Y~is for Yin and Yang

Everything has its counterpart; one half of anything is meaningless without the other. There is an active and passive element to every principle. Seeing only pure light and hearing only constant sound serve us no better than being blind or deaf. It is the darkness from which we discern the light, the silence from which arise the sounds that allow us to give those sensory experiences their shape and meaning.
For example, the concept of night has no meaning without the concept of day, the concept of up has no meaning without the concept of down.

I'm someone who appreciates black and white, dark and light, and I enjoy learning about all people; their traditions, religion and ideas. Though I consider myself a Christian, I don't permit myself to live 'in a box' or allow myself to be close-minded about other's beliefs or opinions. The following video opened up my mind to some of the truths behind the symbolism of Yin and Yang. Especially how life is full of balance and that there is good and bad in everything. Take a moment to watch. At the end, the girl tells a wonderful story about how a horse escaping from the barn brought good fortune to a farmer.
Something similar has happened to my own family, too.

When we bought this house we weren't aware that there was another house, on our road, with the same address as ours. Apparently it was built as a 'mother-in-law' type of residence, in addition to the main house. But it was given it's own address, which matched ours.
We've discovered this can be a bit of an annoyance, and even a danger. We've had countless delivery people drop off packages at the wrong residences. Repair people doing actual repairs at the wrong place, too. We've had pest control trying to spray our house, when we never ordered it. We've even had our septic tank pumped by mistake. But we've also had the ambulance going to the wrong home....both for the eldery lady in the other house and for me, when I was recently sick, too. Thank goodness both events weren't life threatening, or it could have been very serious.

Recently, Ranchman John and I got a bee in our bonnets to suggest to our neighbors that they change their address. We were all set to head over there and then we found a $600.00 fuel bill, attached to our tank, from a propane company that gave us a fill-up....that we never ordered.
Yup. They delivered the propane to the wrong house.

When we called the company to complain, they told us that New Mexico has a law that restricts propane companies to only filling tanks that they have contracts with, and since we didn't have a contract with their company, they weren't permitted to charge us, and we were allowed to keep the propane. "Merry Christmas" they said.

Life is full of Yin and Yang, don't you think?

Have you experienced any Yin and Yang moments in your own life?

If you are interested in learning more about Taoism and the concept of Yin and Yang, you can read the 'Abolition of Man' by C.S. Lewis. He suggested the Tao as an ethical system for our times. Lewis seemed to see Chinese Taoism as a universal ethical umbrella - one that would include Christianity as well as other religions.

Happy Holidays!