The Unity of Opposites

            How to find out the truth? We hear a lot of single line principles or verses in our everyday life. Sometimes we may feel that most of them are contradictory. It is the fact that most of them are contradictory, otherwise, they are not truth. What? Yes. The truth is “the unity of opposites”. Let us look into it in a little bit detail. 

             Let us begin with our daily life. What does a day mean? Is it only daylight? No, night is also there. A night and a day together make one day. We can see the unity of opposites here. What we can think about the existence of human race? It is also so if there are only males how is the biological reproduction of human beings and thereby the existence possible? So we both, two opposites, unite to make possible one truth. The man is not woman and woman is not man. In many areas, we both maintain opposite characters, but to make one perfect truth. In the 80s, when I was an ardent communist, I used to read scientific facts about humanity. Thus, I bought a book about sexuality written by the then famous Asian psychiatrist Dr. Santhakumar. He mentioned in it,” as a specialist in this subject, I would say equality between man and woman is not possible biologically because the woman and most of her characters are determined by two hormones known as progesterone and estrogen; and man and his characters are by the hormone testosterone. They produce opposite character but correlative. Never the both become equal in many areas.” If we go for details it will take pages of space. What I try to state is that one truth exists in the unity of two opposite facts. 

            The earth exists because of its bipolar characteristic. So many examples can be located from our daily life. This is true in the case of spiritual life also. Let us consider Bible and a great example of it, the dialogues between Jesus and Satan.

Look into the Book Mathew chapter 4

3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.”

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

The verses 3^rd and 4^th are opposites but together make the truth. 3^rd one itself is the word of God, but when we consider it alone, spirituality becomes the means of material existence. But when  4^th              is added together it becomes the truth. “Existence is material, life is spiritual”.

     6 and 7 are opposites. 6 alone, faith means to test God’s power. Verse 7 says it is not the matter of testing power. Both, “faith means not to test God but to trust”.

    Verse 9 and verse 10 becomes opposites in a different way 9 is not one quote from the bible but it is the verse of Satan ‘worship for wealth’. 10 worship and serve God. Both; wealth should serve us we should serve God. Otherwise; Satan is after us, we are after God.

  Isaiah very clearly informs us about it. Chapter 34

16 Seek and read from the book of the LORD: Not one of these shall be missing; none shall be without her mate. For the mouth of the LORD has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them.

  Means every verse has its mate, without it, the truth is not complete. Bible itself is the unity of opposites, Old Testament and New Testament. If we check New Testament, we can see that itself the unity of opposites, Gospels and Epistles.

So, the single part will not make complete truth, but with the unity of opposite part. So whether it is spiritual truths or material facts we have to check both sides to understand full truth. It is like a coin has two sides. Most of us often do not come to the whole truth because we always consider one-half, leave the other. I joined recently a Bible study group on facebook. Some believers are in this vicious circle; whether Jesus is God or son of God? If it so, how is it? Then who is God? To know such truth we have to go deeply using this correlation of opposites.

Does nerve system provide the perfect defenition for Mind?

I was referring practical psychology by EDWARD STEVENS ROBINSON  last week. In that book he explains the mind as the function of nerve system. The basic for this conclusion is that when a man subject to anesthesia his nerve system is affected and becomes unconscious. I thought that it might be true. And I continued reading. 

    Psychology divides organs into two group receptors and effectors. Receptors(sense organs) are those organs that receive stimuli from peripherals and send them to nerve center. When these stimuli reach the nerve center it produce some effect, they send some signals to some other peripheral organs, glands and muscles, and produce effects so they are known as effectors. When we consider these stimuli and their respective effects, it can be seen that these cause and effect are not the same in all individuals. This phenomenon determines the behavior and character to a great extend. How is it? If one person responds to some stimuli continuously in a particular way, it becomes a habit. The reason for that is a neural arc takes place in him. What is neural arc? It is specific route of sending one stimulus to nerve center and its result to effectors. That is why when dusts come to eyes we close our eyes, first we see dusts come, stimulus, and then signal goes to nerve center and as a result some signals from nerve center come to the muscles of eyelids to function it. 

     But in many cases these neural arcs can be altered and we can establish new neural arcs there by new habit can be established. This is the basic of most training and character building and all. But if we want to alter the existing neural arc we have to interfere in it deliberately. It’s a mental training, means our mind should interfere in it. Our mind controls the functions of our nerve system; internal functions are not easy to control so but possible. Here is the contradiction with what the book stated first. “Mind is the function of nerve system”, but here mind interfere in the function of nerve system. What we have to think about it? Anyway psychology is not succeeding in proving that mind is completely the product of the function of some physical organs. 

      Here the important of Chapter 3 of book Genesis in Bible prevails. Eve's mind couldn’t control her sense organs but sense organs controlled her mind and habits. That was the wrong she committed.

If you are OK, You are not OK something wrong!

 

I would like to tell a story from an Indian classic. It goes like this…..

There was a hermit in India. He was very pious and he always adored God in different way. He never hurt any one by deed, word or by mind. He always worshiped and roamed along villages. Seeing his faith and righteousness all villagers used to provide everything what he wanted. But as he had been very righteous, he would not accept anything more than what he needed for his existence. God had also been very happy seeing his pious and faith.  Gradually people began to respect him like anything. He understood that he was the biggest spiritual man in the world. He began to contemplate this thought in his mind. One day he decided to ask God to know whether he was his best devotee. He met God in a vision and asked his doubt. God answered with a smile “My best devotee is there living at the gate of one particular village.” Hearing this he wondered and decided to meet that devotee. He started to that village gate and reached the specific house God mentioned.

 It was a farmer’s house. He inquired about the man of the house. The lady answered that he had gone to farm to plough the field. Hermit waited there till the farmer returned. In the evening the farmer came back with his bullocks, tied them in their stable and entered home. He prayed, “Thanks God you provided a good day, protected us.” Then he turned to the guest who was waiting him. The guest, the hermit, asked about his way of worship, the things he did every day and the spiritual knowledge he posses and all. He had nothing in his hand as answers for hermit’s question to satisfy him. He answered that God was there who provided him everyday; he worked up to his capacity; no scriptures or spiritual routines he knows; he prayed twice in a day, immediately after got up and after returned home. Having heard this hermit surprised. He returned and met God again and asked what had the farmer been doing so specific to please God so much. Only twice he remembered God in a day, nothing else. God smiled and gave him an assignment to round that village with a pot full of oil on his head. One condition was there, not to spill even a drop of oil from the pot. He went around the village with pot full of oil on his head with utmost care and came back to God. God smiled again, hermit couldn’t understand. God asked the hermit how many time he remembered him while he was going round the village. Not even a single time, he concentrated on the pot in order to balance it in such a way that no drop of oil would spill out.

Hermit could understand the fault, but he argued that the farmer was living for himself and for his family. But he was solely living for God that were the substantial difference. God answered that were the substantial difference. God continued, that farmer’s devotion was for the sake of the devotion towards him, but hermit’s devotion gradually became for the sake of becoming the 'best' spiritual man(to compare with others), so the thought came that he was the best, none else . But in the case of farmer he didn’t even thought about a comparison to make, because his sole purpose was to please him, to worship him with his capacity.

Then hermit was advised not to compare with others’ spiritual grade, comparing with others’ spirituality was not coming under the devotion, worship or spirituality.

Look in to Bible there is a good example , Luke 18: 10-14

10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed¹  thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

12  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Personal growth is not possible comparing or pointing to others qualities. They have their own we have our own. Concentrate to what we have. Whenever we begin to think the other person is not so………….. Or I am the better …….., there the paralysis begins, not the growth. What we need is, finding out the short comings we face in our life, means what we or I don’t have, that is the way to prosperity. Not ostentatious performance.