This is the tenth blog entry in a series whose goal is to discover the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol.
The previous attempts at discovering the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol began with breaking the Yin Yang Symbol in half along it’s internal boundary. The result was the creation of the two identical shapes shown below.
It was then demonstrated the shape of one of those Yin Yang halves resembled the shape of a cresting wave.
Waves are not only found in the ocean. Electrical signals also have a wave shape as was demonstrated with the next image.
It was then shown how the two halves of the Yin Yang Symbol could be rearranged to create a wave shape.
All of those connections between the shape of Yin Yang halves and waves used to justify the preliminary conclusion that the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol had something to do with waves.
It was then noticed that the two Yin Yang halves arranged to create a wave shape,
could be turned into a simplistic bird shape with some slight modifications.
A bird is a living creature. The ability to produce a realistic drawing of a living creature from the Yin Yang halves was taken as evidence the Yin Yang Symbol had something to do with living creatures in general.
Human beings are a living creatures and they invented the Yin Yang Symbol. So it certainly seems possible the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with living creatures.
To test that idea, comparing the complete Yin Yang Symbol and the two halves of the Yin Yang Symbol to human body seemed like a logical next step. The picture below shows that comparison
No obvious connections between the Yin Yang Symbol, the Yin Yang halves, and the Human Body present themselves. Since there seemed to be a strong correlation between waves and the Yin Yang Symbol, it was decided to compare the wave shapes created from Yin Yang halves to a human body in the profile view.
The comparison revealed the front and back of the human body have a wave shape as highlighted by the red lines in the next picture.
That successful comparison made it seem likely other parts of the human body might have wave shape also. To test that likelihood, the wave shapes created from Yin Yang halves were compared to a rear view of the human body.
That comparison revealed the sides of the human body are also composed of wave shapes.
To ensure the similarities in the first two comparisons were not just coincidence, the wave shape created from the Yin Yang halves was then compared to an overhead view of the human body.
That comparison revealed the front and back of the human body also have a wave shape.
The ability to create a bird from wave shaped Yin Yang halves, and the fact the human body is covered with wave shapes, make it seem likely that living creatures are also involved with the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol in some way.
That calls for the current hypothesis of “the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with waves”, to be changed to “the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with waves and living creatures”.
The new material for this blog entry begins here.
More information is needed to prove or disprove the current hypothesis, that the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with living creatures and waves.
Another topic that constantly crops up in discussions of Kung Fu are snakes. References to “moving like a snake” are just about as common as references to “moving like water”. There are Kung Fu movements that are named after snakes, and there is even a Kung Fu style called “Snake Style”.
Because the current hypothesis is that living creatures are somehow related to the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol, and because a snake is a living creature, investigating snakes seems likely to provide information that could prove or disprove the current hypothesis.
The investigation begins with a picture of a snake.
We are immediately rewarded with a positive result. The other fact we feel fairly certain about in our hypothesis about the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol, is that it related to the shape of a wave in some way, and the body of the snake is shaped like a wave.
The next picture shows how the body of the snake looks like the wave shape created from Yin Yang halves.
The similarity between the shape of the body of snake and a wave is more supporting evidence for the hypothesis “the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with living creatures and the shape of a wave”.
As of now the current hypothesis is not very helpful. It is too general. While it might feel good to tell people “the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with living creatures and the shape of a wave”, what are you going to do when they say, “What exactly do living creatures and the shape of a wave have to do with the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol?
Additional information is needed before a more detailed hypothesis can be formed.
Another frequently mentioned subject in Kung Fu discussions are “whips”. As with the phrases “moving the body like a snake”, or “moving the body like water”, those Kung Fu oriented discussions will often invoke the phrase “move the body like a whip”.
The picture below shows a man holding a whip up in the air as if he is preparing to use the whip
The alert reader will have immediately seen why the subject of whips have been brought into the discussion. The shape of the whip looks similar to the shape of a wave.
The shape of the whip also looks like the wave shape created from Yin Yang halves.
And the wave shape of the whip looks like the wave shape of the snake body.
The fact that a moving whip has the shape of a wave, and the fact a living creature, a human being, has to make the whip move, reinforces the current hypothesis about the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol.
After ten entries in this series, it seems like the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol must have something to do with living creatures and the shape of a wave.
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( Please keep in mind there can be three different cases that all meet the current hypothesis about the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol.
1 – The meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with living creatures.
2. The meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with the shape of a wave.
3. The meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with both the shape of a wave and living creatures. )