A Response to Yang Rising and Other Stuff

Scott Bradley

After reading the comments on the recent post, I Feel My Yang Arisin', I think it might be worthwhile to share what it was about for me. It was, first of all, a spoof, albeit a serious one. I often attempt to convey what I believe to be interesting or provocative ideas in a less than a serious tone. It is serious, but one shouldn't take it too seriously; the medium is intended to convey this message. Reference to 'Bruce Lee (fl. 645)' was intended to make clear that this post was a bit spoofier than usual.

I have been thinking and writing a lot lately about the Yin/Yang concept, and this post was in some sense a culmination of some of that thought. Unfortunately, those posts have yet to be posted and thus this post appeared without that context.

In my Christmas Day post, Where Are The Prophets? Lo Ami, I expressed a lot of Yang; the Yang rising post was my attempt to express the understanding that following the Way of the Valley, the Way of Yin, does not negate the expression of Yang, but rather makes it possible without its being only and always an expression of the assertiveness of ego.

On another note, this seems like a good time to explain once again that I am online only once a week on average and must do so out-of-doors. Thus, I am unable to answer 6 of 7 comments before they are archived.

With regard to some recent comments, it seems I need to again re-iterate that, yes, these posts are all about me and my issues. I would otherwise have nothing to say. Every exhortation, every lecture, every point made is addressed to myself. I write these things out of my own self-awareness. I recognize these issues, ponder them, and share their possible resolution out of this awareness; they are issues only because they are recognized. There is an element of vulnerability in doing so, but that is also part of the Way of the Valley and this is the path of self-cultivation that I have chosen to follow.

Sometimes what I share may also speak to someone else's issues. But in any event, there is a message in the exercise of discovering and working through personal issues however irrelevant they may be to any one individual. If one is not likewise working through personal issues, he or she is either a sage, unaware of his or her own issues, or is simply not truly committed to self-cultivation in this way. Self-cultivation through self-awareness is not necessarily a blissful endeavor; in making it a point to discover one's bondage, one also increases the burden of that bondage. It is for this reason that I frequently emphasize the larger context of total affirmation and acceptance. All is well despite the bondage.

The object of self-cultivation is, of course, one's self. Dwelling on the issues of others is simply a way of avoiding that work.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.