When my little girl uses an iPad App to learn simple coding like {if…} {then do…} {repeat…} {elseif…} {else…}, it is fascinatingly simple and easy. And the program lets the kids debug and refine the codes to make their small codes a closed-loop process at the end.
This reminds me of my old days in learning one basic computer language BASIC. Before learning BASIC, we learned how computers translate all signals into 0 and 1 and then finally show everything on screen using code 0 and 1.
In the end, all signals on computers are shown through each of the digital cells on its screen. With each cell appearing in a different color, all cells on a screen form up a screen image which refreshes at a very high speed that human eyes could not catch up and tell the changes.
On an RGB color mode screen, each cell is a combination of the three basic colors of Red, Green, and Blue, and each color is designed in 256 levels (256=16*16) and using two hexadecimal numbers 0, 1, 2, …9, A, B… F to present.
For example, if a cell has a color of FF9A04, it means: Red: 255 (F*16+F=15*16+15) Green: 154 (9*16+A=9*16+10) Blue: 4 (0*16 + 4)
And for each color, from 0 to 255, they are stored in binary digits from 00000000 to 11111111.
So, for a cell of the color of FF9A04, the computer would be sending a string of digital binary like this:
1111 1111 — 255 — Red 1001 1010 — 154 — Green 0000 0100 — 4 — Blue
Combined with processing codes which are digital binary 0 and 1 too, at a very high speed translating, sending, and reloading, our computer screen freshes, and then we can surf in this digital world freely.
The same thing happens on TV, also audio products, and all computer program-related products.
This is an amazing world that can be completely described using 0 and 1.
What is “天人合一”, the so-called unity of the heaven, earth, and human”?
The “天” sky here stands for nature and the universe. “人” people stand for us, the whole human being. “一” one, means unity. The word “合” has many meanings.
In modern society, “合” has the meanings of “combination”, “cooperation”, “reasonable”, “conforming”, and so on. So, what is the most ancient meaning of the word “合”? In the original ancient Chinese culture, “合” means that in the solar system, when a planet moves in line with the sun and the earth, and when the earth is in the position between the sun and the planet, it is called “combination –合”.
Although these four characters are directly saying the unity between humans and heaven, ancestors regarded the earth as part of heaven. So, when we are talking about the unity of humans and heaven, it actually means the unity among heaven, earth, and people.
In today’s society, as well as in the old centuries, the most hegemonic view in the world is that: human beings are the most unique life on earth with self-awareness and innovative thinking capability. The talent is given to humans to use, develop, and even rule, conquer and expand their living space, and to empower their power to control earth lives, not only animals and plants but also other human races on the earth that are not of their own kind. It is not difficult to assume that when people express these arguments that they take for granted, they are full of exciting, upward, divergent, blatant, and fiery energy. Thus, it would be very reasonable that some people may ask: Heaven is heaven, and human is human. How can heaven and humans be brought together as one? How can heaven and humans be in a united relationship?
We admit that modern humans are very smart and talented, and their ability to understand and apply things is far beyond the reach of the ancients in the barbaric era. Therefore, for modern humans, it is just like spending a little leisure and relaxation time after a meal to give ourselves a little time and space to read and understand why the ancients proposed the theory of the unity of nature and humans…
Ancient Chinese culture is the long-term precipitation and development of monistic system thought. Its fundamental theory is always about the change of the energy of Qi.
“Yi Jing” and “Tao Te Ching” both tell us: Everything is inseparable from Yin and Yang, and it must have both Yin Qi and Yang Qi. Changes in the four seasons, birth, old age, sickness, and death in life are the result of the growth and decline of Yin and Yang.
Qi is invisible and untouchable energy that runs through the whole universe. The world‘s change is all about the Qi energy flow between Yin and Yang. Chinese medicine is cosmic medicine; Qi is a kind of cosmic energy. This energy produces everything. Where there is life or no life, it exists.
“气聚则生, 气散则亡” tells when Qi gathers, life is produced, and when Qi is dispersed, life dies. The Buddha said: when the 5 elements of Qi: Wood, Fire, Earth, Gold, and Water come together under certain conditions, a life is born. Without Qi supporting humans, life is over.
Qi is not only reflected in the breath but in all things. Its energy is immensely large. Imagine how heavy the heaviest thing around us is, Qi can move it. Mountain is very heavy. Qi can definitely move it because the mountain is no heavier than the moon, the earth, and the sun. The ancients said: the atmosphere lifted the earth and the earth is nothing more than a table tennis ball floating in the sky. Universe Qi can hold up the earth, so can it the mountains. Not only can the earth, but the Qi can also move the solar system, the Milky Way galaxy, the whole universe. It is everywhere.
Wherever Qi goes, it controls everything. Without Qi, there is no agriculture, no medicine … no life.
How does this energy manifest a human life? Parents give birth, energy gives life. It is Qi that continuously supplies life. A person is constantly absorbing energy and growing. It is the same for humans, plants, and animals.
As the essence of ancient Chinese culture, the Yin and Yang theory covers all aspects of the universe. It explains: Why do we have four seasons? It is because of the conversion of Yin and Yang between the universe, the sun, and the earth. Why do people get sick? It is the imbalance between Yin and Yang in the human body.
Yin and Yang are two opposite sides of the same thing: up and down, left and right, north and south, white and black… Yin and Yang have a distinct character of the opposition. There is Yin in Yang and there is Yang in Yin. They are interdependent to each other, support each other, contain each other, transform into each other, and complement each other. Their relationship is best described in the image of Taiji. Refer to figure 2 below.
Observe them by eyes: Anything that is upward, sporty, warm, and positive belongs to Yang. Conversely, down, static, cold, and negative belong to Yin. The largest representative of Yin and Yang: Heaven and Earth. There are others like sun and moon, day and night, man and woman, male and female…
Taiji
Modern philosophy tells us that things are relative, not absolute. Although the sky, the heaven, is Yang, divided by how the sky presents to humans through a day, it is Yang during daytime and Yin at nighttime. Although it is Yang during the daytime, it can be further divided into Yang in the morning and Yin in the afternoon.
Yin and Yang can be divided indefinitely. Eventually, it reaches the atomic level. An atom is very small. Inside it, the nucleus is Yin due to its static, and the electrons surrounding the core are Yang due to the movements. Can atoms be divided again into smaller Yang and Yin? YES. Nobody knows if there is a world inside a cell of our human body, just like our universe is like a cell of a huge person, or, a huge creature.
Take a human as an example: a man is Yang, a woman is Yin; on a person, the front is Yang, the back is Yin; the upper is Yang, the lower is Yin. On one hand, the thumb is Yang, and the other four fingers are Yin. The palm of the hand is Yang and the back of the hand is Yin. From a mathematical point of view, odd numbers are Yang, even numbers are Yin.
From traditional Chinese Medicine’s point of view, in the human body, Yang meridians are active, warm, and fast; Yin meridians tend to be still, cold, and slow. So, the meridian that runs on the inner side is called the Yin channel, and that on the outer side is called the Yang channel. With this principle in mind, let us raise the arm: the inner side of the arm is Yin with extraneous fat accumulated and the outer side is Yang of mostly muscles.
The function that runs the human body is Yang, and the food and drink are Yin. Food and drink can produce the essence of energy that maintains the function of the Yang of the body through biochemical actions and nourish the body Yin through gasification.
Very importantly, for a person, the spirit is Yang, the body is Yin. Why? The human spirit embodied through the human heart and brain exudes human vitality upward and outward. The introverted, precise, and stable human body is the carrier and material foundation of the human spirit.
Yin and Yang in the human body are relatively balanced. This means: human spirit and body are balanced; human functions and basic food and water energies are balanced.
When Yin and Yang are biased in the human body, excess of Yang energy or excess of Yin energy causes hyperactive or weak Qi and Blood, and causes meridians to go abnormal. Then, people are sick.
1 Green Planet 