It is said in Taoism that the thing that goes against the Tao cannot endure. The Tao is the natural harmony or balance of the world. People usually become angry because they have set themselves in opposition to the balance of things in their current place or situation, otherwise they would just become motivated.

Done right however, anger chi could be a very effective cutting blow? Perhaps to remove a blockage? Done right, anger chi is hard to recognize as anger. To explore this in a more broad way, the yang spirit or balance of chi, which is a valid and healthy chi state, is characterized by passionate engagement.

One which flows? Yes. Intense flow with a center of poise in the flow. The heart of yin in the yang is the necessary element of balance. The balanced yang person moves like you might imagine an elemental would.

An open fist? Basically, yes.

Balanced yang sounds very much like a martial artist. Yes. It’s a very life affirmative state, more or less living primarily from a proactive attitude. Shall we discuss it’s opposite?

Sadness is a state of chi, and it shares its qualities with water to the point of tears being associated with sadness. Sadness is receptive, refractive and reactionary. When one is sad they are primarily perceiving situations as something that is happening to them rather than as something they are involved in. They also tend to blur their sense of presence and awareness because at the moment they believe the cause of their sadness is the most important thing, like tilting a prism just so. When one is sad they are reactive, doing everything from echoing something someone else says, to engaging in radical shifts of balance just based on the flow of their disrupted attention. Stray thoughts all seem to give them more reason to feel sad.

Now water on the other hand, though it is receptive, it is also buoyant. Though it is reactive, it also adopts the cumulative energy of everything that has touched or moved it. And water, if adaptive, is not confining itself to one form but taking any form and changing freely as its movement requires.

Now sadness tends not to last. Why is that?

It dissipates. Other energy takes its place? It does dissipate, but it is still the same chi as existed in the sad state. Sadness churns against itself. That refractive quality I spoke of? How things get tilted because only a narrow section of experience is considered? Schewed. Distorted. Well, that churning distortion is cumulative and inverted.

Like one of those desktop toys where a subtle imbalance keeps it moving? Yes, but more like the whirlpool in the tub when you drain the bathwater. Eventually, because all those energies are being withdrawn back into the hurt feeling, the meaning of the original event is lost. Eventually, you go from crying over being rejected by someone you care about, to crying because you have no ice cream in the house. The sadness loses contact with its cause so loses its force and flow. When you realize you’re crying because there is no toilet paper in the bathroom, it tends to sober you up.

It takes a lot of effort to remember why you were sad in the first place. And effort better spent elsewhere. You don’t want to throw good chi after bad.

Shall we discuss the yin temperament? The yin person is in contact with the world through calmness. The yin temperament person is strongest when they are peaceful, reflective. They open themselves to shifting with the conditions in their environment, and shifting energy in the environment without pushing it. They carry their awareness from one point to another, and equalize the balance of energy in any situation they are in. Though they are reactive, they are selective about what they react to. Though they are receptive, they equally and quickly release anything that blocks their flow like water dislodging fallen trees or rocks in its way. This is the yang heart in the yin. The flow amplifies other sources of energy.

People often think the yin types are shy or unfriendly. They aren’t shy as much as they are gentle. They aren’t unfriendly as much as they are accepting of any state you happen to be in. The yin person will distract an upset friend from the source of their pain. The yang person will help them rush through it. Both are useful in their own way.

Yank off the band aid vs. pulling it off slowly? Yank off the band aid versus washing it off so it loosens easily.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~