Transcending Paradox

Transcending Paradox

"All things change, nothing is extinguished.... There is nothing in the whole world which is permanent. Everything flows onward; all things are brought into being with a changing nature; the ages themselves glide by in constant movement." —Ovid 

At first thought, transcending duality is a very confusing concept. With some thought of this concept I began to search, read, contemplate the true meaning of the words. If we take each word by definition, they are easier to understand. Transcend means be or go beyond the range of limits (something abstract, typically a conceptual field or division. Duality means two aspects of something.

This method of thinking has now become one of my favorite ways to ponder life. I feel it has taught me not to hold onto apparent absolutes thoughts. Once you believe in something as an absolute, you are automatically preventing yourself from believing in the opposite, which means that in some ways a part of your freedom of thought as a human being is forfeited as a result. A good example of rising above these conventional kind of thoughts constructed with absolutes is  Wave-particle duality. I love this example because it allows us to think “outside the box” so to speak.

Wave-particle duality is the concept that all matter and energy exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties. Physicists argued for a long time whether light was a wave or a particle, and their insistence on their present beliefs prevented them from realizing the possibility that light could be both at the same time. While this is a very specific example, even using abstract thought experiments seems to work as well. Take this quote about Wave-particle duality:

“It seems as though we must use sometimes the one theory and sometimes the other, while at times we may use either. We are faced with a new kind of difficulty. We have two contradictory pictures of reality; separately neither of them fully explains the phenomena of light, but together they do.” Einstein

We can say in your reality; you perceive one thing or another because at any given point in time you are in contact with everything in the universe. It is impossible to escape both the tangible and intangible elements of the universe, they are constantly in contact with your being in a multitude of ways. A few examples are the atoms directly touching your skin as you sit, magnetic waves and invisible light waves from the sun passing through you, etc. Through this phenomena nothing can truly separate itself from all of existence. At the same time, we are nothing. Being part of everything in some ways means you are truly nothing as an individual. The idea that we are separate from the universe is more or less a really persistent delusion that we have somehow acquired and even if we were separate…the amount of matter that you consist of in relative scope to what an infinite universe might contain is mathematically zero.

The concept and realization of knowing nothing, yet knowing everything.  Alan Watts quoted very well "Know yourself as nothing. Feel yourself as everything." Once we realize how truly we are lacking, we only have everything to gain. Holding onto this thought can remove egoic ideas that the mind creates. Without knowing anything there is nothing to be proud of, and at the same time we no longer need to feel humiliated because we have come to terms with our shortcomings. Even while we know nothing, we can know everything because the truth of every situation exists in our being.

You know nothing, You know everything.

This is why always having an open mind to being wrong can be so useful in spiritual growth. You create a dynamic persona that cannot show weakness because when you truly let go of yourself, you open yourself to the universe instilling you with the most powerful type of truth. You become a fluid force that adapts to everything and anything situation, because your ego and thoughts don’t get in the way. Viewing life through ego makes us fall hard, stops them from learning the errors of their ways and stops them from shifting the next level of thought, understanding, and compassion for all, as well as more powerful and improved version of their being. Being overly confident with your knowledge makes us vulnerable to clinging onto something false.

 “Ultimately, we’re not the avatars we create. We’re not the pictures on the film stock. We are the light that shines through it. All else is just smoke and mirrors. Distracting, but not truly compelling.” – Jim Carrey

Knowing nothing lets us flow into everything.  Daily in life we experience difficulties, once we transcend our thoughts past egoic thought we see past the illusion.  In this sense the only person you are overcoming is yourself. This is where the power of rising above the people or situations we face. If we know nothing, we can know everything. Whatever true knowledge we have acquired already exists outside of our being, all we need to do is let it apply itself, let it fill the void like water. Such are many things in life, letting go of some of your beliefs can set you free and give you the ability to rise above the rest. “It’s only once you’ve lost everything that you are free to do anything” Tyler, Fight Club

Take your views and how you perceive life to consider the opposite. Hold them rise above all illusions your ego has created and Transcend duality.