Which best fits you, Yin or Yang?

United States
November 20, 2006 1:25pm CST
The concepts of Yin and Yang originate in ancient Chinese philosophy and metaphysics, which describes two primal opposing but complementary forces found in all things in the universe. Yin (Chinese: ?/?; pinyin: yin; literally "shady place, north slope (hill), south bank (river); cloudy, overcast") is the darker element; it is sad, passive, dark, feminine, downward-seeking, and corresponds to the night. Yang (?/?; yáng; "sunny place, south slope (hill), north bank (river); sunshine") is the brighter element; it is happy, active, light, masculine, upward-seeking and corresponds to the day. Yin is often symbolized by water, while Yang is symbolized by fire, or wind. Yin (receptive, feminine, dark, passive force) and Yang (creative, masculine, bright, active force) are descriptions of complementary opposites rather than absolutes. Any Yin/Yang dichotomy can be seen as its opposite when viewed from another perspective. The categorisation is seen as one of convenience. Most forces in nature can be seen as having Yin and Yang states, and the two are usually in movement rather than held in absolute stasis.
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5 responses
@vhansen (2029)
• United States
25 Nov 06
I am definitely a yin,no doubt about it.;-)
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• United States
20 Dec 06
since together we are whole does that make me yang? lol
@macubx (11414)
• Philippines
20 Nov 06
can a guy choose Yin? even if its feminine thingy?? anyways nice information you've got..
1 person likes this
• United States
25 Nov 06
lol yes men can be Yin despite the feminine connotation
• Canada
1 Apr 07
Great post! Very informative! I am bi-polar and I love the water so I'm definitly a Yin!
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@Makoy1983 (1084)
• Philippines
15 Mar 07
im a little bit of both but more of yang..
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• United States
1 Apr 07
I think it may be misleading to say that one or the other is male or female. When I was reading a translation of the Tao Te Ching, the translator said that in the Chinese there was no mention of male or female, that the idea of ascribing masculine and feminine labels to anything was mostly produced through western translations of texts (especially because we don't have a non-gender pronoun, which Chinese does). I have found in my life in general that the idea of lumping all of the dichotomies together (light with male, good, positive/dark with female, bad, negative) is pretty useless. What if I am dark but good? Then I don't fit in either category. Each individual dichotomy has been most useful on it's own (dark/light seperate from male/female, positive/negative, active/passive, etc..). Western society generally likes to have broad generalized catagories to lump everyone and everything into, which tends to leave the individual feeling dissatisfied, unacknowledged, lost, and unfulfilled.
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