Yin & Yang in the Home

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Yin and Yang in the Home

One of the basic tools we use in Feng Shui is the principle of Yin and Yang. It is the essential philosophy behind the five elements, and working with an environment.

We can use Yin and Yang ideas when making judgments and decisions about how to bring in different attributes of Color, Shape, Size, Texture and elements into our space to create a quiet, nurturing space, or a more vibrant, and energetic one.

The main idea behind Yin and Yang is the idea of relativity. Meaning Yin and Yang are not merely opposites, but different levels of being on the same wheel; or in Feng Shui terms, different places within the elemental cycle. As we cover the elemental cycle, you will see why different colors, shapes, sizes, and therefore elements correspond to different levels of Yin and Yang and how observing these levels and how they can be very helpful  tools in creating your environment.

One of my favorite Authors is Scott Peck. He wrote the Road Less Travelled. In one of his books…He says there is no such thing as opposites, only different levels of the same thing. That phrase boggled my mind…especially since I was much younger when I read it and am still learning everything it means. I went around telling everyone my new discovery and waiting to see their reactions. Some people disagreed with me. Some people brushed it off, and some were intrigued.  I really liked the thought because it completely changed the way I looked at things. It was a fact of reality that I had never been taught, and so I didn’t see it- even though proof was all around me. And the more I looked around and contemplated this new idea, the more I could apply it to.

All matter, energy, time and space came from one single point- one singularity. Yin and Yang are different expressions of the same singularity. As humans, we all have the same type of energy flowing through us. And all beings, from a tiny microbe to the strongest of human beings are made of the same matter.
In the technological age, we can look at the use of Yin and Yang and computers. Computer language is written in binary code. There are only two symbols, 0 and 1. So no matter how complicated a program, it can still be broken into codes of 0 and 1. Or, Yin and Yang. Binary code is an example of simple components being interwoven to create things of enormous complexity.

At a universal level, we can say that everything in this universe is either matter or energy or a combination of both.

Or you could say yin, or yang, or a combination of both.

Things to remember about the concept of Yin and Yang, especially when applying it as a tool in your home and with feng shui is:

Yin and Yang are always relative. There is never a wrong or right with Yin and Yang. What might feel more soothing to one, may be a little more distracting for someone else. Like a chair that’s comfy, yet bright red:

You can always try something, and then change it. It’s never a waste of effort because each time you learn so much about yourself and your environment.

Carl Sagan, when producing his PBS series popularized the term, billions and billions, which was the title of one of his books. The billions referred to the stars…He was fond of reminding his viewers that we are all “made of star stuff.”

If Matter is Yin, Energy is Yang. If Earth is Yin, Sky is Yang. If Moon is Yin, Sun is Yang If Woman is Yin, Man is Yang

They are all Yin/Yang pairs–one cannot be without the other. When talking in terms of energy and matter energy can’t exist without matter, and matter can’t exist unless it has energy to keep its structure. Simple, but not boring! The reason is that the possibilities for us to create an environment within these rules are infinite.

All music, for example, can be written in seven notes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 but you can never reach a point where no more new music can be created.

You can’t reach a point where no new computer program can be written.

Beautiful music can be created only if it is written with both yin and yang notes.

A computer program cannot be written only with 1 or with 0. Yin and Yang always exist together,-neither can exist without the other

There are no rigid borders between Yin and Yang and they rely on each other to be true. Imagine if there is no earth, then the word sky becomes meaningless. As we are dependent on the universe for our existence, the universe cannot exist without us. There can be no life without death and without death life has no meaning. A human being has both positive energies and negative energies.

Even though in the world of binary, 1 could be nothing further from 0, they are also more alike than any 2 numbers.  Because both are what make up binary.

So they are opposites, yet the same. And this is what Scott Peck meant when he said all truth contains paradox. So you can apply feng shui the next time you have a particularly confusing situation, for which you’ve been searching for an answer. You’ll never be wrong. You will learn from what goes right, as well as what goes wrong. And there will always be at least a little of both.

Yin

Water
Darkness
Cold
Rest
Lower
Central
Heavier
Passivity
Interior
Inward
Contraction
Moon
Winter
Softer
Female
Gentle
Negative
Psychological & Mental

Yang

Fire
Light
Heat
Movement
Higher
Activity
Exterior
Upward
Expansion
Sun
Summer
Harder
Male
Positive
More Physical & Social

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