Life is uncertain. We know when it started, we don’t know when it will end. And most things in between are uncharted territory we have to discover and live through.
Mitigating risk and reducing uncertainty is the ultimate pursuit of society, linked to survival and as ancient as the human race. When our ancestors moved from hunter gatherer to agriculture, the effort towards controlling food supply and building more reliable, permanent shelter brought us forward on the path to civilisation.
Fast forward to modern times and we think we are in control of our own destiny or at least, as healthy individuals, we have perceived control of our immediate environment and surrounding. We need to feel in control, it’s a fundamental human need and we keep on using psychological strategies to reassure us. But fundamentally we have very little control of a lot of what’s happening in the world, in our own countries, communities, workplaces etc.
From the family and city we are born in and our genetic make-up to what partner we fall in love with, most things in life seem really random and non arbitrary.
Yet we have Free Will, maybe, at least in relative terms. We can substantially impact our circumstances and change what we don’t perceive as worthy, move, learn and develop, get to know the world and ourselves better. And we can control emotions and states of mind, compensate for outer precariousness with inner stillness through Yoga.
We constantly shift from efforts to control to moments of let go and surrender. Control means creating structures and frameworks, boundaries and walls, containers where we feel safe. Surrender means going with the flow and let life be, the way it is, as it unfolds.
The first concept is characterised by stability, in Tantric yoga you can imagine the masculine energy of the god Shiva immutably still in deep meditation, rooted at the centre of the world. The second concept is characterised by creativity, movement, change, gaiety and flow. The feminine goddess Shakti, constantly whirling around Shiva, playfully teasing and mocking him for his squareness.
These two forces or opposite sides live in the world and our own lives and constantly dance with each other. The darkness of the night always follows the light of day, like the moon follows the sun. Resonances are constantly being emitted and receipted. The sacred feminine joins the masculine in a procreative unity of magic. In the Taijitu symbol, the Yin can be represented as a fish that playfully follows the Yang. One lives because of the other and both energies coexist in the universe and within ourselves.
Balance between the two is key, as well as letting the up and down swings happen without too much drama. On one side, fear can cause too much control, leading to rigidity, stiffness, sluggishness and totalitarian oppression. Too much rapid movement, openness and change can lead to confusion, anarchy and destructive chaos. As individuals we are predisposed to be on a scale, a continuum between the two, where some people choose routine, stability and the familiar and others go for adventure, creativity and diversity.
Your value system and lifestyle will show where you are on this scale and how much of this originates from your education and social conditioning and how much is in your true nature is really hard to define. We are all a mix of the two, genetics and nurturing. A balance between rigidity and chaos needs to be found, at any given time and phase of development in life.
Everyone needs some form of routine and a way to feel safe and protected. Particularly in a fast paced, modern world, we also inevitably need to follow change, continuous development and adaptation. We have hundreds of potential opportunities and choices in life, really many ways to manifest ourselves in physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual forms: the Western Man (and Woman) has never been so free in five thousands years of history.
Is this freedom too much Shakti energy? Could this lead to chaos and anarchy? Some people on the Right political spectrum might think so. Is society still way too oppressive and limiting to the individual, with rigid work weeks and career paths, monogamous models of relationship and imposed borders and boundaries? That’s what some people on the Left think.
Like everyone else I moved my balance left and right over life many times. I am currently rather on the left, or my lifestyle and value hierarchy might suggest that, although politically I embrace elements of conservatism as well as liberalism and progressiveness. I am currently in Copenhagen, couchsurfing through a very unstructured and spontaneous 2 month trip of Northern Europe, which requires a whole lot of openness and, I might say fully validated, trust in the goodness of others.
Do I want radical change in society though? As my life is creative and very open to the Shakti energy of transformation, I am rather happy for society around me to be quite structured and efficient, in the masculine energy of Shiva, as I perceive it to be. In the 21st century, the current structure permits me to live in what I see as my own creative terms. I want change and human development in incremental, measured steps rather than revolution. I feel very grateful and privileged in my own cosmopolitan, modern European identity of relative predictable stability and efficiency. And very stimulated by the potential of a lifestyle in between fast changing, emerging Thailand and rest of the world, which also allows me to develop as an individual in my chosen field of nutrition, yoga and wellness.
‘So it is said, for him who understands Heavenly joy, life is the working of Heaven; death is the transformation of things. In stillness, he and the yin share a single Virtue; in motion, he and the yang share a single flow’ – Zhuang Zhou
Can we both be safe and grounded, while exploring the creative boundaries of change and transformation? Where are you on the spectrum between creativity and predictability, surrender and control?
Being in a phase of deep transformation I equally hangout with creative spirits who sometimes crave material and financial stability and old friends, who would benefit from a little more magic in their lives. I love them all, as I love the day and I rest in the night. Because love and union between the opposites is the ultimate aim, the non-dualistic goal of Yoga, that transcends the polarity and merges into a blissful oness, the original source of all things.
