So what exactly do bliss and balance have to do with one another? The answer is simple, I believe that in order to live a life filled with blissful moments, you have to find balance. I believe wholeheartedly that too much bliss can throw you off balance and right into a life filled with despair. That might sound like paradoxical psycho babble, but it makes a lot of sense when you think about it like a two year old.
Little kids–and some big ones too–don’t have the control necessary to realize that if one
ice cream cone is good that ten aren’t necessary better so left to their own devices, they’d end up stuffing themselves until the ended up with a bellyache. That’s exactly why it’s important to realize that bliss needs to be balanced with the ordinary or we’ll end up in a endless cycle of bliss and despair.
The big kid’s version of too much ice cream is too much alcohol. I’d never drunk alcohol until I went away to college for the first time and despite being underage was able to get anything I wanted. Getting drunk was fun as it made me feel funnier, sexier, smarter, and like one of the cool kids. But the downside of getting drunk was the unenviable hangover that had me worshipping the porcelain god come morning. Like most people, I’ve learned the bliss of moderation and that one or two drinks relax me and create a feeling of bliss without the embarrassing antics and pain of drunkenness.
In Chinese philosophy, this is defined by yin and yang, two opposing yet interconnected forces that are intertwined, with each containing a portion of the other. The white portion of the symbol is the yin which represents that which is bright and warm and the dark portion is the cold and dark force of yin. You’ll notice that within the yin, there is a small piece of yang and within the yang a small piece of yin.
The easiest way to understand is to think of Yin as the cold, dark, and gloomy winter and Yang as the bright sunshine of summer. The yang within the yin represents those beautiful and warm sunny days when you feel hopefully and alive because the cold gloominess is gone and the yin within the yang represents the dark, dreary and rain days that come every so often during the summer.
Yin can’t exist without yang and neither can we. If we never had the dark periods of winter, when would plants germinate? When would bears hibernate? We all need balance in our lives and although getting up and going to work each day may not be blissful, it does bring with it a satisfied sense of fulfilling our obligations and helps provide the yang to bliss’s yin.
Cairn by Cairn 