dows’ another in some aspect of their relationship”4. The role of nature seems to be a key component of this, and there is some speculation that the two sides could also represent the male and female. Taoism takes this idea and in Lao Tzu there is a passage that encourages to “know the male, yet keep to the female”5. Whether the yin and yang are male and female, or hot and cold, night and day, black and white, they are consistently seen as a pairing of opposite forces. It is in grasping the balance between the two forces that one can understand reality. The idea that the yin and yang are male and female combining to be one is an idea that makes sense in a cultural context as well. As the ancient Greeks believed that Gaia gave birth to the Gods, who in turn reproduced to make the Earth and reality as they knew it, so too did the Chinese believe that their reality was made of a male and female. In Appendix III of the Book of Changes there is a passage that reads that “there is an intermingling of the genial influences of heaven and earth and the transformation of all these things proceeds abundantly. There is a communication of seed between male and female, and all things are produced”6. This combination of male and female means that all things are born from themselves. By knowing that all reality comes from the male and the female, there is an importance in understand the requisite harmony that must be achieved. Without it there would be a constant battle within the self to understand which side of the self controls. In Lao Tzu there is a passage that says “all things stand with their back to the female and stand facing the male. When the male and female combine, all things achieve harmony”7. It is this harmony that the Yin Yang school teaches. It is the understanding that all things that exist must know both the male and the female to truly be at peace with themselves. The...
