"Yin and Yang, male and female, hard and soft, heaven and earth, light and dark, thunder and lightning, cold and warm, good and bad ... this is the interaction of the opposing principles that shape the universe." Confucius
We all know about the opposites of life, which are described in Confucius quote. Recently I was walking in my "house forest" and came across this picture on my way. What a symbol of the opposites that nature presented to me so easily. Wonderful green trees on one side, but somewhat bare trees on the opposite side and the root path in the middle. For me personally, this was the perfect picture of the universal principles. Our world consists of opposites, we see them on both sides and are allowed to look for our path in the middle. The path of the center, the path of unity, the path of balance between yin and yang.
This balance between the sun and the dark is the great art of life. We love to take refuge in the sunny side, in our desires, our hopes and in the lightness of life. But we all know that the other side is always there and present, even if we are sometimes only too happy to reject it. And in between our shadows roll over us, which we paid too little attention to. Walking the tightrope and perceiving the opposites is the great challenge that we can, must or are allowed to face again and again. Do I see and feel the variety of emotions and accept all of them? Am I firmly anchored between heaven and earth? Do I feel my own warmth in the cold or vice versa? Do I perceive my inner feminine side as well as my inner masculine side, regardless of whether I'm a woman or a man, and give both of them the space they need and the right voice? Only when I see that light automatically belongs to shadow and shadow can only arise through light, am I ready to walk on the path in the middle. The path of the middle is the path of the heart, which sees both sides without judgment or restriction and accepts what is right now. From the perspective of the heart, I am just happy knowing that there is grief at the same time. Perhaps I am anxious and yet see that I am completely confident in various areas of my life. I may be angry, but I feel that I am very happy and happy about a lot of other things. I am balanced, although all the various emotions and colors in my world show up.
This path of the middle and the awareness that the whole variety of opposites are always present in every single moment make me strong. This root path helps me to position myself in the opposites, to look at them, to meet myself from a neutral position and simply to perceive what I see, feel and experience. And when I stumble over a root on this path and tend to slide to one side, I always see the path and the other side from my perspective at the same time. So I am ready to face life.