What is an antithesis? Essentially, it is a statement or a concept that embodies the attributes of polar opposites. It is a representation of the art of polarization. Humanity has become very good at the art of polarization, and as a result have also become very good at making war, generating fear, alienation, poverty, disease and misery.
In the book of Genesis; a book embraced by at least three of the world’s best known religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity; the story of Adam and Eve ends with the two of them going against God’s direction by eating the fruit from the Tree of knowledge of good and evil. As the result of this action, Adam and Eve suddenly discover shame and are driven from the Garden Of Eden and prevented, by a flaming sword, from returning there ever again.
So, what exactly is the knowledge of good and evil and why was it the one thing that was forbidden by God? To begin with knowledge is a socially agreed upon body of considerations about reality, about life, based upon the most common apprehension of circumstances and conditions as they are encountered by the physical senses. Next, the concepts of good and evil are the embodiment of the universal presentation of antithesis, such as up and down, in and out, on and off, pleasurable and abhorrent.
Wherever you look, whatever you feel, whatever you perceive to be true, there will always be an antithesis, an opposite, an opposing concept or expression. That is because the physical universe is based upon, literally held together by, polarization. The planet Earth is held within it’s orbit around the sun by the centripetal forces generated by the sun’s gravity and the centrifugal forces generated by the Earths motion around the sun. These are principles that most of us have been familiar with since grade school.
But why is it that God forbade Adam and Eve from obtaining this knowledge? After all, without this knowledge, Humanity would never have discovered the wonders of the physical universe, would never have developed the sciences of medicine, astronomy, and physics. No scientific discovery has ever been made that was not based upon the observation of, and the utilization of antitheses. Ah, but the piece of the story often missed, is that within the garden of Eden was also The Tree of Life, and if they had also eaten from that tree, then they would live forever, and with the knowledge of good and evil, this could not be permitted, as they would have become as gods without the capacity for godliness.
Personally, I do not consider the book of Genesis as the literal description of Creation and the origin of humanity on Earth, but rather as an allegory, a collection of symbolic stories, generated to answer the burning questions of a developing race. Having studied the Bible and it’s origins, I have learned that the actual book of Genesis was first a series of stories, told around campfires, by the most learned of the time. They may not depict the actual events of Creation and the development of mankind, but they do contain great insights, metaphysical truths, that can assist humanity, today, in connecting with it’s spiritual origin.
When humanity first recognized the bi-polar nature of physical existence, they also realized that within that knowledge lay great power. They also realized that without an inner, spiritual connection with their Creator and without a set of laws or guidelines through which to develop and a sense of ethics, humanity would eventually be destroyed. In fact, one of the earliest allegories of how that destruction might occur also appears in Genesis. The story of Noah and the flood may very well be based upon actual events where a large portion of the known world, at that time, was destroyed by massive earthquakes, which in turn generated massive tsunamis, that inundated much of the African and Middle Eastern regions.
In reality, at least from my point of view, all that exists is Spirit. All things were created by Spirit, from the substance of Spirit, for nothing existed before Spirit created it. At the point of Creation, Aspects of Spirit chose to express in physical form, possibly for the purpose of gaining experience, which is most easily gained by dealing with struggle. Struggle can only occur within a bi-polar universe, where opposition is regularly encountered. Those Aspects of Spirit, you and I and all the other lifeforms in this universe, are always seeking to reunite with The Source Of All Being, and The Source Of All Being continually seeks to assist those Aspects in attaining that reunification. Nevertheless, for us, this cannot be accomplished until we understand the true meaning of Antitheses.
The magnet is a good symbolic representation of the meaning of antithesis. A magnet has a positive and a negative pole. Each pole exerts the same amount of force. Neither pole is better than the other. Each pole is the reflection of the other. If there could ever be a war between the poles to determine supremacy, neither would win, because they are evenly matched. Not only that, but they are dependent upon one another for their very existence. You can not cut the negative pole off of a magnet, for all you will end up with is two magnets, both with equally charged positive and negative poles. Herein lies the secret of the Unification Of Antitheses.
Within this physical universe, life cannot exist without death, even as death cannot exist without life. Good cannot exist without evil, even as evil cannot exist without good. There can be no in without an out, there can be no up without down. Physical reality infers a Spiritual reality, just as a Spiritual reality infers a physical reality. The only way to end the struggle within the physical experience is to embrace any and all opposing forces or conditions as a unified whole. In Some religions this is called The Middle Path. To follow the Middle Path successfully, you must be committed to focusing on remaining consciously balanced in all your affairs, in your thoughts and in your emotions.
There is a quote I especially like from the book, The Good Earth. It states: “There is no good and there is no bad, there are just the things that people do.” As long as we are focused in what is right and wrong, good and bad, we will always be confronted with emotional ups and downs, with feeling good about some people, places and things and feeling bad about others. True joy, true love is experienced when you become the fulcrum between the pairs of opposites. Joy is not just a refined form of happiness, Joy is that state in which struggle does not exist, that state in which one is free of all resistance. In that state lies the true connection to The Source Of All Being. For in that state is the perfect peace that comes from the Unification Of Antitheses.
