“Yin and Yang are not opposite forces, but complementary forces that interact within a greater whole” – Wikipedia.
I was always afraid of both the people who aim to do good, at all costs as of those who want to do evil. I almost said that I encountered the latter segment much less often but then my mind drifted to my Romanian background where an opinion like “Those [X] should be exterminated and it will be much better” or “Why don’t they execute all those who…” could be heard freely at a, let’s say, dinner party. Still, everyone wants, if not to be good, to be perceived as such. It’s such a pushing and shoving into “the light” zone that one would think that the world is made of children who all want to play the good guys and there are no candidates for the thugs.
Sounds silly my fear, isn’t it?! How can one be afraid of good? Good is good, after all – should probably sound in one’s mind, not used to start on the path of idiotic questions like “what is the definition of good?”. I simply shudder when I encounter that clean, innocent and blank look: That is what we should do because it is THE RIGHT THING to do” (and by “right” read “good”).
In every deed, in every action, there is Yin AND Yang. It’s difficult to accept. Even people who mentally understand this have a hard time accepting it. I know I did. I am not even talking about “shades of gray” but of pure good and pure bad. Give me the one thing you consider that cannot possible be evil and I will show you the evil in it. I remember reading in a National Geographic that teaching children in developing countries to wash their hands could save 3 million lives every year. Who would ever disagree that this is a good thing?! But that special issue of National Geographic was talking about water shortages worldwide and that the planet is reaching the breaking point. Yes, we consume too much and we could be more thrifty but do you really imagine in a world where every drop of water matters. Do you imagine yourself on Arrakis (read Dune if you haven’t done so), where you can only take sponge-baths?!
The search of pure good always led to evil! That is my theory. When rejecting human nature and the dark side of life, when we believe we can separate them, our actions lead to monstrosities. Reading the deeply kind and understanding philosophy of The New Testament, some reached the conclusion that burning people on stakes will make this a better world. Wanting to narrow the gap between rich – who had education, food, a complete life – and the very-very poor who were struggling to maintain a human identity in their unfortunate birth, Communists did create so much pain and suffering. Nazis too. We want good and we want it NOW, we don’t have time to wait for slow changes! And then we suffer and say, for the thousandth time: “Never again!”.
Yes, good and a too ardent desire for pure Yin leads us every time to pure Yang.
I know that it is difficult to accept. I tried to spread this word around – it’s not my finding and it has been said through ages in many, many different ways. Unfortunately, while one can explain such concepts and have people understand them, one cannot do anything about acceptance. Acceptance is something 100% personal – one has to accept such revelations; one cannot be made to accept a revelation.
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