Monday, March 28, 2011

Opposites...

Good.
Bad.

Abundance.
Scarcity.

Heavy.
Light.

Weight.
Weightlessness.

Tall.
Short.

Loss.
Gain.

Fat.
Thin.

Beautiful.
Ugly.

Dichotomies (or opposites) form “either/or” thinking and “either/or” value systems and habits. There are many shades of grey between black and white. There may be infinite shades of grey, but we may not be so perceptive as to be able to recognize and to differentiate between them all. Yet, they do exist. Sure, it’s simple to keep it simple but is it the way to arrive at a person’s “best”, to think in such narrow terms?

Everything is not equal. Everything is not opposite, either. The most brilliant minds know this as an obvious truth. The most brilliant singers, artists, mathematicians, engineers, and scientists also are the most aware of the multitudinous grey areas. It is the subtle difference between the “good” and the “great” that the “good” do not notice.

Happy.
Sad.
These are feelings, or emotions. Are there only two?

Angry.
Content.
Are they opposite? Are angry and calm opposites? If put on a thermometer of “anger”, is anger at boiling and calm at freezing? There are degrees and decimals of degrees between water freezing and water boiling on our ‘water’ thermometers. Both Celsius and Fahrenheit are “water state based” temperature measurement systems.

If you are stuck, consciously or subconsciously, in the style of right versus wrong thinking, you are severely limiting your success at everything. Your awareness is barely functioning. You are seeing one, when there are a thousand (or more). Your value systems will also be set up based on opposites and without degrees. The effect of this thinking (or the cause of it) is an illness called “being a perfectionist”.

A perfectionist usually sees things as perfect or wrong. Perfect or imperfect do not enter into the equation. “Imperfect” implies that something may be good or right but a portion is not. A perfectionist does not see or hear or feel things this way. Since in reality there are degrees or increments of things, it is almost beyond the comprehension of a true perfectionist that anything can exist between right and wrong.

In nature, there are degrees of things. There are incremental stages of development. These things have been observed and recorded and verified. In some religions, there is only right and wrong, good and bad, sin and non-sin. When these value systems are in the makeup of a person’s thinking on a subconscious level, very imperfect consequences can result. One consequence is that of being a malcontent-nothing is ever good or right. Another consequence is being hyper critical of self or others. Being a hyper critical person will have an insidious effect, in that the hyper critical person has an immense amount of trouble achieving any goal which requires incremental change. Incremental change is essential to learning and to advancing in art, in science, and in life.

If a person is a perfectionist, he/she will be mostly blind to incremental progress and will therefore discount it as if nothing has improved. God help the perfectionist, if the perfectionist will not help him/herself.