THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

The Yin-Yang coherence
I will now integrate the Taoist vocabulary of Yin-Yang into
economic systems. This aims not at exoticism, but is included because
it is hoped that this terminology will remind us to think in holistic
ways, instead of in the polarities, which our Indo-European
languages have embedded in our consciousness. Humans create
coherence: they feel, think and perceive realities according to the
coherence in which they live. For instance, a Yang coherence shapes
thoughts, actions and emotions ranging from the perception of God
and the world to daily minutiae. Figure 9.4 synthesises some aspects
of these Yin-Yang coherences. It can be read vertically to see each
internal coherence, or horizontally to grasp what the Taoists would
call the connective contrasts between the two world-views.
Modern societies have tended to acknowledge the legitimacy of
only one of these polarities: the Yang coherence. This Yang coherence
has been embodied in a patriarchal control system in all aspects of
life - from organised religions to science, from military power and
politics to day-to- day jokes. Specifically, our prevailing money
system is saturated with these Yang values, and has been one of the
main ways by which 'the real world' has been made to fit this
viewpoint. What is being questioned here is not the validity of this
Yang coherence, but its claim to a monopoly of valid interpretations.
In contrast, what is proposed is to take both concerns into account
simultaneously. Notice that sustainability is coherent with the Yin
coherence, while abundance is Yang. This is why the Taoist
viewpoint - which always insists on proper balance between the two
coherences - provides us with a useful framework. It can even
contribute some handy economic distinctions concerning the
different forms taken by capital.
Yang Yin