Ziggy

Oppositional states

We are taught that happy is the opposite of sad.

Ziggy
Ziggy felt guilty but also secretly delighted after he chewed the office staircase

Peace is the opposite of war.

Rich is the opposite of poor.

This is completely wrong.

Life is all of these things all of the time. It’s not one or the other.

It’s OK to be feel lots of things at once and it’s normal to feel confused by this. It is confusing.

So much angst is generated by the idea that feelings are pure. Pure rage. Pure joy. Pure love.

There’s rarely, if ever, such a thing. A pure feeling is an anomaly.

What I am clumsily trying to say is that there is harmony in accepting opposing states. Not fighting against them. Not thinking there’s something wrong with you for feeling beautiful and ugly and tortured and blessed.

It’s OK for good things to be tainted and bad things to work out for the best.

 

 

 

 

1 comment on “Oppositional states

  1. Such an interesting post Em! You are right that you can feel all those things at once… But the opposite stuff is still true. The four primary emotions are happiness and sadness (which are opposites of each other) and anger and lust (which are opposites of each other). These are just like primary colours and can be mixed to create different feelings.. Such as love, guilt etc. I was also taught that opposites are true… Everything has an opposite because one of the laws of the universe is balance: night and day, hot and cold, good and bad…. But everything in between also exists between these two extremes. Confusing I know. Xx

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