A Cosmology of Change

Nothing and Something

Before Tai Ji - the Great Extremity, or Big Bang:
There was Wu Ji - the Extremity of Nothing.

A formless state of energy where nothing was divided, nothing was distinct.

From nothing, came something.

And then there was a distinction between them.

The clear and the unclear separated from each other.

And the ancients called them yang and yin, heaven and earth.

• ⚊ Yang-ness
• ⚋ Yin-ness

Four Forces

Yang-ness is an active principle. It is like the vibration of energy in the universe.

Yin-ness is a receptive principle. It is like the capacity that opens up to receive the energy in the universe.

From pure formless capacity: ⚏
Comes an expansion of clarity and brightness: ⚎
From the culmination of brightness: ⚌
Comes a contraction of that which needs to be processed: ⚍

Rising/expanding into culmination, then sinking/contracting into culmination:
These four forces represent circulation of energy.

Here are some of their associations:

• ⚎ Minor Yang (Wood) A light, rising force.
• ⚌ Major Yang (Fire) A strong force.
• ⚍ Minor Yin (Metal) A heavy, sinking force.
• ⚏ Major Yin (Water) An abiding force.

Eight Elemental Forces

As this rising and falling continues all throughout the universe, sometimes these four forces mix together in ways that create more distinct forces.

When two strong forces ⚌ + ⚌ combine we get Qian ☰, the embodiment of yang strength and firmness.
When two abiding forces ⚏ + ⚏ combine we get Kun ☷, the embodiment of yin flexibility and capacity.
Together they establish the extremities of flexibility and strength.

When a strong force ⚌ combines with a sinking force ⚍ we get Dui ☱, Marsh.
This is how energy becomes fertile.
When an abiding force ⚏ combines with a rising force ⚎ we get Gen ☶, Mountain.
It wants to move up, but in abiding with what is below, creates containment.
Together they form the terrain that contains fertility.

When a sinking force ⚍ combines with an abiding force ⚏ we get Zhen ☳, Thunder.
Pressing down, then abiding with what is above, establishes springing energy.
Like in lightning's thin descending leader stroke followed by a powerful ascending return stroke.
When a rising force ⚎ combines with a strong force ⚌ we get Xun ☴, Wind.
Pressing up into an energized space creates movement.
Together they form time and space.

When a rising force ⚎ combines with a sinking force ⚍ we get Kan ☵, aka Water.
Gathered in from above and below, energy coagulates into form.
It is said that when the middle lines of ☰ is drawn into the capacity of ☷, it has fallen into a Pit.
Kan means Pit, or Abyss.
When a sinking force ⚍ combines with a rising force ⚎ we get Li ☲, aka Fire.
Drawing apart above and below, energy radiates out.
When ☰ loses its middle line, it has been separated from something.
Li means to have separated from something, and also to cohere. For it remains in search of what it has lost.
Together they represent matter and light.

This is why the Shuogua Zhuan tells us:

• ☰ Qian and ☷ Kun determine the positions.
• ☱ Marshlands and ☶ Mountains circulate qi.
• ☳ Thunder and ☴ Wind mutually entangle.
• ☵ Water and ☲ Fire discharge in mutual opposition.

Centrality

All eight of these elemental forces - the eight trigrams - depend upon a middle line. This middle line is what ties together the two forces that combine to make a trigram's elemental force.

Thus the middle - the center - is what is important for something to be distinct.

This creates centrality - the third extremity following nothing and something.

This centrality carves out space in the macrocosm, for the microcosm.
As without, so within. As within, so without.
It is in their holding space for centrality that they become unique of purpose.

Life

Alone, these are just independent elemental forces of change.

When they relate to each other, a hexagram is formed.

Representing how two elemental forces entangle within change.

In each of these entanglements of change, the middle line of each trigram needs to be observed.

Two middles interacting as one.

Creates the change that is life.

Life is ever balancing itself, in the dance between extremes.