Komorebi: The Japanese Word for Sunlight Shining Through the Trees
I'm once again engaged in a complex concept. Let's see how I respond.
Yin and Yang.
Perhaps the most well-known element of Far Eastern philosophy. In harmony, good, and evil, positive and negative, light and dark coexist. I liken the world to a ball seeking to strike a balance between these opposing forces. Humans and societies are the same way.
If you're familiar with esoteric themes, you've probably heard of the seven principles taught by the Greek god Hermes Trimestigus or the Egyptian god Thoth. According to the book Kybalion, authored by Three Initiates (students of Hermetic doctrine), seven principles govern the cosmos. The polarity principle is one of them.
Everything in the world exists in tandem with its polar opposite, according to the polarity principle. There are no exceptions.
"Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled."
Consider a straight line composed of a single substance. The two concepts appear to be the polar opposites of each other at the dueling poles of the line. Love and hatred, for example, are polar opposites of the same emotion, only their degrees are different. Because they're on the same line, they're actually manufactured from the same material. However, while one pole is filled with positive vibes, the other is filled with negativity. We're moving between these edges.
Within these boundaries, we humans, events, cultures, and everything else live in movement between the poles all the time.
Isn't it a lovely philosophical introduction?
Yin and Yang is a profound and beautiful subject that I like contemplating from time to time.
Let's dive into Komorebi, then.
Komorebi is a natural phenomenon that, in a highly aesthetic way, represents the harmony of opposites as in the principle of polarity.
The immense force of the sun's light pierces the forest's deep blackness, yet it does so in a very elegant manner.
In the sunlight, the leaves dance. Graceful, subtle, natural, and thus strong. The vision is neither absolutely black nor entirely bright, vibrating between the two states.
Komorebi has been the subject of Japanese songs as it is a romantic and impressive concept.
Here's an example, a song from the well-known, cult anime film Clannad and its sequel story Clannad After Story.
Again, I started from a word, I went to ancient Greek, Japanese anime. That's why I love to write about words.
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