COMPLEMENTARITIES
The Buddha’s standpoint in the earthly life’ by Hilma af Klint
“All is a circle within me...
Now all has a place to come home”
This last week I’ve been observing Spring Equinox more closely than in previous years. The second of four ‘sky points’ in the Celtic wheel of the year following winter solstice, it represents the point at which the darkness is the same length as the light (equi-nox - 'equal night’) and marks the end of winter in the northern hemisphere.
It has felt like a particularly long winter this year and so the return of the light is especially welcome. It’s also become clear to me this year that bringing awareness to the outer balancing of light engenders closer attention to the inner one. It’s an invitation to consider where in one’s life is there balance and where is there imbalance?
“Among the Dagara, darkness is sacred. It is forbidden to illuminate it, for light scares the Spirit away…. The one exception to this rule is the bonfire.”
It has brought recognition that I often push away the dark, sometimes out of fear (of the unknown or some other silly, uncontrollable thing) but that when I do I mostly end up feeling flat. When I allow myself to feel and welcome the dark and all its discomfort, not only does it bring in a brighter light but a deeper recognition of the gifts buried in therein.
Recognising that complementary nature of opposites and our capacity to identify not with either pole but rather with the thing, or ‘no-thing’ holding it all, was what Jung called the transcendent function, it’s also perhaps what the Buddha meant by ‘the middle way’. It is this real-eyes-ation of the complementary relationship of our inner polarities that precedes a state of integration, or individuation as Jung called it.
As helpful as it is to contemplate how the yang can’t exist without the yin within the context of our busy lives, it’s also interesting to consider how much of our life we ‘do’ in order to ‘be’ someone or something, and how much are we able to ‘do’ from the depth of our ‘being’. Doing and being do not have to be adversarial, but can instead be thought of in this way as complementarities, forces that are intertwined and that can work in tandem.
“Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens.”
Receiving and giving, knowing and not-knowing, releasing and holding on, we only come to know one through the existence of the other. The more we open to both aspects with equanimity - bringing the same degree of presence to both while saying ‘welcome' - the greater our experience of wholeness and peace.
The transition of the dark into light is a gradual one that will take us up to the next Celtic holiday of Beltane which marks the beginning of summer. During this time we can begin to action in a similarly gradual and considered way that which is most needed in us to be able to celebrate the light, honour the dark, and to bring into fruition whatever seeds we’ve been sewing within.
