The story of Angels and Dragons has been around since before time was recorded. Wrapped in mythical and spiritual connections, each holds a separate yet intertwined relationship when it comes to us Highly Responsive People (HRPs).
The Dragon (A Masculine embodiment, not to be confused with male)
The dragon is a mythical creature in several cultures dating back to the Middle Ages. The dragon’s image varies drastically from Western to Eastern culture. However, in either culture, the Dragon is considered extremely powerful.
Western culture has depicted the dragon more as an evil, winged, and fire-breathing creature to be feared, but Western culture is in a constant state of fear, often seeing even the most benign things and anything unknown as things we all need to be afraid of.
Whereas Eastern culture has a more magical view. Eastern Asian legend has it that the dragon has sweeping powers, it breathes clouds, is capable of moving the seasons, and controls the waters of rivers, lakes, and seas. Eastern Asian belief links the dragon with Yang, the masculine principle of heat and light, and is most certainly an incorporated part of their culture to which respect is given.
Figure 1. The Yin-Yang Symbol
An important aspect to the mythical Western dragon is its scales, for they are believed to be as strong as diamonds, thus not easily pierced by swords, arrows, or spears. These swords, arrows, and spears are a representation of anything that can penetrate the emotional being held within the diamond-cladded exterior.
Due to the West’s fear-based culture, its version of the dragon is depicted as a ferocious winged serpent with horns, capable of breathing fire, and is considered an enemy of the people. The West believes a Dragon is the embodiment of chaos and untamed nature, and is to be avoided at any cost. Those of us with a much more divergent understanding see it as just another tool implemented by the West to invoke fear in the unfiltered mind!
Figure 2. A depiction of a fierce Western Dragon.
Many of us High Responding People also see it as a representation of the toxic male and even female, looking to devour all they can while abandoning any emotional attachment as they plunder.
Eastern culture tends to be more optimistic; it identifies the dragon as a wingless four-legged creature with above-average intelligence. Holding high levels of supernatural powers, wisdom, strength, and hidden knowledge, (Sound familiar?) it is also a symbol of good luck for the people who are worthy of it.
Figure 3. East Asian Dragon
The Angel (Feminine, not to be confused with female)
Most, when they hear the term angel attribute it to a feminine spiritual being believed to act as an agent or messenger of God. In this story, I refer not to the spiritual side, more to the angelic aspect we often attribute to the symbol of an angel. That being, for many, one who is exceptionally beautiful in character, empathetic, extremely kind, and caring. For many, it represents all that is good in this world regardless of one’s spiritual understanding.
However, in Eastern folklore, the Yin, or feminine side of Yin Yang symbol represents darkness, femininity, passivity, and the earth. It is the opposing force to Yang.
Figure 4. A Depiction of What is Supposed to be an Angel: Sweet, Gentle, and Feminine.
The Misunderstood Meaning of the Yin and Yang
High Responsive people see life under a different lens than most. It could be because of their ability to see things on many levels and in far more details than most. It could also be that their ability to process that information on a deeper level provides a more divergent concept of life in general that many cannot understand.
Words, for example, carry much of this detail that HRPs see. Now, truth be told, those that can simply utter words without the understanding of the words they are casting out would not see what HRPs see.
For example, the dragon (Yang) in Chinese folklore is light while the Yin is darkness. This means Yin, the feminine, is the dark side, while Yang, the Masculine, is the light side. Ironically, we depict the opposites in our dragon-angel symbols. For High Responding people, we detach the Male and Female concepts attached to Masculinity and Femininity while most of society has you convinced it is directly associated.
Truth is, Yin ( the dark section of the symbol) represents shadows, feminine energy, and generally the more mysterious side of things. Yang (The white section of the symbol), represents the sun, masculine energy, and things that are more out in the open.
Figure 5. Yin and Yang
Here’s where the misunderstanding comes in: according to some dictionaries, fem-i-nine is “having the qualities or appearance traditionally associated with women or girls.”
Whereas mas-cul-line is “having the qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men or boys.”
“Traditionally,” and to a large degree, we associate appearance to our belief, but being male or female has nothing to do with the masculine or feminine trait. Sadly, it’s the “words” used that imply they are.
If I were to say, they are a gentle, empathetic, humble, and emotionally available person, to who am I referring? A male or female?
What About if I said the person had strength, courage, was independent, held true leadership qualities, and was assertive?
What if a person that had strength and courage, was empathetic and humble?
You see, we could take any of the qualities listed above and intermix them and we still couldn’t define which one was a male or which one was a female. Sure, we could guess, but that is all it would be.
Figure 7. Keanu Reeves, An Empathetic Masculine Being Figure 6. A Strong Independent Female Warrior
We all Encompass both the Yin & Yang / A Dragon & an Angel
My point being… As people, we each hold a dragon and an angel inside us. Some have stronger dragons while their angel is reserved for rare occasions. Others have predominated angelic traits, while their dragon lays quietly sleeping inside.
A truly balanced “Yin and Yang” have a healthy Dragon on one side, and a healthy angel on the other, each supporting each other, knowing when one is to take the lead, but stepping back when the other is required. Neither can live a healthy nor happy life without the other.
As a High Responding person, we understand this well! Yet we live in a “traditional” society that still holds onto an old belief structure where men are supposed to grunt as we pass each other acting like Clint Eastwood in the movies. While women… I have no idea anymore for their “traditional” roles never made sense to us HRMs anyway as we see them as not equals, but as balance in our lives as much as we want to be a balance in their lives.
