Life Is a Duality

Life is a duality. Most if not everything we experience in life is a duality. What is a duality? A duality is “the quality or state of having two different or opposite parts or elements”. In regular people words, it is holding two things that are often opposites at the same time. For instance, there is the duality of good and bad. First off there is not such thing as anything being good or bad. Some belief or perspective deems something good or bad. The duality of good or bad goes like this. Take for instance two different pizzas. One pizza you think is really good. The other you think is really bad. The duality that is present creates this good and bad. Now what if I was to say that you had only had the “bad” pizza. Would you still think it was bad if that is the only pizza you have ever eaten? Its likely that you would not consider it to be bad if it is the only thing you know. The bad pizza then becomes a reference point when you have a slice of the “good” pizza.

The good/bad duality is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to dualities. There are many other dualities present in our world. What about short and tall? How would we know someone is tall if we weren’t shorter than them? What about big and small? How would we know if something was small if we were not bigger than it. What about slow and fast? How would we be able to tell if something was slow unless we were faster than it? I think you can understand this now, there are no things that can exist without a duality. You can even look at life and death. How would we know we are alive if we were dead? You see this is the biggest duality. If you are reading this you are alive. Maybe you feel “dead” inside, but you are still living, still breathing and you still have the opportunity to impact the world in a productive way.

Dualities exist everywhere. Now that you know they exist it may be easier to rationalize some things. Let’s say you are having a “bad” day. You are late for work, your having a fight with your friends, your burnt your tongue on your morning coffee, whatever it is, why do you define it as a “bad” day?. Well you define it that way because you have had days that were a lot less frustrating and a lot more enjoyable and you labeled them “good” days. So the next time you’re having a “bad” experience, just realize it feels that way because it hasn’t been as enjoyable as days in the past. Once you are aware of this you free yourself up to change your “bad” day and make it a productive one. Being aware of all these dualities creates the ability to well, create, your world they way you want to. By seeing dualities you won’t have to be bogged down by “bad” days or by being “slower” than someone else. All of those labels are just used as a frame of reference.