Why does the world seem to have opposites?
Because the universe is whole.
When I try to falsely carve something off the whole, the universe maintains its balance. Perfect balance always, the equation always summing to zero.
First there is “everything”, the Tao, “oneness,” “it.”
Then I think “hot” and immediately “cold” is born.
I think “good” and immediately “bad” is born.
Tall, short
Left, right
Forward, backward
Matter, antimatter.
Without separation all is one. And WITH separation all is STILL one because when I attempt to separate what cannot be separated, I create opposites.
The further I pull in one false direction the more I amplify its opposite. The more I rail against something, the more I create it.
Like a mirror.
The further I step back from a mirror, the further away my mirror image goes. The closer in I move, the closer in it comes. I point at it and it points back with the opposite finger. I reach out to it and it reaches back to me. I scream at it and it screams back at me: the same thing, in the opposite direction. Everything equal, flipped. The world is my separated thinking, experienced.
No matter what, perfect balance.
The beautiful thing about oneness always asserting itself through opposites is that, in the same way “hot” always comes with “cold” and “up” always comes with “down,” “problem” always comes with “solution.” Wherever there is a problem, the solution is there too.
Always.
And neither actually exists in isolation.
Because neither can come into being without the other.