Duality and the Trinity of Creative Forces

Energy travels in waves.  Each wave of energy composes one cycle (or circle) of energy flow.  This is easy to see in nature.  The earth is vibrating (rotating) and one turn of the earth in a circle constitutes a cycle we call a day.  The earth is also vibrating (revolving) around the sun.  Each time the earth completes one circle around the sun, another cycle we call a year has occurred.

The moon also creates lunar cycles.  The movement of the moon around the earth creates a tidal cycle.  The moon also goes through a cycle of phases (new, waxing, full, and waning) which gave rise to a cycle we call a month.  (Moon and month come from the same root words, even though we no longer use the moon to calculate months.)

The relationship between the wave the the circle is represented below.

As shown above, energy travels in waves.  Each wave follows a cyclic or circular pattern.  Thus, the path of the wave from the first arrow to the second arrow follows one full circle (or cycle) of energy.  When it reaches the second arrow, the energy has returned to the starting point, and thus comes back to the beginning.  It has traveled “full circle.”

These cycles are eternal.  They are unified.  The circle is one.  So, at the most fundamental level, the universe is composed of the same stuff (energy) and is therefore completely whole and undivided.  However, we experience two distinct phases in all of these cycles which creates an illusion of duality in everything.

Each wave, vibration or cycle has two easily recognized parts which appear to be opposites.  Hence, there is summer and winter, day and night, the full moon and the new moon, the high tide and the low tide.  In reality, these are not different things, they are simply the front and back of the same whole.  They are two expressions of the same wholeness.

In Oriental philosophy, these apparently opposing forces were dubbed yin and yang.  The Oriental symbol of the yin and yang energies (shown below) is a circular pattern which expresses the unified, waveform nature of all creation.  Energy is continually flowing through two phases, an expanding or yin phase, and a contracting or yang phase, to arrive back at the beginning and start again.   Yin and yang are not separate things, they are the front and back of the same unbroken, continuous whole.

Yin and yang are the expanding phase and the contracting phase in each waveform we observe.  The expanding or yin phase is characterized by the force of attraction.  Attraction pulls energy towards it.  As energy accumulates, there is expansion. 

As the expansion reaches fullness, there is a shift in the energy.  Expansion gives way to contraction.  In contraction, a repelling energy is at work.  Energy is repelled or pushed away, which causes a shrinking or contraction to occur.

This is shown in the following illustration

The arrows outside the "yin" circle represent the energy being attracted or pulled inward.  As energy is drawn in, there is expansion, which is represented by the arrows inside the "yin" circle.  As expansion leads to fullness, the energy shifts.  The yang energy is the force of expulsion or repulsion.  As something contracts, represented by the arrows inside the "yang" circle, it expels or pushes energy away from it.  This leads to an emptying out, represented by the arrows outside the "yang" circle.  The emptying out causes another energy shift and the cycle begins again.

This can be most easily seen in our own body.  As the heart attracts (or draws in) blood, it swells or expands.  As the heart reaches fullness, it contracts and repels (or pushes way) the blood.  Each cycle of expansion and contraction of the heart creates a vibration we call the heartbeat. 

The same thing happens in our lungs.  As the lungs draw in (attract) air, they expand.  As the lungs push out (repel) air, they contract.  Each cycle of expansion and contraction creates one breath in the circle of our lives.

These forces are constantly moving throughout our body.  Our nerves build up electrical charges and then discharge or fire electrical pulses.  Our muscles expand or relax, and then contract to create force so we can move and perform tasks.  Our stomach and intestines expand and contract to churn and digest food and move it forward through the intestinal tract.  Even our lives are expanding and contracting as we rest at night to build up our strength, then expend energy during the day.

These forces are also visible in nature.  During the year, as light expands, darkness contracts (the days get longer and the nights get shorter) which brings the heat and activity of summer.  Then, there is a shift.  The light contracts and the darkness expands (the days get shorter and the nights get longer) which brings about the cold and dormancy of life in the winter.  Following the same pattern, we watch the tides rise and fall, the ocean waves rise and fall, the moon cycles through its phases as it waxes and wanes, life spring forth in the spring and fall back in the fall and so on.

We also see these forces present in our own duality as male and female.  The feminine is the yin force of attraction.  The male the yang force of pursuit.  When they mate, the male energy expels or pushes away the seed which the woman receives, and the yin or feminine principle swells with new life.  When fullness is reached, the new life is expelled from her womb in the process of birth.

Over and over again, in all that we see and experience, we behold this apparent duality in all things.  Yin, yang; male, female; front, back; top, bottom; over, under; above, beneath; male, female; hot, cold; dry, damp and so forth.  Yet, beneath these dual forces lies a third force, one which encompasses both ends of the duality, uniting them as one, seeing them as they really arečthe two halves of the same thing, inseparable, indivisible, and eternally one.

This third force is illustrated below.

You can observe this third force at work each time you breathe.  You can sense it with every beat of your heart.  Think about it.  Do you just inhale and exhale?  Does your heart beat constantly?  Pause and notice.  You inhale, you exhale and then there is a pause, a moment of rest.  Your heart expands, then contracts, then pauses before expanding again. 

To better understand this concept watch the ocean waves sometime.  Each wave builds, crests and collapses on the shore, but there is always a pause, a moment of stillness or rest before the next wave.  If you look only at the surface, all you will see are the waves rising and falling—the constant expression of duality, yin and yang, forces seeming to be forever in opposition to each other.  But, in the pause you can see what is beneath this, the great, quiet stillness of the ocean depths that underlies the turbulent surface. 

This third force is the energy of the great deep, the void out of which everything arises. This third force is the force of equilibrium or balance.  In it, we find the stillness that is beyond the duality we observe on the surface of creation.  It is “place” where the apparent conflict is reconciled and the unity in the opposites is observed.  In the point of rest between the vibrations that make up our universe is where we experience the Divine.    It is the power of rest, which is also the power of peace.

Thump, thump, pause; thump, thump, pause; inhale, exhale, pause; inhale, exhale, pause; forever cycling through three distinct phases—three distinct manifestations of one whole, present in everything we observe—a trinity of forces quietly testifying of the one voice, one breath and one song that is creating them.