The Philosophy Of Duality
The Most Essential Philosophy: Exploring Modern Appearances of Duality
The concept of duality
According to the dictionary:
duality
noun
The quality or character of being twofold; dichotomy.
The state of being two, or of being divided into two; twofold division or character; twoness.
The quality or condition of being two or twofold; dual character or usage.
According to my own subjective, and arguably more practical and reality-oriented definition, duality can be reduced to the mere existence of two intertwined - yet most often - opposite concepts that unite to achieve a binary philosophy based on the differences of those two separate sides.
Examples of duality in our contemporary society
Order and chaos
The philosophy of order and chaos is by no means one of my original thoughts. Personally, I was promptly introduced to this concept by reading the literature masterpieces of psychologist, author, and media commentator, Jordan Bernt Peterson.
In his books, doctor Peterson describes how humans should interact with order and chaos. We should actively try to instill order into our life, because it is objectively one of the reasons society properly functions. You can easily imagine how our world would look without a public consensus of what is appropriate and what is disgraceful behavior in a modern society - a consensus supported by the rules set in place by the people in charge of our safety. Order does not only come from our human equals, but also from all-powerful, transcendent deities. God set the majority of the boundaries of habitable order for us, and in fact, did a pretty good job with the Ten Commandments.
Chaos, on the other hand, should be kept at a fair distance away, enough to not cause serious issues in one’s life yet to reveal the possibility of exploring new experiences in life. Chaos is beyond order, and only the most deserving of men can safely resist the responsibility of navigating chaos consciously and efficiently.
Past and future
This association is part of my repertoire of original thoughts:
Imagine your past as being order, because it concluded its existence once it became “past” - or at least it should, unless you are actively struggling to gather closure from it. You could explain the importance of closure between the covers of a 400 page-long book, and still be worried about leaving some things out.
Either way, continuing my explanation, your future is chaos, not because it consistently presents itself as a worrisome aspect of your being as a whole, but because that is its core nature: The future is unpredictable on a personal scale, so all you can do is slightly integrate and adapt to some possible outcomes, therefore it respects its role as “chaos” in this analogy, simply as a result of your need to moderately explore it.
Now, you might ask: “Okay, but where is the present in all of this?”. And, to that I say: YOU are the present of course, because the present is the only time you actively partake in, make decisions during its presence and control yourself in.
This might somewhat help you understand how order and chaos works: Order is what you have dealt with in your past, you are the adaptation-dependent being of the present, and chaos is your future, which you should consciously delve into for a better life overall.
Man and woman
This is yet another analogy that will help you understand the main point that duality makes (order and chaos). This time, using the differences between men and women, especially using their generalized way of being.
The maternal way in which a mother takes care of her children is based more on what the child has accomplished, and making sure to not disregard accomplishments, but the be the one who emphasizes them.
The paternal way in which a father takes care of his children, on the other hand, is based more on who that child could become, and how the father can be the indestructible pillar of encouragement, guiding the child towards a better life.
Order gives birth to contentedness, just as mothers unwillingly do, out of care, while Chaos always encourages change and alertness, out of need for survival and adaptation.
Yin and yang
This symbol is basically the face of this whole philosophy, for good reasons. It is a simple yet true and effective symbol in delivering its message, while also being the visual representation of order and chaos.
Here is a representation along with some additional explanations about the Yin-yang symbol:
You can clearly observe the two parts that form this symbol, and what they represent, Yin being chaos, and yang being order. What’s particularly interesting includes the extra details, like showing how intertwined these two concepts are, by curving out the border between them, but at the same not blurring it, symbolizing that confusion is not what it’s trying to convey. On the contrary, even when these two directly appear on each other’s territory, they are small and well-defined.
Why is duality so special?
You have spent quite a while reading about duality and its different forms, but you might still not understand why I try to emphasize its mere existence to such an extent.
Well, duality is one of those concepts that only come in handy when trying to make sense of the world, and categorize certain things into easily distinguishable groups. Even with that, it can help you recognize differences and understand well-defined boundaries that sometimes intertwine with each other.
At its core, I believe duality is a philosophical marvel, with all the interpretations that can be applied to it. Regardless of my opinion, here is one lesson you can take from this short written lecture:
!!! When confusion arises, try to divide it at least once, and form a dual concept out of it, because from this dissection you will acquire even more knowledge paramount to your mind’s development. !!!
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