R Magazine, Ex-TeenArt_Issue 1_Authenticity Jun. 2015 | Page 36

Versatility inherent to principle Yin/Yang makes that one resistant to the explication by the words but
it doesn’t hinder occidentals because Chinese doesn’t use words to represent ideas; they use kind of
abstract ideograms which bring together logic rigor required by left brain and plastic beauty appreciated
by right brain .
The symbol of Yin/Yang is well known, it is the Tai chi, a circle with a black part and a white part, two
parts forming a whole, a same entity. It presents a perfect geometric symmetry, in the image of the
equilibrium of cosmos and that one between Yin and Yang, that is between the infinite varieties of
antithetical couples .The fact that there is a black point in the white and a white point in the black show
that each one content in itself its counterpart, that there is no duality, that nothing is never perfectly
white nor perfectly black, that all is always constituted of a changing mix of Yin/Yang :the black will
clear until becoming white, to restart then to blacken and the white will follow the opposite move in
the image of the heart which inspire after having expired.
Yin and Yang come true only inside the dynamics which couple them, they bear each one inside of them
the germ of the other; they are interdependent in the sense that they are not conceived one without the
other: the excess or the deficiency of one of them would lead to an imbalance; they generate each other
as when the day change into the night.
On balance, there is no Manichean vision of things as in occident where contraries oppose in tearing
instead of connecting in the peace of reconciliation .# means precisely “perfect contemplation” and
refer to a status of serenity, of quietness, tranquility and indifference to the agitation of the world.
The difference of perception between occidental and Chinese culture shows to which extent our
representations are tributary and dependent of cultural data, which are basically outside of us ,to which
extent our judgments-western-are the result of a radicalism certainly harmful for our internal balance
and for all kind of knowledge that should be attempted to be erected, nota bly in political and social
sciences.

Writing : Candy Hoffman
Translation : Madjiguène Diop
Layout : Axelle Port-Lis