The Alternating Universe
A Comparative Interpretation of Daoist Inner Alchemy and Electric Universe Principles in the Context of Modern Information Theory
“Chinese Daoism is a Chinese philosophy of natural practice structured around a normative focus on dào (道 path, way). This naturalist philosophical project treated dào as a structure of natural possibility for living beings.” Daoism. (Credit: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Debates on the Cultivation of True Reality
I’m a Daoist. But not in the way most people imagine. I see the Dao not just as mystery and metaphor. But as the core of a real, electric structure underpinning the Universe. The Dao is not just the Way. It is the Substrate. The information-energy substrate. From whence the Way arises.
In this blog, I want to unpack one of my favorite passages from Daoist Cultivation, Book 16 – Debates on the Cultivation of True Reality, by Liu Yiming. It’s a short passage. But it holds a pattern that runs deep. And I’m going to interpret it through a lens that merges ancient inner cultivation with plasma physics, field theory, and the Electric Universe model.
“Heaven and Earth (under its guidance) unite together and send down the sweet dew, which, without the directions of men, reaches equally everywhere as of its own accord.” - Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
I’ll also be bringing in Denis Pelletier’s concept of Dual Supersession. A powerful way of understanding how forces don’t just balance or oppose each other. But take turns altering and informing one another to produce something new. Daoism has always hinted at this. But now we can describe it in terms that scale from the body to the cosmos.
Let’s split it!
"Without Yin and Yang, the Qi of the Dao cannot be made manifest.
Only through the alternating movement of yin and yang within it does the Dao's Qi endure - circulating without cease, unbroken through ten thousand transformations.
In the precelestial realm, it is called Dao; in the postcelestial realm, it is called yin and yang."
- Excerpt from the book "Daoist Cultivation, Book 16 – Debates on the Cultivation of True Reality," by Liu Yiming, and translated by Vitaly Filbert.
Yin and yang alternate to create Qi. Information and energy alternate to create electricity. Electricity and magnetism alternate to create electromagnetism. “All is dual supersession.”
My Interpretation
The Dao is the information-energy substrate. The immaterial field of pure potential from which all things arise. It has no structure, no awareness, and no time. It simply is. Undifferentiated, timeless potential.
Yin and Yang are the fundamental duality within this substrate: information and energy. Their interaction is not static. It alternates. That alternation is what we call Qi. But there's another layer of alternation happening within the information-energy substrate itself. Not just between information and energy. But between their states.
Within this substrate, information and energy exist in two forms. Static, where they remain as unrealized potential. And Alternating, where they enter into motion, creating flow, rhythm, and form. In other words, there's an alternation between static and dynamic states of information and energy. Between rest and activity. Between silence and signal. Between potential and expression.
One informs the other. The static state holds information for pattern and structure. An immaterial seed. The alternating state activates it. Broadcasting. Transmitting. Shaping. Static information becomes dynamic when called upon by energetic interaction. Alternating energy stabilizes when it resolves into stored form. A blueprint. A field. A code.
This inner alternation within the information-energy substrate (between stillness and oscillation) is just as fundamental as the alternation between information and energy themselves. It is the substrate’s “heartbeat”. Qi, in this expanded view, is not just the alternation between information and energy. It is the active phase of the substrate. The current that arises when static potential becomes alternating signal.
Qi, therefore, is not a mystical force. It is the electrical expression of the alternating movement between information and energy, and static and dynamic. Qi is electricity. The movement. The energy. The flow. The information. The signal. The living current that animates all form. It is the Way.
The precelestial realm is this undivided, immaterial, and timeless substrate. A potential field of information-energy. The postcelestial realm is everything that emerges from it. The physical Universe. Structured, rhythmic, and conscious. Once structures form, they can process and channel this alternating current.
“The mind is just as immeasurable as the vast universe. An integral being settles his mind just as the vast universe settles itself. He unites his mind with the unnamable Subtle Origin of the multi-universe in which there is no past, present or future. This is how an integral being deals with his mind.” - Lao Tzu, Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu
Consciousness emerges as the alternating function of processing information and energy from and feeding information and energy back into the substrate. A dimension of time itself emerges from this rhythm, too. Every structure within the material universe has its own rhythm and its own time.
"Without information and energy, the electricity of the information-energy substrate cannot be made manifest.
Only through the alternating movement of information and energy within it does the information-energy substrate's electricity endure — circulating without cease, unbroken through ten thousand transformations.
In the immaterial information-energy substrate (where), it is called the information-energy substrate (what); in the material Universe, it is called information and energy."
The Precelstial Dao is a formless, immaterial Information-energy Substrate. The Way is the emergence of celestial electromagnetic forces. The Postcelestial Dao is a material Universe with scalable information and energy processing structures.
Why Two-Fold?
Because this alternation doesn’t stop at electricity. Once we cross into the postcelestial realm (the physical, manifest universe), the yin-yang duality evolves again.
Here, yin and yang become electricity and magnetism. Two inseparable aspects of the same alternating force. Electricity (information-energy in motion) generates magnetism. Magnetism, in turn, shapes and directs electricity. They feed into and inform one another in a constant, reciprocal alternation. The duality persists. But now, within the structures of a material electromagnetic universe.
“If you want to shrink something, you must first allow it to expand. If you want to get rid of something, you must first allow it to flourish. If you want to take something, you must first allow it to be given. This is called the subtle perception of the way things are. The soft overcomes the hard. The slow overcomes the fast. Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results.” - Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
In the postcelestial realm, yin and yang manifest as all dualities. But electromagnetism is their most fundamental and universal expression. And since electricity is the expression of alternating information and energy, the precelestial yin and yang (as information and energy) still exist and operate within the postcelestial realm. Reality is the alternation between precelestial yin and yang and postcelestial yin and yang.
Qi evolves. From pure electricity from the precelestial realm to electromagnetism in the postcelestial realm. And because precelestial yin and yang exist alongside postcelestial yin and yang in the material universe, Qi is both electricity and electromagnetism. An alternation alternating with an alternation.
The dynamic continues. Scaling and adapting to each level of manifestation.
"Without electricity and magnetism, the electricity of the information-energy substrate cannot be made manifest.
Only through the alternating movement of electricity and magnetism within it does the information-energy substrate's electricity endure — circulating without cease, unbroken through ten thousand transformations.
In the immaterial substrate, it is called electricity; in the material universe, it is called electromagnetism and magnetoelectricity."
Dual Supersession
What we’ve explored aligns directly with my friend Denis Pelletier’s theory of Dual Supersession. Two complementary forces or functions rhythmically alternating, superseding, informing, and altering one another. Such as the alternation between memory and signals to create time.
The alternating movement between yin and yang (or information and energy) isn’t static or repetitive. It is generative. Each supersedes and transforms the other. Creating Qi as an emergent force. Electricity. This is Qi in the precelestial realm. In the Dao.
In the postcelestial realm, this continues as electricity and magnetism alternately inform and shape one another. Producing the dynamic structure of electromagnetism. This recursive, evolving alternation mirrors dual supersession exactly. Two complementary forces that are not just coexisting. But continuously updating one another. Resulting in new functions in an evolving material universe.
“Debates on the Cultivation of True Reality is one of the most systematic and penetrating works in the Daoist internal alchemy tradition. Attributed to Liu Yiming, a great master of the Quanzhen school, this text presents a rich series of over 120 question-and-answer exchanges between the adept Wuyuanzi and his disciples.” Daoist Cultivation, Book 16 - Debates on the Cultivation of True Reality: Translation and Commentary. (Credit: Yiming, Filbert, Amazon)
What the Daoist Cultivation Book Meant
Let’s take a look at what the original Daoist passage is actually saying. Not from a modern scientific lens. But from within the tradition itself. Vitaly Filbert’s translation of Liu Yiming’s book leans heavily on the lineage of inner alchemy. Where metaphysics and personal cultivation go hand in hand.
In Daoist thought, the Dao is the origin of everything. But it’s not a "thing." It’s not a god or force. It’s the source before there was form, time, direction, or differentiation. It’s completely unmanifest. Not silent, but before sound. Not empty, but beyond fullness and emptiness. In terms of inner cultivation, it’s your original state. The untouched core. The part of you that existed before you had a name.
Then something stirs. The first split. The stillness gives way to movement. And that movement shows up as yin and yang. But yin and yang aren’t stuff. They’re not atoms or particles. They’re qualities of motion. One is cool. The other is warm. One receives. The other initiates. One contracts. The other expands. They aren’t opposites in conflict. They’re two sides of the same current.
This is the first bifurcation. The moment unity begins to express itself through duality.
When yin and yang start to alternate. The two poles generate a pulse. They generate frequency. They generate a flow. That flow is Qi. Qi isn’t yin or yang. It’s the movement between them. The rhythm. The tension. The release. It’s what makes life possible. It animates form and carries function.
In the body, it behaves like an electrical system. Although the Daoists didn’t use that word. They didn’t have it. In the cosmos, it’s the invisible current behind all visible transformation.
Daoist philosophy divides existence into two broad realms.
Precelestial refers to the state before manifestation. Before time. Before structure. It’s the pure potential of the Dao. Untouched and unformed. In personal cultivation, it’s like your prenatal essence. What you are before the world shapes you.
Postcelestial is everything we know. Form. Time. Emotion. Behaviour. Thought. It’s the world after the pattern emerges. It’s also the state we’re in most of the time. Shaped by experience. Pulled by habits. Affected by culture, memory, and environment.
What the Passage Is Really Saying
The quote is reminding us of something simple and profound. The Dao can’t show itself without difference. It needs polarity to step into motion. It needs yin and yang. And once it moves, that movement becomes Qi.
That Qi flows forever. It doesn’t stop or freeze. It changes form constantly. But it never breaks. The same animating principle runs through both the unmanifest and the manifest world. It’s just called different things depending on where you’re standing.
In the precelestial realm, it’s called Dao. In the postcelestial realm, it’s called yin and yang.
Everything this text describes. The movement from stillness to polarity to flow. Maps cleanly onto my interpretation. I’m saying the Dao is the information-energy substrate. Yin and yang are information and energy. Qi is the alternation. What we call electricity. I’m speaking Daoism in the language of plasma fields and signal theory.
And it works. Different vocabulary. Same Reality.
“Laozi (Lao Tzu)… was a semi-legendary Chinese philosopher and author of the Tao Te Ching (Laozi), one of the foundational texts of Taoism…” Laozi. (Credit: Wikipedia)
Bridging the Two
This is where my interpretation takes a different path from the traditional Daoist text. But it’s not a detour. It’s more like stepping into a new room in the same house.
I’m assigning specific scientific roles to these ancient concepts. Yin and yang become information and energy. Qi becomes electricity. And I don’t stop there. I extend the whole process into the material realm, where yin and yang evolve further into electricity and magnetism.
I also bring in consciousness. Once again, not as a mysterious byproduct. But as a function. A structure that processes alternating information and energy becomes, by my definition, conscious. That’s something Daoist texts hint at. But they never lay it out in such technical terms.
But this shift in language isn’t a contradiction. It’s a translation between paradigms.
The old Daoist alchemists didn’t need to say “electromagnetic field” or “processing.” They talked about resonance between Heaven and Earth. They described refined energetic flows. They knew the body could align with the cosmos. And that consciousness wasn’t just local. It was patterned, connected, and responsive. I’m saying the same thing. Just using terms that can scale. From stars to cells to circuits.
When I say, “Without electricity and magnetism, the electricity of the information-energy substrate cannot be made manifest...”, I’m touching on the same meaning of the original Daoist quote, “Without Yin and Yang, the Qi of the Dao cannot be made manifest...”.
I’m not distorting anything. I’m mapping Dao to the substrate, Qi to electricity, and yin and yang to information and energy. I’m not breaking the system either. Nor do I intend to. I’m trying to decode it using modern codecs. What’s most Daoist about my interpretation isn’t just the content. It’s the approach.
I’m not locking things into rigid categories or fixed meanings. I’m letting the system pulsate. Letting it evolve. Letting it loop back on itself. I believe that kind of open structure (where transformation is expected, even necessary) is right in line with the spirit of the original text.
My interpretation is coherent. It’s modern, yes. But it’s still faithful at its core. The Daoist Cultivation Book backs the kind of dynamics I’m outlining. It may not use my vocabulary. But it's playing the same game. And this layered movement. From precelestial to postcelestial, from electricity to electromagnetism, from pattern to perception. It works. It holds. It builds a framework that’s not only valid. But alive.
References
Filbert, V. (Trans.). Daoist Cultivation, Book 16 – Debates on the Cultivation of True Reality. (Year unknown). [Self-published or limited academic circulation; verify edition if citing formally.]
Pelletier, D. (Unpublished). Theory of Dual Supersession. [Personal communication / independent theory in development.]
Thornhill, W., & Talbott, D. (2007). The Electric Universe. Mikamar Publishing.
Peratt, A. L. (1992). Physics of the Plasma Universe. Springer.
Bohm, D. (1980). Wholeness and the Implicate Order. Routledge.
Pribram, K. H. (1991). Brain and Perception: Holonomy and Structure in Figural Processing. Psychology Press.