Trusting the Paradox

Eckhart Tolle states in his book, The Power of Now, that “at least two points of reference are needed for distance and space to come into being,” and that this occurs “the moment the One becomes two.” He further explains that our lives intersect on dual planes of existence, and that one of these planes is horizontal, or the plane of “doing.” It is here that we find our past, present, and future moments on a linear continuum called “time.” From this perspective, we can then envision a vertical plane that intersects this horizontal plane at the point of our “now” moment. This is the plane of “being,” and in this plane we are connected with Source. The common symbol we’ve drawn here is called a cross.

Our next symbol is the yin/yang or, for the purpose of our discussion here, the space of paradox. This circular symbol embodies the opposites that define our existence in this third dimension. If we then notice the bodies of opposing black and white within this symbol, we might take a moment to consider exactly where we’d like to exist within the potentialities of these swirling polar energies.

Our points of reference will in many ways unconsciously determine where we fall within our individual circles of paradox (two or more seemingly mutually exclusive conditions or ideas existing in the same place at the same time). Although it seems chaotic, we can clarify this a bit by examining the idea of “perspective” in order to gain a better picture of ourselves. For the purposes of this example, let’s agree that perspective is “what we can see from here.”

Let’s try this. We’ll list a small number of facts that surround our own moment of birth. We could ask ourselves where we were born, at what time, to what parents, or into what nationality or political climate. When we have a few of these ideas in mind, we will call these our perspective–the point at which we entered duality. All of these things have influenced us in many ways, most of which we cannot even remember! What might our senses have been telling us at the moment of our births?

When we have formed a mental picture of what our perspective might have been, we can enlarge this idea by considering what “perceptions” we might have formed from our perspectives. Is the world cold or warm, loving or lonely? Are our needs met or not? Are we in a hospital or at home? All of these things form a certain perception through which we view our world.

Now that we have our frame of reference (perspective) and the perceptions that were born of it, we can discuss the fact that our early “preferences” were formed from this stew of perspective and perception. Do we prefer to sleep in a bed or on the floor? Do we prefer to eat curry or pasta? Do we prefer desert landscapes or lush, green forests?

The last step of this exercise is then to take our own perspectives, perceptions, and preferences and multiply them by the billions of people who exist with us on our planet today. It only takes a few moments to be defeated by our inability to envision this number because it cannot be “seen from here.” Now, throw all these different points of view inside the yin/yang and stir it up a little. What do we get?

The point of this exercise is to demonstrate the complexity that human existence brings to life, and to further make the statement that regarding the “whole picture,” we can’t see it from here. But since we don’t want to dwell in complexity and instead long for simplicity, let’s reduce the equation. We do this by juxtaposing the picture of the cross that we discussed earlier onto the yin/yang symbol. What do we get? Our point of “now” resides exactly between the dualities, the space between, the space of no-thing, or whatever you’d like to call it.

Two things happen here. First of all, we still have our preferences, but they are not dependent on anything outside themselves. In other words, our preferences don’t need agreement in order to inform our choices; therefore, they offer no resistance to others’ preferences.

Secondly, we are now in the only place from which we can connect with our god-self, the junction of “doing” and “being.” And from that space, we can take “correct action,” or the action which is in alignment with life. This is the good news. We are not being asked to see the whole picture; we are simply being asked to trust that seeing the whole picture is “god’s business” (feel free to substitute any word you’d rather use instead of “god” if that is your preference), and that this paradox of opposites is being held in balance from a space of being that is beyond our limited view on this dualistic plan of doing. From this place, we can walk in confidence, trusting that balance is maintained and knowing that all is well.

Myra Shelley