We tend to think of opposites as separate qualities. Good is different to evil. Light is different to darkness. High is different to low. Order is different to chaos. Happiness is different to sadness. On is different to off. But there is another way to understand opposites – we can consider opposites as expressions of one quality seemingly stretched apart. A continuum.

Take a heartbeat for example. The heart beats rhythmically as a pulse. We could understand this as a beat of on, off, on, off, on, off etc. But that’s not really what is happening. The rhythm of the heartbeat is continually flowing. The heart is pulsing, extending and contracting in a flowing motion, with peaks and troughs that give the sense of on and off. The heart flows between these opposite states, giving the sense of a beat or pulse So with the heartbeat it’s useful to understand it as a pulse of on and off, but it’s more accurate to understand it as a continuum of opposites.

Let’s also consider day and night. We usually think of these as opposites. Day is when the sun is in the sky. Night is when the sun is below the horizon. We know, of course, that the sun isn’t rising and falling as it appears to be. This is just a reflection of the planet's rotation, that gives the appearance that the sun is moving. That’s pretty basic really, and taken for granted these days. But it is an example of the reflection of movement and stillness in the world, a great display of the mechanics of manifestation. But let’s get back to the point of day and night. We can consider them as opposites, where one is light and the other dark. That’s one way to understand it. But a more accurate way is to understand it as a flowing between the brightening and darkening of light, a continual flow of brightness, becoming more bright, then less bright, more bright, then less bright. We could call it a Continuum of Brightness that gives the appearance of what we can then call day and night.

Perhaps a more difficult and emotive pair of opposites to consider is good and evil. These too can be considered as a continuum. Goodness is a kindness, a closeness to others, an openness, a selflessness, showing actions that are constructive and supportive of the whole. Evil is its opposite, hateful, distancing from others, closed, selfish, with destructive actions that are self-serving and against the whole. We can consider them as distinct opposites, but they have a connection. The opposites are bound together as reflective qualities of one quality. They are not clear cut. We could say there are degrees of goodness and evil, ranging from great goodness, to slight goodness, to okay-ness, to some badness, to destructive evil. We can consider this a Continuum of Goodness, a flowing out from supreme goodness, stretching away, becoming its opposite as extreme evil. Evil actions are actions at odds with Wholeness. They are actions seemingly far removed from the respect of the Wholeness of Life. Yet they are inevitably still within the Wholeness of Life.

You see, the opposites are never really separated or divided. Wholeness is maintained. The opposites do not stand alone, separate from one another. The Continuum of Opposites is the appearance of separation whilst maintaining Wholeness. This brings us back to the point mentioned above, where the reflection of opposites in the world shows the mechanics of manifestation. The apparent separation of opposites is the means by which the universe appears. Contrast is needed for something to appear from nothing. Yet these contrasting qualities can never truly be separated. They can only appear to be separated. The Wholeness of the Singularity is timelessly maintained throughout the appearance of separation that makes perception of the world possible.

I have often used the term ‘The World of Opposites’. That’s a way to understand the appearance of the world. A more accurate way would be as ‘Oneness’.