The Yin and the Yang of it

[lindil]

As I fancy myself a little 'learned ' in taois cosmology and lore, I would like to add what i consider to be a necessary correction to a post that otherwise has excellent merit.

namely Yin and Yang as 'good' and 'evil'.

literally i have read ina few places that yin and yang translate as the sunny side and shady side of a hill respectively.

So light and dark, day and night, male and female, Sun and Moon, high and low, Earth and Air, Fire and Water are considered 'classical' pairings.

The Tao teh Ching [ usually considered the core text of Taoist thought along with the I Ching - a virtual yin/yang computer-not to be recommended for divination however] tells us that

all can know good as good, but then arises the recognition of evil

but this means at the same time [as the many varrying translations attest

If everyone understands good as good, then this is evil.

In the light of this understanding Yin and Yang can I think be profitably used to discern complementary as well as antagonistic forces.

But keeping in mind there is almost never pure Yin or Pure Yang.

Melkor endeavors to become the extremes of both yin and Yand, ice and fire were his favorite tools of destruction in the begining of his war agais the Valar.

Eru can of course be seen as Pure Light, but he creates first amidst the backdrop of the empty void.

Other than the above, Manwe and Elbereth [the male and female aspects pure created Yang/Light] and Eru Himself are to my mind virtually the only cases of pure yin and yang.

Even Ulmo [water/Yin] is a male [yang].

But their are many pairs to be found and pondered in the Legendarium and from them one can learn much about Yin and Yang, the Four Elements and if one is particularly shrewd, about oneself.

Elf and Dwarf
Firstborn ['immortal'] and Second Comers [mortals]
Ent and Dwarf
Arien and Tilion
the Two Trees
Dol Guldor and Caras Galadhon
Arnor and Gondor [especially interesting study of yin and yang as Gondor stayed strong <yang on the 'outside'> in terms of might of arms in cmparison with Arnor but Yin within, growing less wise and decaying. While Arnor declined in wordly power but maintained a Dunedain purity - due to their continued contact with High-Elven culture which the Gondorians lacked.