The Harmonious Balance of Yin and Yang


Infinity ~ Shelia S. Massey

The harmonious interaction of light and dark, masculine/feminine, creative/receptive energies within the self is an integral part of meditation, dreamwork, or any creative work on personal growth. Sometimes it is helpful to forgo linear rational mind explanation and delve into contemplation of energies through art. This is why this site is designed as more than an informational site: I believe there are many ways to attain knowing and that the most important of knowings cannot be passed through words. I encourage you to meditate upon the work of some of the artists in our Art Galleries. Look for the balance of yin and yang.

Many of the tangles we find ourselves in develop out of our belief that all things can be rationally explained in linear left brain fashion. With this insistence we neglect the development of our emotional body and therein lies the dilemma. It's not necessary to be an artist, to paint or play music; everyone can contemplate the arts in their various forms and in this way move away from the rational mind and into the emotional. When I say 'emotional' I am not speaking of the drama we often equate with emotion; but rather those more refined aspects of emotion that relate to esthetics and a holographic sense of relationship rather than separation.

I wrote a poem in an attempt to describe the yin/yang struggle within the self. I entitled it The Yielding Battle. It will give you an idea of the uses for writing in this medium.  It is my position that everyone should write poetry, paint paintings, dance in spiral circles, sing songs, and beat drums. Daring to express less than perfection is liberation. The painting above came in a dream - a dream I interpreted as telling me a loved aunt would soon die. In the dream the painting was hanging on the wall - in duplicate. One version was large and the other minature. In the dream it was Christmas Eve and as the family arrived I walked through the hallway with her and she pointed out the paintings. She died on Christmas Eve two years later, following the end of my marriage to her nephew - in a very real sense there were 2 deaths in 2 years.

Mastering a specific skill isn't the goal; learning to recognize and play all of the strings of self is the path to personal balance and mastery. I claim no mastery in the area of meditation; just enough to know how valuable a resource meditation has been in my life. I invite others with expertise in the meditative arts to participate in sharing their knowledge.