Yin and Yang

They really are almost perfect like this. Until they start biting each other and scrabbling.

But, before the biting, there is a harmony of form that is so appealing.

Buji likes to wash Wuji. Often rather more thoroughly than the latter would prefer.

It's hard to take a picture without disturbing them.

Almost the best part is the entanglement.

The name for the in yang symbol is taijitu. Taiji apparently means something like the Supreme Ultimate state of endless change and balance. Tu means plan or diagram.

What I like about the symbol is that balance does not become grey; instead, both the black and white are still clearly visible. The other thing is the dots of the opposite colour within the larger portion of each half: the reminder that something always contains its opposite.

I think all of this gets lost in the use of the word "balance". Think of a see-saw: the balance point suggests something that is flat and static. Instead, what we have hear is dynamism... it seems more like "harmony" than balance.

I am ready Barry Lopez's superb Arctic Dreams (the piece linked to is a very good review by Robert Macfarlane), and he talks about the various different cycles at play... so, for example, numbers of animals don't remain constant: they peak and trough, all impacting each other. There is no "climax state", no "balance".

The world isn't grey.