Part 1 Introduction- Ying-Yang: The Theory of Everything

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Ancient Chinese philosophers believed that everything contained two energies called “ying” and “yang”. Yang represented birth, light, heat, and strength; it was very active and virulent. Ying represented death, darkness, cold, and weakness; it was very passive and showed strength only when confronting yang. The symbol on the left shows these two forces intertwined, ying is black and yang white. Neither ying nor yang can exist without the other. There is no birth without death or death without birth. Perfection is when these two forces are in balance as the symmetry of the symbol shows. There is a tendency to see yang as good and ying as bad. This is a huge mistake! Too much of a good thing is bad, whether it is caloric intake, economic growth, population, or wealth. This is the lesson of the ancient Chinese philosophers.

One can use the theory of ying-yang to described processes as grandiose as the big bang and as small as the microscopic beginnings of life. In the big bang, the dense, hot, radioactive stars represent yang. This yang is the creator of life as these atomic furnaces produce the very stuff that we are made from. Ying is the void of space, cold, dark, and dead. Our earth maintains a delicate balance of ying and yang, not too dense or sparse, not too hot or cold, not too light or dark, with birth and death in a delicate balance. The same theory can be used on the microscopic level. Life begins with the exponential growth of the fetus, sustainable by the death of individual cells. We will examine this in the next of several articles, that we will call, “The Ying-Yang Articles.” They will all be marked with the ying- yang symbol above.

Many of the ying-yang processes, like the two above, are beyond human control. We will pay special attention to those that can be influence by man and show the importance of maintaining the balance of perfection, advocated by ancient Chinese. An important advantage we have, that was not availed to the ancient Chinese, is the invention of calculus. With this valuable tool, we can formulate yang in a precise mathematical form. In fact, a single deferential equation can describe yang. The solution to this equation is the exponential function. Ying is much harder to describe. It takes many different forms, and, in most cases, its ability to control yang is the only measure we have of its power. Knowledge of calculus is not a prerequisite to understanding of the process of yang. Paradoxically, it makes our calculations easier. Anyone able to calculate interest on a loan or investment will be able to understand the basic process.

Here are the ying yang articles currently planned:

Part 1 Introduction- Ying-Yang: The Theory of Everything
Part 2 Understanding Yang and Ying’s Defense
Part 3 Get the Most Yang for the Buck
Part 4 The Tale of Two Taxes
Part 5 Retirement Troika
Part 6 Riding the Exponential Curve
Part 7 The Disaster of Excessive Yang

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