PLEASURE AND PAIN - ONE PATH

The duality that we experience is actually range of one principle. For example, hot and cold. They are both the same element with varying degrees. Heat is the principle, and as we move further from the heat, it gets colder. Think of your kitchen faucet, or your stove. There is no place along the handle or the dial that decides when it reaches hot or cold. At the extremes is where the absolutes of hot and cold can be found. But anywhere along the variance of temperature, there is no set location that leads the the decision of when it begins to be cold, or begins to be hot. It's just varying degrees of heat, or the absence of it.

This goes for smooth and rough, day and night, light and dark, heavy and light, white and black, short and tall, fast and slow, love and abuse, safety and danger, etc. These varying degrees assist us in learning the principles and laws used for each. If it weren't for rain, we would not know how nice a sunny day would be. If it weren't for pain, we wouldn't know how awesome pleasure would be. Before colour TVs, we had black and white. There was a contrast dial to adjust the lightness and darkness of the picture. If it was all black, we would see nothing. If it was all white, we would see nothing. We need contrast in our lives to learn discern, appreciate, and know the good from the bad ... the Truth from illusion.

Once we learn the Truth, the illusion required to discern it is no longer needed. For example, when we look in a mirror, we see the illusory false image of ourselves. It looks like us (in reverse image) but it isn't us. Once we know who we are, the real us ... then the mirror is no longer needed. It was the illusion we used to learn the Truth.

So in closing, know that we need the duality of things in order to learn the true essence. It is one principle, with variant degrees used only to show us what reality is. Our suffering, physical, emotional, and spiritual; teaches us the Truth and offers an understanding and compassion of others who may be experiencing the same negative degrees. Without pain, we would not understand how wonderful pleasure is. Without night, we would not understand day. These degrees help us to define the wide range between absolute good, and absolute bad.

Just a thought ...

~Justin Taylor, ORDM., OCP., DM.