The Garden of Dichotomies

A friend of mine a while back, given to visions, found herself in a garden of strange shapes, all standing beside their opposites. A voice told her, Look at it from over here… And she went there, and looked, and saw that there were only unities in that garden.

Our whole world is dichotomies: night/day; male/female; darkness/light; human/being.

It has been said that this world is a school where we as entities come to live in bodies, to experience all these dichotomies, these options, and to learn how to make choices: choices that bring us to prosperity, to well-being, to connectedness when we need it and individuality when we need that. It is by our choices we find happiness–or not. And what is ‘happiness?’ That also is, of course, a matter of choice.

Our choice-making is, of course, based on what we believe about–well, everything. Life, the world, other people, ourselves…

Our beliefs are based on our interpretation of what we find in the world, how we observe it, and through what filters of awareness, of judgement, of previous investments or commitments. We believe according to what trusted authorities have told us is true. We believe what our logic and analysis tell us is true. We believe what our feelings tell us is true. If, in fact, what we believe is mistaken, Reality will let us know that we have chosen poorly. We can choose to pay attention to that, or to continue to cling to our most cherished beliefs no matter how they fail to bring us to happiness.

Every day deluges us with options and opportunities to go one way or another. Every dichotomy breaks down into further dichotomies. Each choice made also changes the landscape of next choices. Every choice has consequences, every consequence requires new choices. Every short term success may lead to longer term consequences, and there are always those ‘unintended consequences’ we never saw coming.

Are there right and wrong choices? Or simply choices that work, vs choices that don’t work? How you answer depends on what you believe. What you believe depends on who or what you accept as authority over your own ability to observe, understand, and choose.

And the longer one remains in school, the more challenging the lessons become.

Welcome to the Garden of Dichotomies!