On Transcending Duality

There is duality in everything. When you are in awe of the Madonna you may also have a morbid fascination with the whore. When you are in search of the hero, monsters of your own making will have to to pop up. When you identify yourself with a country, a religion or a political party, "enemies" will have to be guarded against.

All that is the logical conclusion of duality. It is essentially a product of your own mind. When you read the Tao Te Ching you would at times conclude that it has been written by a scientist. The duality of life is explained by a distant observer who stands outside, not to be touched by life's ongoing fluctuation of yin and yang.

Yet on many occasions Lao-Tzu reports a Force, a Holy Mother, an eternal Source, that somehow seems to be present behind all the duality. The question is, how to get to this Force without being caught in the castles of our creative mind. The answer to that problem is observation: you can see and experience this Force behind everything. Don't presume you know how this Force speaks to you - just keep your eyes open. You stand with both feet planted in life and you literally see what is coming your way.

Do you know the psychological trick that you can either see a duck or a rabbit on a specially designed picture? Same with viewing either a chalice or an old woman. Actually, the trick only works a few times for when you have seen this trick often enough, you in fact can see simultaneously both images. This is also the spiritual break-through Lao-Tzu reported many thousand years ago in the Tao Te Ching when he suddenly saw a Force shining through all the duality. This is the moment of awakening when you suddenly "see" that you have a choice. Yes, you can step outside of the ego versus God duality: when ego and love can perceived at the same time, the choice is a simple one.

So it turns out that you can encounter God with a scientific mindset. As you transcend the duality of our mind you are not left with "nothingness". You discover instead an incredibly creative and loving Force. We encourage you to plunge right in.

Beyond Duality

I remember a time when I was a young soccer player. I definitely had fulfilled the ten thousand hour rule of play time - the supposed cutoff point when you really get good at what you do. There were games when there was magic in the air. I remember one games when I scored 6 goals in one single game. But then I also remember other games, the times when nothing really worked, or when I was afraid to get injured and shied away from a hard collision.  So deep down inside I was afraid that I wasn't really cut out to become a professional soccer player. As I went to university I pretty much stopped playing altogether and never looked back on that decision from there.

I was young at that time. I had not yet discovered the lion inside of me. Today I know that at some moments when you are afraid you feel the fear and do it anyway. I also know that there are moments when you feel like loosing but with a surge in will-power you turn this thing around single-handedly. After all, this is what made Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan so powerful. The hunger to win and the will-power to make it so. But then, all that drive comes with a price attached. With so much yang energy you will find broken China somewhere. In Tiger's case, it might well have been his admission to get treatment for his sex addiction, in Michael Jordan's case it could have been the ego rant during his hall of fame admission speech. Whenever you will yourself to the top, chances are there is a price to be paid somewhere.

Do not get me wrong, I am not judging, I am not criticizing, I am just  observing. Every star will experience some imbalance along the way just as every ordinary citizen may question why exactly he is not up there in the limelight. There is no "right" way of living your life, there is only your way. We all are on a special mission. Just as the Bhagavad Gita says, "Do your dharma, however lowly it may appear, and leave the dharma of others to themselves, however prestigious it might be."

Discover the duality in everything, the yin and yang at work. There is a Way that shows you how to be superb at what you do without incurring any karma, without experiencing any yin and yang. Just understand that "superb" is in the eye of the beholder. Fame is something that a spiritual path traveler learns to be indifferent about. The public might still see a yin and yang at work in your life story, while you may tell your story very differently. Along the Way there is no duality, there is only meaning that somehow makes perfect sense. There is only "it is as it is", and somehow what is is good as it is.

Spiritual Surfing

The spiritual community is after oneness, after love and peace. Yet, if you don't experience it, do you really think it makes sense to pretend you already have it? Wouldn't you be frustrated and disillusioned after some time? Instead, experience the full effect of all the dualities inside of you. If a snake rids herself of an old skin, don't you think she rocks a little to and fro to get the job done? Think of yourself as a surfer on the ocean of the duality. It is the magnitude of the wave that gives you the speed and ability to get somewhere. You simply don't get anywhere if you surf in calm waters. It takes a little skill and practice not to get consumed by the dualities of life, but before you know it you will be a master surfer, never really getting disentangled by the ups and downs of life.