of destroying it builds; that instead of bullying it uplifts; that instead of tarnishing and dividing our society it unites.
Most importantly, I think in my soul that refinding some semblance of balance (i.e., refinding our souls) is the only way to repair our societies, our neighborhoods, our infrastructure, and our — this — precious planet.
To conclude:
Many of us — from Jeff Bezos to politicians on the Left and Right to (most especially) the design of Bezos’s … Yang-informed rocket ship — could use a bit more Yin. Indeed, Yin must inform Yang, as Yang without Yin is blind. Yang without Yin leads to authoritarianism, warfare, and social dysfunction.
But what of those of you who are quiet? Who receive but never act? Who observe but never assert? Who, like Robert Frost, wish for a reprieve in the woods — “lovely, dark, and deep” — but know that your journey is not yet over: That you “have miles to go before you sleep?”
Your Yin, your sensitivity, is both a burden and a blessing. For you, as for Frost, the path to healing is different; unlike those with too much Yang and too little Yin, your Yang is good Yang — balanced, Yin-informed Yang. Your task will be to face the world — face your fear — and to act. Assertively, decisively, and with confidence.
Because, God knows, there’s a lot to repair. And too many good people are silent.
“The world is a fine place, and it is worth fighting for.”
My best to all,
Mike
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Previously published on Medium
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