Yin Yang

The Girl Who Fell Through Time uses a Yin Yang image on the front cover of Books One and Two. I thought I'd add a few thoughts on my reasons behind that, and so picked up some definitions from Wikipedia and an AI search, then added some references to Peter and Nene afterwards.

Yin Yang image from Book One: Beginnings

Yin / Yang

Two opposing cosmic forces into which creative energy divides and whose fusion in physical matter brings the phenomenal world into being.

Yin and yang are fundamental, interconnected forces of opposites in Chinese philosophy, representing principles like dark and light, passive and active, or cool and warm. The concept is visualized by the Taijitu symbol, a circle divided into black (yin) and white (yang) halves, each containing a dot of the opposite color to show their mutual existence and interdependence.

Yin and Yang can be thought of as complementary and, at the same time, opposing. Together they form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the interdependent components, and both parts are essential for the cohesion of the whole, and their balance is crucial for harmony and the ebb and flow of the universe and life itself.

Yin is associated with:

• Darkness, shadows, and coolness

• Femininity and passivity

• The moon, water, and earth

• Stillness and rest

Yang is associated with:

• Light, brightness, and warmth

• Masculinity and activity

• The sun, fire, and heaven

• Movement and action

Key Characteristics

• Opposites: Yin and Yang are opposites that attract and complement each other.

• Interdependence: They cannot exist without each other; the presence of one implies the presence of the other.

• Transformation: One force can transform into the other.

• Balance: The ideal state is a harmonious balance between the two, which is essential for health and well-being.

Peter and Nene

So, which is Peter, and which is Nene? Well, at first glance we would probably say Nene is Yin and Peter is Yang – as in femininity and masculinity, or grounded spiritualism verses science, east verses west, past verses present, and so on.

But I think the ideas of interdependence and transformation are important here. You can’t have one have one without the other – or if you do, then things are out of balance, not just on an individual basis but for the whole of existence itself.

Peter might say that everything is relative, and that you can’t have an upwards dimension without a downwards one, or a left without a right, or a positive without a negative, or an attraction without also some capability to repel, like the poles of a couple of magnets– turn them one way, they attract, turn them another, they repel. He might also say that the balance between the strong and weak forces is critical in atomic nuclei, and that the existence of one aspect or factor implies the existence of the other. The very nature of the universe depends on this duality, and within that 'destiny' plays no role.

Nene might say that light and dark are two manifestations of the same thing. Dark is the absence of light, light expels the dark. Love banishes hate. Good banishes evil. Without the existence of one, we wouldn’t know the other - indeed, we couldn’t know the other. Would we truly appreciate the meaning of happiness without the knowledge that there is also sadness? Would we truly understand harmony without the experience of discord? She would also say that everything is destiny, and that

fate that brought them together, and it is fate that will decide their path.

Finally...

Either way, we as human being exist in relation to each other, and whether the story of Nene and Peter’s is one of chance or destiny, they cannot complete their journey without each other.

So, again, which is Nene, and which is Peter? I like to think they both have aspects of Yin and Yang. But, I’ll leave that for you to decide! The Girl Who Fell Through Time is available exclusively on Amazon, both books one and two, with book three on the way.