Part one – the existential level:
All our life we are moved between the two ends of the emotional magnet; between pleasure and fear, between pain and gladness, between happiness and suffering. Most of us do not have an emotional center of gravity, so we are being tossed between the two poles; in one pole we are joyous and in the other – crying.
At any given time we are in one pole, while the other is ‘in the shades’.
It is like being on waves in the sea; one moment on top of the wave, the other- at the bottom.
‘How do you feel?’ – We ask, – ‘good’ we answer, or: ‘not so good, I am tiered (or sick). We are either here or there, we are unable to be in both poles at the same time (and thus to be elevated above them).
We are ‘filtering’ people, books, movies etc. according to what will give us a good feeling and eliminate things that might cause us not to feel good. It interesting to note that it doesn’t always work in this way, to our surprise, despite our efforts to ‘be on the good side’ – we find ourselves on the other side. (But it doesn’t disturb us from believing that now we have learnt, and will be more on the good side. So we are stuck on one side, subjective.
We don’t have the ability to understand that only those that manage to live with both poles at the same time – can be released from the emotional prison, as long as we run away from one and long for the other – we are slaves for them both.
The question should be: who is the master? The man or his emotions? He doesn’t want to suffer, only to be happy, but never the less he is victim of the swing between both poles in his life.
A human should be free from both, to aspire for what is above the level of: pleasure or fear, having fun and boredom, lousy feeling and elevated feeling. He should be released from this psychotic trap of bipolar disorder.
We should develop indifference towards them both, they are only mood swings, and they are not relevant and essential to our life. What is essential, is where does the person is going to? What is alive in him? Who are you at your being level, do you have something in you that is not you and at the same time – it is more you than you?
Part two – the consciousness (thinking) level:
When being asked: ‘what do you want from life? The answer is usually rotating around: wanting to feel good (the positive vector), in other words; to be happy. And it sounds reasonable, but is contradicting the principles of life. Life is built on bipolar tension; man and woman, day and night, wakefulness and sleep, youth and old age, contraction and relaxation, enter and exit, only when it comes to one’s life – a man wants only one pole; the pleasure and fun – pole.
The moment one pole (the ‘bad’ one) is being canceled – the person is getting weaker, for example- in relationship of a couple; the moment one partner is taking over (being the dominant one) and the other has hardly any space or weight in the relationship – the relationship gets weaker and cannot go on like that, it need both poles to be strong. But it is difficult to hold a bipolar tension, at the beginning it is uncomfortable, but unless a synergy could be found to both – the system could not function on the higher level possible.
It is ‘a big deal’ to contain both, and not to strengthen one on the other’s account.
It is a great thing indeed – to be able to live in this bipolar tension, but being able to withstand the tension – it only strengthen him.
The inner conflict is an inner gym, where we increase the endurance of our psychological heart and lungs. The inner duality, the contradiction and paradox are life giving – in their highest level.
People on a high functioning level (at any field) are able to stand conflicts and contradictions that people on a less functioning level – cannot stand. Most people who cannot hold the inner electrical tension – are flat, one dimensional.
The poles should be united, the moment you separate between them you – you destroy (like in creating the Atom bomb), joining them together in a synergy –you create.
The expansion of consciousness is leaning on the number of contradiction you are able to contain in yourself.
The ability to hold both poles allows you to rise above them and to reach a higher level, and only then, the negative pole cannot reach him.
Our lack of ability to house the negative pole is stemming from our obsession with immediate and constant – happiness.
Having both poles means also that this person has got the ability to fertilize himself.
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Gabriel