Chinese philosophy yin and yang describes how apparently opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Many tangible dualities (such as light and dark, fire and water, and male and female) are thought of as physical manifestations of the duality of yin and yang. Dorje is a Tibetan word that refers to the ritual object that is held in the right hand of a Lama during various religious ceremonies. Symbolically a dorje represents the 'thunderbolt of enlightenment,' that abrupt change in human consciousness which is recognized by all the great religions as a pivotal episode in the lives of mystics and saints.