Harmonious Balance as the Ultimate Reality in Artistic and Philosophical Interpretation of the Taiji Diagram

Abstract

In an attempt to decipher and understand the ultimate reality and enable our lives to have realistic guidance, it appears at present, thanks to the advancement of quantum mechanics, that the universe is evolving through a two-fold process. This two-fold basic structure interacts in complementary contradiction and allows for a harmonious balance, which assures the existence of and change in all events and things in the world. Many artists and philosophers have created interpretations of this world process but it is best illustrated by the Confucian-Taoist Taiji Diagram, which ultimately was used by Niels Bohr as his coat-of-arms. Who actually created the Taiji Diagram is uncertain but the philosopher widely credited with its first interpretation is neo-Confucian Zhou, Dongyi (1017–1073) during the Song Dynasty.