Opposites

2006-9-9 17:27:00

Kevin writes:

"I've been thinking about this lately and was wondering how you define "opposite." For example; would you say that the opposite of Love is Hate or is it No love?

"Does anyone else what too take a stab at it? JJ, JWK, Woody, anyone?"

JJ:

Finding the opposite of a thing is fairly simple and somewhat cut and dried without a lot of mystery. I always try and use the general dictionary definition unless the right word cannot be found and then I will either create a new phrase or use an old word giving an expanded definition. Here are two dictionary definitions which express the general idea in human consciousness of the word "opposite."

"Two words that express opposing concepts.

"Being the other of a pair that are corresponding or complementary in position, function, or nature (members of the opposite sex)."

Either one of these works for me.

That said, what is the opposite of love?

"A Course In Miracles" makes the interesting statement that love has no opposite and that hate is not its opposite. It makes the point that hate is temporary and based on illusion whereas love is real and eternal.

This may be true when we consider the highest aspect of love, but not love as it is understood by general humanity.

Both love and hate, as it is understood by the masses, are lower manifestations of everlasting love. Lower love is in harmony with the higher octave and hate is out of sync with it. This corresponds to playing "Middle C" on a well tuned piano and then playing it on one that is out of tune. It is the same note, but one is out of harmony.

This is why love and hate are so interconnected. We hate those most who we were first attracted to by passionate love.

As the world understands love, hate is indeed its opposite. Why? Because love is a magnetic force that pulls two people together and hate is an opposing force that separates them. The effect of the two fit very nicely into the definition of "opposite."

No love would not be the opposite of love because the opposite of love must repel. No love would exist between hate and love and would neither attract nor repel.

I would like to comment on one popular teaching that I see creates illusion and much confusion and it is this; that two opposites are really the same thing. For instance some say that hot and cold are the same thing. The reason for this belief is that hot and cold are both created by vibrations or molecular movement.

But this is a common ingredient in both hot and cold, but a common ingredient does not create sameness.

For instance a Porsche and a Ford both run on wheels, but that does not make them the same car.

Wheels and the engine both use circular motion, but that does not make them both the same.

A rock and a human body are both composed entirely of vibrations, but again, they are not the same.

All opposites have common ingredients but they are not the same.

The common ingredient of hot and cold is molecular motion. Hot has fast motion and cold has slow, two entirely different things with entirely different effects.

Between hot and cold is a comfort zone (defined by the entity effected) which is neither hot nor cold. I would define this comfort zone as between 60 and 90 degrees F. Anything over 30 degrees away from my comfort zone is definitely hot or cold and is definitely different to my perception.

If we were to go the sophist direction and maintain that opposites like hot and cold are the same because of a common ingredient then we would have to say that everything in the universe is the same and we would only need one word to sum everything up.

Since we need more than one word to communicate in this sphere then we need to recognize that differentiation exists and must be incorporated into our thinking if we are to remain sane.

Everything is connected...no one thing can change by itself.
-- Paul Hawken