( This is a rough draft that needs further editing. It is being made public so it does not get lost or forgotten back in the “draft” section of the website admin panel. )
At this point in the series investigating what the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol could be, the current working hypothesis is “the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with living creatures and something to do with the shape of a wave”. More investigation is needed both to solidify the current hypothesis and to make it more detailed.
The previous blog entry talked about whips.
That entry noted that whips have the shape of a wave when they are being used,
and it is necessary for a living creature, a human being,
to use a whip.
While thinking about whips I recall that there is a movement from a Kung Fu style called “Tai Chi” that is named “Single Whip”. The picture below shows a Tai Chi practitioner in the Single Whip pose.
The whip and the man doing the Single Whip movement are then compared to each other.
At first glance there does not seem to be any visual connection between the whip and the Single Whip movement. Perhaps the movement is called “Single Whip” because the practitioner is supposed to move their body like a whip?
If that was true then it would also mean that the practitioner was supposed to move like a wave, because a whip makes a wave motion when it is used. To refresh the memory about waves, here is the picture of the a scientifically defined wave.
Inspection of the Single Whip posture results in the realization that with a little modification, the human body in the Single Whip posture can be made to look like a wave.
If the back arm and the front leg of the man are erased,
the remaining parts of the body bear a resemblance to one quarter of a wave shape.
If the modified Single Whip posture in the picture above really does resemble a wave shape, then it should be possible to create a full wave from multiple copies of the modified Single Whip posture.
First a copy of the modified Single Whip posture is mirrored and placed end to end with the current copy of the modified Single Whip posture.
The two Single Whip postures form the shape of half of a wave.
A copy of the two Single Whip postures from the picture above is copied, flipped, and aligned on the current two Single Whip postures.
As expected, the four manipulated copies of the modified Single Whip posture form the shape of a complete wave.
The ability to create a wave shape from modified Single Whip postures lends more credence to the current hypothesis for the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol, which is “the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with living creatures and the shape of a wave.
It could be argued that the previous process to create a wave shape from the Single Whip posture was too convoluted to have any meaning. It could be argued that any object can be manipulated to create the shape of a wave, so there is no special meaning to creating a wave from modified Single Whip postures.
That is a reasonable argument actually. While there is no denying the wave shape created from the mirrored, flipped, and modified Single Whip postures, how does the ability to form a wave from those modified shapes add any insight into the connection between the unmodified Single Whip posture and the shape of a wave?
While forming a wave shape from the mirrored, flipped, and modified Single Whip postures may not add any insight to the current hypothesis for the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol, the fact that a wave shape is formed reinforces the belief there is some connection between the shape of a wave and the normal, unmodified Single Whip Posture. Enough reinforcement to merit further investigation.
Since placing the mirrored, flipped, and modified Single Whip postures end to end in a particular way produced a wave shape, linking a number of normal Single Whip postures next to each other seems like a logical place to look for some connection between the shape of a wave and the normal Single Whip posture.
There is a connection between the linked Single Whip postures and the shape of a wave. A wave can be created by beginning at the back foot of the far left Single Whip posture,
and drawing a curved line up to the extended out right hand,
then curving the line down the rear extended left hand of the next Single Whip posture in the change and down to it’s front right foot,
then repeating that pattern across the picture.
Because it was possible to create a wave shape by starting at the rear foot of the left most Single Whip posture in the chain of Single Whip postures, it seems worthwhile to examine the string of Single Whip postures for more wave shapes.
That examination is rewarded by the discovery of a wave that begins at the extended rear arm of the left most Single Whip Posture.
A curved line is drawn from the extended rear arm down to the front foot,
then up the rear foot of the next Single Whip posture in line and out to it’s extended right hand.
The pattern is then repeated across the remaining Single Whip postures.
A whip functions by transmitting a wave shape generated by the user through itself. There is a movement in the Tai Chi Kung Fu form called “Single Whip”. It has just been shown that a wave shape can be created by stringing multiple Single Whip postures together.
What if the Tai Chi form named ‘Single Whip” is so named, because the practitioner is supposed to generate a wave shape and send it through their body, in the same way they would generate a wave shape with their body and send it through a whip? How could that possibility be tested?
One method would be to compare the end results of sending a wave through the body by performing the Single Whip movement to the results of sending a wave through some other medium. Because the example should be more familiar, waves in the ocean will be chosen for the comparison instead of waves in a whip.
A previous blog entry noted how an ocean wave and the scientifically defined wave shape were similar.
Since the ocean wave and the scientifically defined wave shape are similar, the ocean wave can be interchanged with the scientifically defined wave shape and vice versa. That means the wave shape on the man performing the Single Whip movement,
can be replaced by the ocean wave.
What are the characteristics of an ocean wave? An ocean wave is made of water, and it contains and transmits a force, which can also be called “power” or “energy”. The waves travel from the ocean towards the beach where they crash and dissolve.
What will happen to a person who stands in front of a crashing wave? They will get knocked down if the wave is large enough. Why does the wave knock the people down? The obvious answer seems to be “because the water knocked them down”. While that answer may seem obvious, it is not scientifically accurate.
One of the characteristics of a wave was listed as “the transmission of forces”. What knocks the people down according to science is the force in the water, not the actual water itself.
What is the purpose of Kung Fu? “Kung Fu” is the Chinese name for hand to hand combat, so the goal of Kung Fu could be described as “knocking someone down”. Which coincidentally is the same thing an ocean wave will do to anyone standing in front of it.
That fact supports the idea that the “Single Whip” movement from Tai Chi is so named, because the practitioner is supposed to create a wave shape with their body and transfer it to their front hand. The force contained in the wave would then be transmitted from the hand to the body of an opponent, which would result in knocking him down, just like the force in an ocean wave knocks someone down.
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All of the previous discussion has resulted in one major new concept that could impinge on the current hypothesis for the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol. That is the concept of “forces”, which have the ability to affect the environment in some way. One of the characteristics of forces is that they can be contained within and transmitted by waves.
The current hypothesis for the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol is “The meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol has something to do with living creatures and waves”. If waves can contain forces, and living creatures can generate waves and send them through their body or other objects like a whip, then it seems reasonable to tentatively modify the current hypothesis for the meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol into
“The meaning of the Yin Yang Symbol is related in some way to living creatures, the shape of a wave, and “forces” which are defined by the science of physics”.