the speaking tree - Making Existence Meaningful Through Opposites
P Rammohan
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The idea of duality in life is a deeply illuminating philosophical discourse. Duality, in common parlance, means for every earthly life pattern, an opposing or contradicting phenomenon exists. Duality consists of contrasting opposites: the good and the evil, darkness and light, summer and winter, joy and sorrow, birth and death and so forth. In Chinese philosophy, the concept of Yin and Yang describes the above situations. Joy, sorrow, good and bad are relative observations reflecting our “perspectives“. Contrarily, natural phenomena of light (day) and dark (night) are “axioms“, which require no proof of evaluation.By our preconception of an experience as “good“, we perceive some other experience as “bad“. Both experiences may reflect the truth; however, by judging one with a better comfort level as “good“ we perceive an uncomfortable experience as its opposite “bad“. It is a state of the mind which controls the perception creating opposite observations correlating with a benchmark. Without knowledge of a “good“, the “bad“ would also be absent. Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu describes this: “When the people of the Earth all know beauty as beautyThere arises (the recognition of) ugliness ...“
The cactus and the rose may offer an analogy. The cactus flowers in the desert and thrives in the otherwise barren landscape; on the contrary, the rose plant grows in normal terrain. The aesthetic value of a rose, by perspective, is considered to be superior. The cactus, by adapting itself to the desert ecosystem exemplifies privation and remains stoical. For those inhabiting the desert, a cactus flower may appear beautiful until the visual experience of a rose alters their incipient perspective. Therefore, the mind or the veil of perspective creates knowledge of opposites.
Human experiences, likewise, are also a product of antithetical “perspectives“ happiness and melancholy, hope and despair, birth and death and so forth. In the realm of everyday life, we may experience all these states in equal proportions. With the mind repulsing unpleasant states, awareness of the interdependence of the states will inculcate equanimity besides lending dynamism to existence. Like the seasonal changes of summer and winter, all experiences are therefore contrasting.
Extreme situations apportion our lives with more discernible and fulfilling experiences.
Insight into the shrouding limita tions of life as well as abounding happiness are both imbued. The experience of the searing heat of summer acquiesces the mind to the chillness of winter. Al Mustafa, the protagonist in Khalil Gibran's `The Prophet', delves into this homily while reflecting on joy and sorrow: “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? “ Gibran enlightens the complementary nature of opposites, exhorting that without being sensitised to the experience of sorrow one cannot have the pleasure of joy. The poet articulates the alternating situations with the analogy of the painful experience of the cup and the lute and the concomitant pleasure they give despite being stricken with extreme agony. The cup is inanimate; however, with the poetic corollary of the pain it undergoes to hold the wine, to give joy, the poet connects the issues beautifully.
By understanding the dualities of life, awareness is gained that every proposition has a flip side. By refusing to be overawed by perspectives, we remain in balance and in control of our lives.
The cactus and the rose may offer an analogy. The cactus flowers in the desert and thrives in the otherwise barren landscape; on the contrary, the rose plant grows in normal terrain. The aesthetic value of a rose, by perspective, is considered to be superior. The cactus, by adapting itself to the desert ecosystem exemplifies privation and remains stoical. For those inhabiting the desert, a cactus flower may appear beautiful until the visual experience of a rose alters their incipient perspective. Therefore, the mind or the veil of perspective creates knowledge of opposites.
Human experiences, likewise, are also a product of antithetical “perspectives“ happiness and melancholy, hope and despair, birth and death and so forth. In the realm of everyday life, we may experience all these states in equal proportions. With the mind repulsing unpleasant states, awareness of the interdependence of the states will inculcate equanimity besides lending dynamism to existence. Like the seasonal changes of summer and winter, all experiences are therefore contrasting.
Extreme situations apportion our lives with more discernible and fulfilling experiences.
Insight into the shrouding limita tions of life as well as abounding happiness are both imbued. The experience of the searing heat of summer acquiesces the mind to the chillness of winter. Al Mustafa, the protagonist in Khalil Gibran's `The Prophet', delves into this homily while reflecting on joy and sorrow: “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? “ Gibran enlightens the complementary nature of opposites, exhorting that without being sensitised to the experience of sorrow one cannot have the pleasure of joy. The poet articulates the alternating situations with the analogy of the painful experience of the cup and the lute and the concomitant pleasure they give despite being stricken with extreme agony. The cup is inanimate; however, with the poetic corollary of the pain it undergoes to hold the wine, to give joy, the poet connects the issues beautifully.
By understanding the dualities of life, awareness is gained that every proposition has a flip side. By refusing to be overawed by perspectives, we remain in balance and in control of our lives.
