What is sunshine without rain?
Is it like a locket with no chain?
Or tracks without a train?
What is forgiveness without blame?
Is it like pride without shame?
Or a target with no aim?
What is freedom without imprisonment?
Is it like a nation without government?
Or evaluation with no judgment?
What is intimacy without estrangement?
Is it like the new without excitement?
Or hard work with no achievement?
What is honesty without a lie?
Is it like Because without Why?
Or the ground without the sky?
What is a win without challenges?
Is it like a whole without percentages?
Or volumes with no pages?
What is peace without disunity?
Is it like existence without reality?
Or triumph with no adversity?
What are similarities without differences?
Is it like a community without residences?
Or prose with no sentences?
What is life without mortality?
Is it like a state without a city?
Or conviction with no certainty?
YIN AND YANG
Opposites, I’ve come to realize, have become less and less irreconcilable. I may be showing my age, or a touch of understanding, or severe confusion, or all of the above. Regardless, these things we call opposites have become more and more complementary and connected the closer I look.
One loses value and cannot endure without the other. It’s impossible to appreciate one without the added texture that the other brings.
BRIDGE BEYOND POLARITY
There’s a chain that links friends and enemies. There’s a thread that joins builders and destroyers. There’s a string that loops around winners and losers. There’s a cord that laces believers and atheists together.
There’s a bridge that connects love and hate, doubt and faith, left and right, sadness and happiness, no matter how much we humans insist on their separation.
Sure, some of these bridges may yet to be built. Or, as Jackson Browne says in one of his songs, some bridges are falling down, some bridges are still around.
And so, there it is. Black and white. Rich and poor. Educated and ignorant. Kind and cruel. Courageous and fearful.
It is in our separation that we are joined.
Whether or not we cling to our corner.
We’re all stewing, steaming, brewing in the same pot.
Rain or shine.
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Speaking of sunshine, a while back, I received the Sunshine Award from Eva of Eva Evolving and BigLittleWolf of Daily Plate of Crazy. If you haven’t read their blogs, I encourage you to do so. They both write beautifully, thoughtfully and each has her own distinctive style.
I sincerely give the award to every blogger who has ever joined the community here at The Halfway Point. Each and every one of you who has ever left a comment here has brought a ray of sunshine around these parts. Thank you for reading my musings and sharing your thoughts and insight. Feel free to pass the award on to other bloggers who bring you sunshine.
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What do you think? Can you imagine a life with no conflict? A world with no push and pull?
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Image by David Paul Ohmer
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Belinda, you’ve illustrated something that I’ve long suspected the world and everything in and outside of it to be: a living paradox. I come across these tensions of reality all the time in the things people say and do, in the way things are, in the mess of contradictions that add up to me. As always, beautifully put.
I think we need to see beyond ourselves. Without conflict, I don’t think that would happen. The tension is necessary so that people can at least contemplate progress or think in a different way.
Beautiful poem Belinda. I especially loved the verse: “What is honesty without a lie? Is it like Because without Why? Or the ground without the sky?”
You know, from this I gain the perspective that it’s all about growing and perspective. The conflict tugs at us to bring more, to see differently, to notice and connect. I believe that when we are connected though, completely connected… there is no conflict.
I have recently read about book called Transcendence: Saving Us from Ourselves. The author talks about opposites in nature. It is very much like your poetry – the opposites that occur in nature but are very necessary.
Congratulations on your award, Belinda. You are truly such a ray of sunshine. And no one writes better about the paradoxes of life, which you know is one of my very favorite topics. And I love that you chose the Golden Gate to illustrate your point. It represents paradox to me, life giver and life taker, and it is such a thing of beauty. My heart skips a beat each time I come into the city from the North Bay, and catch that first glimpse of it right out of the tunnel.
Congratulations Belinda on getting a sunshine award! You are so deserving of it!
I always look forward to reading your blog, it’s always very uplifting…You possess a wonderful talent of painting with words, and you’ve generously shared it with us. You have made a change in this world we live in. More power to you!
@Tony, getting cozy with contradictions, yes, that’s the way to go. Thanks!
@Rudri, contemplating progress alone brings a whole new insight. Thinking in a different way can open up a whole new world. Thank you.
@Davina, thank you! Yes, it does seem like it’s about growing and perspective. And right now, I’m pondering connectedness (a good thing) and conflict (also a good thing), the latter being fertile territory for growth, the former being, well, a pretty blissful way to flow.
@Nicki, sounds like my kind of book! Will check it out. Thanks!
@Patty, thank you! Funny that you say the GG bridge represents paradox to you because it does to me, too. As for the paradoxes of life, people seem to know this and yet when our thoughts and emotions are raging, we behave as though we’ve never heard of it. I find this fascinating.
@Malo, many thanks! I’m so happy to have you as a reader and that you find insight in the words I write. Knowing this means a lot to me.
Hi Belinda,
Thanks for the post.
It is indeed interesting how in life that there are always two sides to the coin. Perhaps without the contrast of the more negative things, how could we feel so good when something positive happens?
I think I try to approach life by trying to focus as much as I can on what is good. And while I don’t concentrate too much on negative things, I let them remind me to appreciate what is good even more.
Belinda,
What a beautiful poem and I think what you’re saying is so true. We don’t fully understand light without knowing dark.
I have to bring attention to several lines you wrote in this post because they illustrate to me how talented you are at being a wordsmith. Here they are and I loved them:
“There’s a chain that links friends and enemies. There’s a thread that joins builders and destroyers. There’s a string that loops around winners and losers. There’s a cord that laces believers and atheists together. There’s a bridge that connects love and hate, doubt and faith, left and right, sadness and happiness, no matter how much we humans insist on their separation.”
The beauty of your words just amazes me:~)
I love these opposites, this reflection on life and meaning. It’s true that we can’t fully appreciate or understand many things until we’ve also experienced the opposite. And you can’t avoid one side of the equation. You can’t have love without eventual loss. Happiness without sadness. Achievement without disappointment. Sharing these experiences is what humanity is about.
I love how your writing illustrates that paradox is not bad. It need not be confusing nor the cause of discomfort. It is what is, and if we can learn to live comfortably with what is we can more fully appreciate everything!
Beautiful!
The only path to wholeness is to embrace the totality of one’s self, the light and dark sides. Your poem captures this, in myriad and delightful examples!
Bless You,
Nancy Alexander
Hi Belinda. I grinned when I read your comment to Patty and especially this; “As for the paradoxes of life, people seem to know this and yet when our thoughts and emotions are raging, we behave as though we’ve never heard of it. I find this fascinating.”
Knowing is not necessarily knowing AND doing, another paradox, isn’t it? How can you know and NOT do? I too find that immensely fascinating.
What will take us over the bridge to knowing AND doing?
For me it is commitment to a bigger ‘for the sake of what’.
Love Wilma
Hi Belinda,
Thanks for that lovely poem! And no, I can’t imagine a world with no push or pull; indeed, it is those contradictions within myself and that I have noticed in life that have brought me the most growth and sent me on the most interesting journeys. For better and worse, I’ll take it all in exchange for the understanding and compassion I get in the end.
I was reading the work of Lao Tzu recently and I came across something similarly. “Beautiful is beautiful and thus the concept of Ugly, Kindness is kindness and thus the concept of evil. There exists difficulty and easiness because of comparison. There exists a different in length, height etc because of comparison. There is comparison of front and back and thus order is formed. Thus, concept and value in the world is but the perception and comparison of human. Perception and comparison are always changing and thus the concept and value also change.” It’s like the Yin and Yang which you mentioned. We should thus go with the flow. I am still pretty much digesting his writings.
A very deep and important post Belinda. Did you write the poem? It’s beautiful! Contrast is the key…it’s simple and yet like a hidden secret that many people have yet to discover.
Belinda-
Beautiful, of course and thought provoking. What is ying without yang? What is darkness without light? What is peace without chaos? Contrasts are two sides of the same coin and life can never be just black or white, but both. This confusion can overwhelm the mind unless we realize that everything is connected. Thanks for a wonderful, poetic post.
Phil