The Yin Yang Cycle

In hearing the statement “Returning is the movement of the way,” (chapter 40 Daodejing) there are a few philosophical ideas that are needed to first understand the statement. The movement of the way, that is mentioned, refers to the cycle of yin and yang that dao travels through. Yin and yang are dual forces which work to keep in balance with each other though they are not opposites, but blend together as the dark and light sides of the earth blend. Dao is said to be ‘the path’ that is naturally followed by all things which has parts in the yinyang cycle to maintain its balance. Fan, or returning, holds the other piece of this statement and ties all of these terms into each other. The balance of yinyang is counteracted by its imbalance which makes the cycle continue. This continuation from yin to yang or visa versa is a returning both to the cycle and to balance the cycle, returning to either yin or yang. The statement mentioned then means that this returning to balance is the ‘movement of the way’ or that it is the path which all things naturally follow. Simplified, creating balance is the natural process of life.

We have discussed through our course if returning to follow this balance is possible. Assuming that this returning cycle of yinyang is consistent, chang, this is possible to do because we can interpret our current point in the cycle as a movement away from balance and we will then be returning to the balance in due course. I would like to argue though that this cycle is not consistent. Chang, or consistency, is best described as a ‘continuous repetition of the cycle and paths of natural processes.’ We can see cycles of returning every day that follow the chang pattern such as birth and death and the seasons. There have been societies, such as the Chinese which have tried to form methods to return to the cycle though they have not succeeded as a society to do so. In their trying they are making a cycle of trials which have brought them closer to dao though they then slip away in attempting to find new methods of re-entering the cycle. In doing so, considering the idea that we will in due course return to the yinyang cycle that we are not currently in balance with, we are not in a consistent pattern of the yinyang cycle but rather a cycle of attempts to recreate the balance. This part of the process is consistent but in this we are then not consistent in returning to the movement of the way. The seasons show this well because as the Earth continues to slowly drift towards or away from the sun the length of our seasons slightly changes every year. They are in constant flux to achieve a balance as the Earth is searching for a gravitational balance between all other celestial bodies.  There is no way to know if these will return to a balance and be consistent but we can clearly see that they are consistent in their attempts to return to a balanced dao, further showing how ‘Returning is the movement of the way. ’