Opposites

What is happening in the above picture? Is there laughter in sadness? Is there home amidst destruction? Is there love in hatred? Below is an exploration of opposites as well as why and how we use them. Naturally, feel free to agree or disagree. Thank you.

On Definition

An opposite is the misrepresentation of any item. Claiming opposites commingle items in an attempt to explore them; then we assign definition.

On Measuring Degree

For example, when lacking heat, we say that it is cold. However, when a leaf is missing from a branch, we do not claim unleaf. Besides, absence of heat would be non-movement. So even in chill, there is heat. When the sun is behind the clouds, is this its opposite, or is night? In speaking of an item's existence, and speaking of its opposite, we are only measuring degree of said item's presence, on an oft incomplete and limited scale.

On Confusion

This logical confusion augments when considering ideas and emotions. The true binary of hope, and all things, is presence and absence. When hope is present, this does not mean fear is absent. When hope is absent, this does not mean fear is present. Pain is not from lack of pleasure; pleasure is not from lack of pain.

On Effort

In our movements through life, we like to claim that certain things are or aren't, will have this effect or that. All of this is assumption based on desire. A desire to understand the world, a desire to manipulate our environment to our advantage, but ultimately a desire to be apart of the world, for we believe that only the things we can define give us the context necessary to define our existence. It is existential projection.

On Conditionality

To return to the problem of false opposites, you may measure items on a binary scale of absence and presence. However, as with all things, a line becomes a circle at some point. As one cannot exist without the other, they exist together and operate in tandem.

I invite you to return to the picture again. Thoughts, no-thoughts? Thank you for reading.