Syzygy

Lynne told this story. She and her husband had recently separated; at work she and nine co-workers combined resources to enter the state lottery. This group of ten chose five of six winning numbers, resulting in a win of $3000, to be split ten ways. Lynne asked an excellent question, “How can I change my life for $300?” Now at midlife, she chose to buy a bicycle and not being thrilled at the prospect of cycling alone, put a notice in the paper and began a cycling group. I joined, and we met.

Getting acquainted with her, i learned that included in the soon to be distributed marital property was a small sail boat, beached for the interim. I could not but remark on its unusual name: Syzygy. She asked if i knew what it meant and was surprised when i said, “Yes. It refers to a matched pair of opposites.”

It happens that my world view is very much influenced by the theory and practice of what is often called, the play of the opposites. Considerable evidence supports the notion that the manifest world, the world of body, mind, and soul is dependant on this play. So clear and compelling is this evidence that i can not take as serious any similar world view that fails to account for this play, and the matched pairs of opposites, the syzygies that result.

This world view holds that our inner lives do not happen in a vacuum. Every singular has a plural, every individual (both person and thing) is part of a collective; and not to get too technical but each occasion, (according to this world view) arises as a tetra-occasion, i.e. it has four distinct but inescapably interrelated parts.

Not ignoring or forgetting this fourfold view, it’s possible to look at the inner individual quadrant (the place where we develop) for matched pairs of opposites; we look especially for qualities, not quantities as they are more the property of the exterior quadrants.

Pardon me if all this seems dense and obtuse, but maybe examples will make it clearer. Let’s start with trust. My view pairs it with attention. If we have big trust and small attention we will be naïve, soon to be taken advantage of; if we have small trust and big attention, we will be cynical. This pair, like many others, needs to grow in tandem to avoid the pitfalls of these extremes.

Although not strictly an inner individual matter, birth and death are another pair; noticing that this is the true pair, not to be confused with the mismatching of life and death. At birth we take our first breath, at death our last; this proper matching leaves room for the eternal, for spirit, for the timeless; and precludes all sorts of mischief that arises from mismatching.

Returning to individual development, at some point we enter the pairing of wisdom and compassion. Wisdom without compassion is cold, at its best is only ‘tough love’; compassion without wisdom borders on foolishness, it’s warm but wasteful. Taken together wisdom and compassion manifest as right action, as skillful means, as loving understanding, as pathway, as part and parcel of an enlightened life.

Dance of the Eternal

Opposites at play
Each and every day in each
And every way. THIS!