--------From Between Heaven and Earth by HARRIET BEINFIELD and EFREM KORNGOLD Eastern philosophy is based on the premise that all life occurs within the circle of nature. Things within this matrix are connected and mutually dependent upon each other. Nature is one unified system, the Tao, with polar and complementary aspects: Yin and Yang. Nature is in constant motion,following cyclic patterns that describe the process of transformation. When the elements of nature are in balance,life is harmonic and flourishes. When the balance of polar forces is upset, disaster looms. Within the eastern worldview, the human being is a microcosm of Nature,a smalller universe. Human beings represent the juncture between heaven and earth, the offspring of their union, a fusion of cosmic and terrestrial forces.The chinese ideogram for human being pictures a figure roooted like a tree in the earth with hands outstretched like branches toward the heavens, receiving power from above and below.Sustained by the power of earth and transformed by the power of heaven, humanity cannot be separated from nature----we are nature, manifest as people. As a cosmos in miniature, we are propelled by the same forces. Good and bad are relative,not absolute. Life and death balance each other. Seen and unseen, soma and psyche, are aspects of one continuous process, by definition everchanging and in flux.
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