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Following Way, let alone reaching some heights on the way is an ideal scenario. Yet, as it is often the case with ideals, it rarely becomes materialized in a more or less shapely way. Whatever followers of the Sufi tradition or other well-meaning ones may have to say, there is another saying to cut it all across: it is human to err. A definite sign of this “err” would be a mismatch between moon and sun on a higher level leading to the excessive attraction or susceptibility of either subtle moonlight or sunlight to the grosser, dimmer 'shine' of its companion as well as its own. In other words, a disharmony would inevitably mark their dynamics should moon or sun fall short of Way. Passingly, I have compared deviating from Way with a pendulum swinging. This needs to be shown with more 'visual aids'.
With his or her inner eyes, the reader is invited to visualize a bell-shaped spring with its both ends attached to the horizontal surface. At the top of this bell or arch, there will be a barrier of sorts dividing it into two equal parts or sides. With a bit more stretch of imagination, one would discover a vertical force, or simply Force spreading throughout the midsection of the arch. There, Force is gradually and uniformly lifting the spring's top, bringing its sides closer together and preventing them from deviating too much from the middle path.
With persistent attempts of either side to 'steal thunder' and deviate – such vagaries are to be taken into account in this imaginary setup – one way or another, this would undermine the support of Force. Besides, the bottom end of the deviating side as well as the opposite side that becomes pulled in would counterbalance and constrain the skewed movement. In fact, the opposite side would be stretching even more which would increase, should I use a physics term, its potential energy. If the course of the spring doesn't straighten out, eventually that would cause a dramatic snap into the opposite, diagonally downward direction. Just to emphasize: both sides go down, it's just a more forceful slant would be towards one of them. This kind of dynamics, by and large, would symbolize a great deal of relationship between moon and sun, two opposite sides, as deviating from Way, rising Force that is. The illustration below may give a better idea of all this 'equilibristics':
If the reader's imagination is still on fire, the lunar side – let it be on the left – would be entirely helical starting from big, heavy rings at its base coiling its way up. Right solar side of the spring would hardly feature any helicity except some at the top part or thread. At the very bottom, it would appear like a straight thick strap. An important point: only upper left and right parts of the spring, that is, coils and thread, can truly become companions as, among other things, they carry each other's imprints. That is to say, greater mobility and lightness of coils is nothing but the solar trace while slight curvature of thread – that of moon. The Taoist symbol “YinYang” wherein both counterparts contain fractions of each other seems to represent this relationship well:
With regards to the lower parts of the spring – rings and strap – they are too gross and polarized to be carrying their opposites. That's the reason each of them would look for its counterpart mostly or solely on the outside.
Translating all that into a more human language, rings and strap would stand for rather earthly drives and doings, such as satisfying basic needs in security, food, sex, material possessions, status, and some emotional attachments. Coils and thread come into play to inform a higher meaning to life whether it be creating great works of art, striving for a just societal order, searching for a scientific truth, or truth in its totality backed up with a more subtle sense of belonging and love. In short, they come to be the source of idealism amidst the mundane and run-of-the-mill. Yet, in this rising there still remains a risk of falling from the side of either coils or thread. Later, I will give detailed examples of that.
Before I go any further, I still need to offer a more precise definition of deviation (dear reader, please, bear with me). It seems to happen, as explicitly illustrated before, as a result of a mismatch between moon and sun at a higher level, that is, between coils and thread. Yet, there is a more straightforward kind: the domination of rings and strap in the entire setup with coils and thread having been largely 'retracted'. In somewhat harsh words, that would mean going through life in an animal or half-animal sort of way. Perhaps, it would make more sense calling the latter state inversion rather than deviation. Besides, whilst deviation results in a disharmony, inversion, in a way, appears to be a harmony but a very fragile one, that is, devoid of lasting peace and sublimity. It is not to say that earthly, gross things are despicable in themselves – it is all about priority. Inversion seems to prioritize wrong things whereas in deviation right things are given priority in a wrong fashion. In any event, from now onwards I will be speaking of deviation as a failed attempt to rise, and by inversion I would mean 'putting the bottom on top'.
It seems a right moment to connect all the newly introduced lingo with the hierarchy of selves. The lower part of the spring, its rings and strap, can be safely matched with animal, gender, servant/master, creator, and owner selves. A tentative divide between the lower and upper parts would be running through family self where coils and thread originate. That is to say, becoming a human starts with love for and responsibility towards a few other human beings – or living beings for that matter – but is far from being accomplished there. The upper part of the spring extends to social and contemplative selves and, on some rare occasions, reaches or merges with Divine self.
What has been said thus far in this part of the book (and, probably, in others) may have been rather challenging for comprehension as it involves using imagination and depends on the reader's overall ability to connect dots. Off the record, it took me some 15 years to properly understand what I am putting here forth – that might come as an encouragement to those feeling a bit 'at sea'. In other words, the reader isn't supposed to wrap his or her head around all these explications in one sitting. Why digging so deep though as one may legitimately ask? Just as a reminder: devil is in details. And now everything seems to be in place to talk about some important nuances of deviation as well as inversion that bear a hell of consequences for the humankind. In other words, it is time to show where exactly the accuser is holing up.