Interactions with Polarity

Last week I took advantage of the holiday by heading to the nearest cinema to watch Megamind. I was looking for something light and funny, hence the choice of movie.

I hope I'm not giving too much of the story away to those who haven't watched it yet, but the movie is told from the perspective of Megamind, an alien refugee turned into a super villain. He has an archrival in the form of Metroman, also an alien refugee from a planet near Megamind's homeworld. They constantly battle for control of Metro City, with Megamind always getting the short end of the stick until one day, he unexpectedly wins and suddenly finds himself grappling with his purpose in life now that his opposite is gone. In several scenes in the movie, it was mentioned that for every yin, there needs to be a yang, otherwise life would have no meaning.

I don't know if the writers knew it, but they were touching upon a subtle esoteric truth. What gives this plane meaning as a place for learning lessons is the concept of duality, the so-called Hermetic Principle of Polarity which states that everything has opposites, or two poles. Yes, here I go again, launching into a discussion of metaphysics, using a comedic movie as basis, no less! But one does what one does.

It is a paradox, because it is hard to imagine how pain, loss, hardship or any of the other negative manifestations can give meaning to life. And yet they are a necessary part of this existence. Hermetic scholars call this the Divine Paradox, which is an aspect of the Principle of Polarity. The concepts of Good and Evil are examples of this polarity.

There are many facets by which we could look at polarity. Just so we can get a glimpse of its meaning, I will discuss three facets. Polarity as it appears in interactions with other people, polarity in nature, and polarity within the context of the Greater Reality.

As anyone who has ever been married would (or should!) know, one can never always get one's way. And even if there are instances where one somehow managed to get one's way, it would not be in the way that one exactly wanted it to be. Everytime you want to do something or buy something, you will more often than not hear an opposing view, and if you want the marriage to last, you compromise.

We often see opposition or opposing views as a bad thing. However, since we are not perfect, then our own views may not always be the best or most appropriate, and this is where an opposing force plays a role. The opposition can come in the form of someone arguing against your views, or in the form of a setback. If you learn from the setback or from the argument, you come out the better for it. You also become more flexible and adaptive. But if there was no opposition, then there would be no way for you to know what may be lacking with your own point of view. You would also tend to be too rigid or hidebound.

Before I go on, I'm not saying that you should go about arguing with everyone or pursuing negative situations in some sort of sado-masochistic spiral. All I'm saying is that polarity (positive and negative) has its place, and the purpose is for one to grow and learn. So there should always be balance within the opposites (another paradox!).

Polarity, or opposition, can even be seen in how Nature works. For example, if there was no traction between your shoes and the ground, you would slip. If an astronaut was on a space walk without a lifeline, if he drifted even one inch away from the satellite or spacecraft he might as well be a million miles away. He won't be able to propel himself towards the object simply because he would have nothing to push against, nothing to oppose his force and put Newton's Third Law into effect (i.e. for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction). Interestingly, cause and effect is basically what karma is. Without duality, there is no way for karma to take effect.

In the Testament of Solomon, different forms of illness and disease have guiding intelligences, often called "devils" with their particular names, and to cure illness one simply had to call on the angel that is the opposite of the particular devil. Seeing how Nature works, with the interaction of both building up (positive) and breaking down (negative), a particular passage in The Magus of Strovolos makes more sense, where it says that in Nature, angels and devils actually work in harmony together.

Controversial as it may be for some (or maybe a lot), Franz Bardon says that good and evil are constructs that man has made in order to rationalize one's existence, but in reality, everything is interconnected and has its place in Creation.

Imagine if there was no decay on Earth (decay often being categorized as a negative force). The Earth would absolutely be filled over with everything from leaves, fruits, feces, and all manner of things that would normally have decayed! Imagine also if food never got digested. Remember, breaking down or "destroying" is a negative activity, therefore if your food could not be broken down, then you would starve to death. And so, positive and negative have their places and their roles.

All of the above explains somewhat the operations of duality, but does not really try to explain why bother with it all. Why do we have to incarnate into duality, anyway? And so we touch upon another facet of polarity.

An inkling may be found in various esoteric texts that state that one can only ascend to planes of existence that one is in similar vibration to. This is simply the Law of Attraction at work, which says that "like attracts like, opposites repel." So if in this life you were always tormented with jeers and insults, you would not encounter these people in the higher astral realms. You are in oneness with those you are in vibration with.

Spiritual evolution involves learning lessons, and working towards a greater understanding of Creation. But apparently, not all lessons can be learned by remaining in the higher planes. Let's say for example that one used to be a slave with a cruel slave master. You are basically a good person except that you really hated your slave master before you died. In the higher realms, you wouldn't encounter the person who used to be the slave master, because you are in different vibration from each other. Yet you need to learn the lesson of forgiveness.

How then may these two dissimilar vibrations be brought together to interact? That's when the souls of both the slave and slave master reincarnate on this physical plane. Perhaps this time the slave master incarnates as the child of the former slave. As a parent, the former slave now has power over the former slave master, and has the choice either to forgive or to mete out centuries-old payback (in which case the two will remain in close proximity for several more incarnations until the lesson is learned). You cannot say you are a forgiving person if you haven't found yourself in a situation that tests your ability to forgive.

I hope I'm not presenting things too simplistically, but I hope I was able to show, even a little bit, how polarity fits in with our physical reality. Hopefully, now you are able to maintain a more positive outlook every time you encounter situations that may seem negative to you at first, because there are always two sides to a coin, and if one side seems dark, all you need to do is to look at the other side *wink*.

The 90-10 Phenomenon

There is an esoteric law called the Law of Correspondence which, in hermetic parlance, states that "As Above, So Below; As Below, So Above." In material science, we see this principle reflected in the concept of fractals. Whatever pattern or design that you see on the macro level, will also be the same underlying pattern in the micro level.

This esoteric law forms the basis of all patterns, proportions and progressions, and by keeping this law always in mind, one is able to clue in to some important patterns and perhaps derive some insight into the workings of the universe. It also allows one to make sense of the different symbolisms found in many esoteric works. The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is one such pattern that can be applied to many fields of metaphysical thought. The Power of Three is another such example.

But for the purpose of this article, I would like to focus more on the 90-10 phenomenon (as I call it), simply because of some observations I was able to pick up that carry this pattern. For instance, it is often stated that our conscious mind only represents 10% of our mental power, the remaining 90% being our subconscious.

In terms of religious custom, we are asked to keep 90% of our income, while tithing 10% to the church. When we are asked to roughly measure success or progress, more often than not, we instinctively say that "we're 90% there." And here's more, the tip of an iceberg is typically only one-tenth (10%) of the total volume of the whole thing, the other 90% being underwater!

What is the significance of this particular proportion? Why not 80-20 or 95-5? Why does the 10% usually represent what is manifest or visible, while the 90% is the hidden portion?

Let us return to the Kabbalistic Tree of Life since its symbolism can help us. The tree of life is typically depicted with ten sephira, with one hidden sefirot (for a total of 11). According to Kabbalah, reality is made up of ten dimensions, and our physical reality represents only one of those dimensions. The lowest sefirot in the tree of life is called Malkuth (Kingdom) and is often taken to represent this physical dimension.

Since Malkuth represents one-tenth of the number of sephira found in the tree of life, and in Nature we find that 90% represents the hidden, then if we apply the symbolism of the tree of life, it follows that the 9 other sephira (or dimensions) is hidden or veiled.

In one of my previous articles, I discussed the theory of why we tithe, and in the article I included the Kabbalistic explanation of why we tithe in the proportion of 10%. Since physical reality is the lowest of the ten dimensions, it is the dimension of the Adversary. Therefore, giving away 10% cuts away the force of the Adversary from our income and our lives.

But to me the proportion holds an even deeper symbolism. Although majority of people's consciousness can only encompass our physical reality, it is not the whole story. In fact, physical reality only forms a fraction of that story. It is also the part that is temporary and that we let go off upon death. Therefore, by giving away 10% of one's income, one acknowledges the impermanence of physical possessions and should recognize that the greater portion that is not perceived by our physical senses is our true treasure.

This is all well and good, but is there any scientific basis for all of this? Interestingly, scientists, through their calculations, have also speculated that there are 10 dimensions. In quantum science, this is posited in string theory.

And here's one other interesting tidbit: scientists have discovered that matter as we know it only represents 10% of the universe! The other 90% is the so-called dark matter, which scientists are still trying to detect but which their calculations show should be there. It seems the 90-10 phenomenon is pointing us to something more fundamental about the make up of the universe after all.

This is the beauty of symbolism, which instantly reminds us of certain lessons via condensed imagery and structure. Unfortunately, you must be aware of what the lesson is in the first place, otherwise the symbol has no meaning for the person who sees it. Why is there a need to remind ourselves of lessons? So that it imparts firmly into our subconscious, which is 90% of our mind, by the way!