Yin-Yang

There is an old adage in accounting and auditing; "substance over form" and I believe this saying can be transferred to recovery and life. In recovery substance matters most. If the substance of any program dictates character change and a true self examination then the recovery process will be enhanced. On the other hand if any program of recovery relies on form only then there will be no substance in the recovery and the old habits will come back in full force. You may ask; where are you going with this; well there have been a few examples in my recovery and in my life where form has overruled substance but I believe whole heartedly in substance because this will advance my recovery.

There is another adage which comes to mind; "don't judge a book by its cover". If a book has the best cover design, the best title, the best author it may not have the best story. In this adage you can transfer the substance from the previous paragraph because if there is no substance to the book then the form of the cover is superfluous. Again, substance rules over form. This is not to say form should not be considered. On the contrary we as a society require form in terms of rules and regulations because without this form our society would be in anarchy. However, if the substance is genuine and real and goes against the form then the substance should rule.

Form and substance is an example of the yin-yang concept. This is ancient Chinese philosophy represents all the opposite principles one finds in the universe. Under yang are the principles of maleness, the sun, creation, heat, light, Heaven, dominance, and so on, and under yin are the principles of femaleness, the moon, completion, cold, darkness, material forms, submission, and so on. Each of these opposites produce the other: Heaven creates the ideas of things under yang, the earth produces their material forms under yin, and vice versa; creation occurs under the principle of yang, the completion of the created thing occurs under yin, and vice versa, and so on. This production of yin from yang and yang from yin occurs cyclically and constantly, so that no one principle continually dominates the other or determines the other. All opposites that one experiences health and sickness, wealth and poverty, power and submission can be explained in reference to the temporary dominance of one principle over the other. Since no one principle dominates eternally, that means that all conditions are subject to change into their opposites.

This cyclical nature of yin and yang, the opposing forces of change in the universe, mean several things. First, that all phenomena change into their opposites in an eternal cycle of reversal. Second, since the one principle produces the other, all phenomena have within them the seeds of their opposite state, that is, sickness has the seeds of health, health contains the seeds of sickness, wealth contains the seeds of poverty, etc. Third, even though an opposite may not be seen to be present, since one principle produces the other, no phenomenon is completely devoid of its opposite state. One is never really healthy since health contains the principle of its opposite, sickness. This is called "presence in absence."

As you can see in recovery as well as in life one cannot have a full sense of purpose until experiencing a true yin-yang phenomenon. Without my compulsive gambling I could not have a true recovery as is the case without being completely honest (when I lied to myself for years) with myself I cannot have a true recovery. Life should be maintained with balance and the yin-yang concept provides this balance.