Our experience of reality begins with the building blocks of duality. It is a deceptively simple concept—but easily overcomplicated. Preserving the simplicity that lies at the heart of duality is an important part of our understanding and practice.
The yin/yang symbol embodies this challenge. It is simple in appearance, yet layered in meaning. Black and white swirl into each other, forming a single, unified whole. Each swirl contains a seed—a small dot of the opposite color. The symbol is dynamic. There is no perfect this or absolute that. Everything is always in motion—tending, shifting, leaning. The symbol reminds us that pairs are not enemies.
Magnets provide the perfect illustration. Every magnet has two poles. If you break it in half, you get two new magnets, each containing a north and south pole. Keep breaking it, and the polarity keeps replicating. This is the nature of distinction. You can split it forever, but each split still carries the full tension of the original.
Duality and the illusion of division
So what causes us to go from seeing duality as two distinct expressions of a single whole to seeing it as two things divided and in opposition to each other? Many traditions speak of a first split—a moment when the One forgets itself. It is the appearance of the ego, and its tendency to cling to one and reject the other, that causes the relationship to change. The mind hardens around a preference. Consciousness stops dancing the dance—and starts judging the performance. It is where distinction gets confused for division.
Yet, importantly, distinction never actually changes or disappears. Division is simply an illusion that arises when unity is viewed through the filtered lens of the separate self of the ego. Yes, this is illusion judging illusion—preferring one illusion over another.
This isn’t about erasing difference. Difference isn’t the issue. It’s about recognizing a deeper connection—that all things are related. To see the world as distinction without falling into division is a kind of clarity. You begin to notice how often preference turns into conflict. How often understanding dissolves into judgment.
So if distinction forms the building blocks of our experience of reality, then division forms the building blocks of our experience of illusion. Our practice is not to eliminate these illusions, but to recognize them as echoes within a single unfolding.
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Dig deeper into the nuances of duality and discover how it fits into a more comprehensive model of reality.
