Without chaos and pain, there is no peace. Without struggle, there is no growth. Without darkness, light has no meaning.

This is the central duality of the universe and is represented in many ways throughout history. One of the most prominent symbols to represent this has been the yin and yang, and the fight for balance is represented by the two smaller circles within the larger halves. In darkness there is a flow toward light, and in light there is a flow toward dark. Also notice that the yin and yang are not simply half-circles, but are instead designed as drops of swirling energy. This suggests that the dark and the light revolve around one another and are essential to the other's existence.

Enter the art of the tattoo, where we find the promise of a greater sense of self. It is here in the creation of the tattoo that we can feel a balance being established as we move from a feeling of absence toward a sense of completion. It is here in this state of completion, in the serenity of the moments after a tattoo, that we feel the release. It is both the yin and the yang. Yang in that we have decided to change our reality. Yin for allowing ourselves to be changed by another, by the artist.

Once we've accepted that a tattoo is change, we accept that we play the biggest role in who we are becoming. The painful lines, the dots, the deep black, vibrant colors and flowing shapes, etched into our skin by way of ink and blood... it's these things that form the pathway to permanent transformation. And permanent transformation is what we all seek, whether we have acknowledged it or not. Some have called it alchemy, this permanent transformation of the soul into something more grand. I call it tattooing.

And believe it or not, this process is in action for both the customer and the artist. When a tattoo is complete, both of us have come closer to who we are as individuals. We have both moved in a new direction, learned quite a bit about ourselves and each other, and have accepted that life can always hold new things in the future.

This sort of mindset, the mindset of balance, transformation and growth, can also be represented by a sort of flower held sacred in the Eastern philosophies. The lotus is at the center of creation, issuing forth the new reality by way of a right mind and a meditative approach to life. It is in this mindset that we should approach both the choosing and the designing of a tattoo, with the acknowledgement that reality is being changed. Skills are being tested, and so is a threshold for pain. Reality is being given new purpose.

Such is the purpose of all tattoos, to gravitate toward the center of the Lotus of Needles.