Yings and Yangs

Ying and yang, highs and lows, ups and downs, two sides of a coin, you get my point. It seems that everything in life that is good has its counterpart that is quite the opposite.

It seems as if we are not allowed to experience simple and straight ecstasy without there being some kind of pain to mar the perfection. Why if something is going well, is it “too good to be true”? Why can’t good, happiness, joy and fun be the given, and the sadness, pain and suffering be the anomaly?

I understand that Gd in His infinite wisdom created this perfect world, and He likes it just as it is, but if we, the little minions who are along for the ride don’t have the lenses to see the truth behind all Gd’s wisdom then why bother putting us through the wringer?

Do we gain by suffering that cleanses if we don’t see the cleanliness that follows? Is that suffering not in vain?

The past week held many incredible celebratory events for me and my family, birthdays of two of our precious children, an anniversary, AND a great surprise party for my wife, that went off without a hitch. By all estimations, my own included, I am a very, very blessed man.

So, I ask you, why then the need for the “flip side” of the coin? I am not going to turn this into a kvetch piece – much as I think this would make for an interesting column unto itself – but suffice it to say, that there have been many micro-crisis to potentially have ruined the joy of the week.

If it were not for my constant – literally, ongoing – focus not to let the negativity interfere with the good, I could have easily lost all the goodness in the face of the negativity that threatened to invade.

I wonder, if in fact, that is the very point of the yang, the low, the other side of the coin. Perhaps it is a requisite part of good that it be blended with bad, or holiness with evil, or pleasure with pain by some Divine instruction, but perhaps the purpose is not to ruin the ying or the high, rather to accentuate them.

Perhaps the way to make joy truly joyous,the happiness complete, and the gratitude absolute is by relishing it, holding onto it, and most importantly, protecting it from the forces that threaten to drown it.

Meaning to say, as wonderful as a celebration is, it is, indeed, fleeting. I hate that. You bust your chops for many days, weeks, even months to setup and execute a successful event or celebration, then after a couple hours it is all over.

How do you hold on to that joy, that happiness, that ecstasy? Well, nowadays we have pictures, and video, but those only help you relive the surface of the party. The exterior part of the celebration.

How to stay “online” with the experience, how does one live-stream in real time something that has already concluded?

I suggest that this doable as a result of the ubiquitous yang to every ying. The yang that threatens the ying, forces you to dig deep and find the inner ying and push the yang away. While that is painful, and can threaten to ruin the joy, it actually forces you to access the essence of the joy to not fall prey to the pain. It forces the goodness to be reignited and fuel the fight against the pain.

Is there another way? I am sure the big Boss upstairs can find another way. But until I am made aware of what that is, I want to look at life’s yangs as a means to a deeper and more continuous ying.

Blog 15/52

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