The Yin & The Yang

These two engravings on glass by Mats Jonasson were acquired last summer while on a sojourn to Stockholm. Placed together, they are the very manifestation of the disparities in this world. Conflicts are reflected in the colours from icy-chill to fiery-torrid and in the mien from angelic to satanic. Opposing intentions of good and bad are depicted with one being the nemesis of the other. Ancient Chinese sages rationally expound this yin-yang philosophy of existence as bringing harmony to the universe. Plainly speaking, too much of a good thing simply spell dissonance and incongruity.

A poignant interpretation of relationships in Yin-Yang terms:
Yang is as the day, turning into night, and yin the night preceding the day; the one is the force that drives the waves of the ocean forward, the other the force that draws them back so that they may go forward again."

Yang in his givingness bestows the gifts; yin in her being receives, preserves, enhances, and redistributes them. Yang constructs, yin instructs; yang implements, yin complements; yang is strength, yin endurance; yang is knowledge, yin the mystery that reveals itself and becomes knowledge.

Yang is the lover, and yin is therefore beloved; yin is the beloved and the source of love. Yang is will and yin is wisdom, and one without the other is neither, and together they are joy.
- "Twin Souls," by Patricia Joudry and Maurie D. Pressman