Is balance worthwhile? For every dark expression there is a counterbalancing light expression. If this is universal law then no amount o cajoling, convincing, will ever change a mind. Logic has a place in the idea of balance but cannot oppose itself. The only solution is to see the bigger picture. Both sides accepted into a unified whole. What remains though of the dark when light is present? Dark is extinguished. What happened to balance? Someone threw a left handed monkey hammer into the mechanism. Now what?
1
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
8 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Non-duality: "it's not two". Light? Dark? Balance? Naw. Just appearances.
It's okay, though. You do what you gotta do in maya/samsara/relative reality. Don't worry about it.
Look into the twelvefold chain of dependent origination and/or dzogchen if you really do want to go down this rabbit hole...I mean, "unified whole"... 
stinkeye_a
Level 8
July 26, 2018
1
Would you elaborate please?
@JSchaper There have been those, since very long ago, who have held forth that reality is not what we experience it to be. That everything is an "illusion." Some believe that "ultimate reality" is undivided unity, or non-duality: all-is-one. (Spookily enough, theoretical and quantum physics point more and more in this direction.) That what we experience is "relative reality", and it's not "real." I'm just a novice in this study so I really don't feel comfortable going much farther than that. I can PM some additional resources if you like. I'd start by googling dzogchen, advaita, and the twelvefold chain of dependent origination.
@stinkeye_a Thank you. I have a suspicion that how we typically perceive our reality is not so fixed and I think you've hinted that it's a rabbit hole. I think it's a worthy rabbit hole so I will chase willingly down it.
As an aside, who determines what is dark and what is light anyway? Can there be balance as a whole, but not balance as an individual? 50-50 balance throughout the universe doesn't mean there will be 50-50 balance in individuals. Someone's life might be considered 70% dark and 30% light. What about somewhere in between light and dark? What if someone's life is 60% dark, 25% light, and 15% of a mix? Etc etc etc.
Piece2YourPuzzle
Level 8
July 26, 2018
1
Surely if there is a universal law that says dark and light counter balance, which on a basic level has to be true for without one the other can't exist, then suggesting that this law means a mind can't change is a non sequitur as it contradicts the original premise?
ipdg77
Level 8
July 26, 2018
1
You’re probably right. I think I’m comparing apples and oranges. However, the challenge for me is in the inherent concept of duality being a truth. I’m not so sure.
@JSchaper Duality certainly appears throughout human history, Romulus & Remus, Castor & Pollux, Cane & Abel to name three, even the Ancient Egyptians had what has been described as a concept of Maat, that being cosmic balance. There certainly appears to be a need somewhere in the human psychy for this balance and contrast. As you say an interesting subject 
I think balance is inevitable. Every force in the universe seems to look for a balance. I think that's what we're seeing with climate change. We've trapped a lot of heat in the atmosphere, and so the earth is balancing that out... though the consequences for us are going to be miserable... so balance comes.
As to light, light is present even in darkness. We can see it with the help of special night-vision glasses, or infrared goggles. In fact, darkness is most often defined as the 'absence of visible light.'
Benthoven
Level 8
July 26, 2018
1
I can't help thinking you are calculating equalities in mathematical terms. Maybe balance should be thought of in terms of male and female, yin and yang, where opposites are complimentary rather than mathematically equal. The yin and yang idea can be extended to encompass chaos and order, where chaos is the constant introduction of new things into the world and order is the cultures developed to put order on them.
brentan
Level 8
July 26, 2018
1
Yes, dualism seems to be dividable into two camps. The physical such as a battery's negative and positive and the conceptual such as the implied and the expressed.
Excuse me, but , to me, what you are saying is nice sounding gibberish. What is the point or aim of your post?
wordywalt
Level 9
July 26, 2018
1
Is dualism truth? Or, can light simply extinguish dark making balance an illusion. Now if one half of a dualism can extinguish it's other half is balance a worthy goal? Or is the elimination of one a better goal? Sorry if it still sounds like gibberish.
Light only makes the darkness recede in the place where it shines. All darkness does not go away. If everything was light, it would be as blinding as if everything was dark. The balance is always there in anything that is definable by the human mind. If there is no up, there is no down, and on and on.
Tomfoolery33
Level 9
July 26, 2018
1
Wouldn't a Buddhist monk tell you that there is no up OR down? Lol
So they probably believe EVERYTHING is an illusion. Would they say there is no light and there is no dark?
@Piece2YourPuzzle Maybe. I just know what I think.
Very intriguing post. This one is worth pondering. Maybe the dark was just misperception, untrue thoughts and wrong judgments. It never really existed.
WilliamFleming
Level 8
July 26, 2018
1
Yes, so is balance a worthy goal? On the physical level the dualism of hot and cold also applies. Cold is the absence of a quantity of heat. The idea doesn't transfer well to other dualisms such as heads and tails resolve to the idea of coin. Heads cannot eliminate tails and still become coin.
This is why I ask who determines what is dark and what is light. Another thing I thought of when thinking about this is that certain animals can see well at night when humans can't. Would that be a different conversation?
@JSchaper Maybe in our daily lives we have to think in dualistic terms for efficiency and survival. In that context the middle way makes sense—balance is a worthy goal. In our more enlightened moments we might see through the illusion. We can’t stay in that mode all the time however—we have to eat.
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
Share this post
Categories
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.