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In this article we will continue our discussion of the symbolism of the Dyad and polarity from the previous article.

The primary principle of the Dyad is polarity.

Everything composed of matter or antimatter involves polarity.

The Principle of Polarity

The Principle of Polarity is the second principle from the Hermetic text, The Kybalion.

It says, “Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.”

“It explains that in everything there are two poles, or opposite aspects, and that “opposites” are really only the two extremes of the same thing, with many varying degrees between them.”1

Polar Tension

Polar tension is at the root of all birth and creation.

It occurs in all natural and human affairs as any opposing relationship, contrast or difference.

Polar tension is the root of our detrimental notion of separateness from each other, from nature, and from our own inherent divinity.  The essential pattern of oscillation underlies all material becoming.

Apparent Opposites

Plato tells us that the cosmos is a ‘fitting and harmonious’ blend of opposites, such as hot and cold, dry and moist, soft and hard…

The Dyad forms what we think of as opposites:

• separation and attraction
• positive and negative poles of a battery or magnet
• rational & intuitive mind
• masculine & feminine
• good & evil
• physical reality & metaphysical reality
• life & death
• dark & light…

What is important to realize is that these are not opposites, but merging tendencies, yearning to be reunited and balanced in unity.

There is no separation in Unity…only an illusion of separation.  We are not separate from each other or our Higher Selves or Nature or the Universe…it only appears that way.  This is the essence of the Two.

“The consideration duality,” writes Keith Critchlow, “of association and dissociation, accumulation and dispersion, breathing in and breathing out, gave rise to the question of ultimate wholeness, and so to the inescapable conclusion that there was a transcendental whole, within which this pulsation was a recurrent pattern.”

Keith Critchlow then cautions us: “The human cognitive power is most easily directed to the unique, individual and subjective, because each person is at the center of his or her own experience.  Therefore, it is the parts of experience that are most readily appreciated, whereas it takes practice before wholes may be seen or known – although, paradoxically, they are ever-present.

Too much concentration on the whole can make us insensitive to the unique qualities of the immediate present, while too much concentration on the parts can lead us into a fractured state of mind in which the simplicity of the whole gets lost.

To use one’s mind with its incomparable analytic abilities is one sure way of realizing one’s gift as a human being.  Yet this is only half the truth.  An appreciation or experiencing of the whole is the only way to give such analytic activities meaning, significance and ultimate usefulness to the person concerned.  It must be our wholeness that is being aware of the parts of our experience – and possibly the most simple definition of sanity is wholeness of mind.”

The Dyad by Renee Hoadley, acrylic on wood

“Only a self-imposed illusion of separateness keeps us from recognizing our own center of awareness and identity with the One. We have no need to return to a state of oneness because unity is axiomatic and we already are integrated into it.”2

As the Law of One states, “The belief in polarity is chosen, instead of understanding the complete unity of thought that binds all things.”

“As Above, So Below” is mentioned in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas: “When you have made the two as one, the internal as the external, the above as below, and the male and female as one, so then will you enter the kingdom of God.”

The Paradox of the Dyad

The polar opposites remember their source of Unity and attract each other in an attempt to re-merge and become One again.  Therefore, the dyad simultaneously divides and unites, repels and attracts, separates from unity and craves to return to it.

This is seen in the attraction of magnets, batteries, static cling sparks, and lightening.

“Like a lover, lightning leaps a gap to meet and dissolve with its opposite charge where they can both return to a state of unity and peace.”3

“The ‘strength of love’ between poles is called voltage.”4

One charge without the other, and no desire, no action, no movement, no completion can ever occur.

The Action of Love as Attraction between Poles

The attraction, the yearning towards unity is the force of Love itself, the power of action in the Universe.

Love is movement. Love is action.

Love automatically comes out of this apparent division of unity, and in fact is the force that causes this division of unity, but it is simultaneously the force that reunites this unity.

Priest and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote, “Love is the affinity which links and draws together the elements of the world… Love, in fact, is the agent of universal synthesis.”

Let us look for a moment at the polarity of Love and Hate, two mental states that appear totally different.

“And yet there are degrees of Hate and degrees of Love, and a middle point in which we use the terms “Like or Dislike,” which shade into each other so gradually that sometimes we are at a loss to know whether we “like” or “dislike” or “neither.” And all are simply degrees of the same thing, as you will see if you will but think a moment. And, more than this (and considered of more importance by the Hermetists), it is possible to change the vibrations of Hate to the vibrations of Love, in one’s own mind, and in the minds of others.

Many of you, who read these lines, have had personal experiences of the involuntary rapid transition from Love to Hate, and the reverse, in your own case and that of others. And you will therefore realize the possibility of this being accomplished by the use of the Will, by means of the Hermetic formulas. “Good and Evil” are but the poles of the same thing, and the Hermetist understands the art of transmuting Evil into Good, by means of an application of the Principle of Polarity.

In short, the “Art of Polarization” becomes a phase of “Mental Alchemy” known and practiced by the ancient and modern Hermetic Masters. An understanding of the Principle will enable one to change his own Polarity, as well as that of others, if he will devote the time and study necessary to master the art.”5

The Metaphysical Properties of Gravity

Gravity is the Inward flow of Aether.

Gravity is the tendency of all things in the universe to be attracted to each other – to become One. Eventually gravity will cause the entire universe to become one again.

The Inward Flow of Gravity is the Process of Cosmic Love.

Love is the tendency of all things in the universe to be attracted to each other – because all in the universe is unified.

The process of Love holds the creation together – the attractive force towards the center or core.

It is the process that returns all mass/matter/consciousness back to its Source through the “Center”.

Love/Gravity ensures the return of mass to the invisible source realm.

It attracts the center of all masses to the center of all other masses.

And it is the perpetual process that keeps all connected and interacting through the consciousness/matter feedback loop mechanism of the torus.

Therefore, Aether is a unified medium of love. Love honors freedom. Freedom equals Free Will. This is the paradox. We can choose to be unloving in a loving universe. We are given perfect free will to do so. Humanity’s unloving actions do not mean the universe is unloving. The universe wants us to match our actions (wave-structure) to its actions (wave-structure.) This is compassion. We are meant to be compassionate. Yet we are perfectly able to choose not to be, and to reap the consequences of our actions.

The Perennial Philosophy teaches that the universe is a loving universe. Unity and compassion are universal laws. When we live in accordance with these universal laws we flow along with less trouble, distractions, upsets and problems. When we live against these universal laws we are going against the current – life is more difficult; we can get swept away easily; it takes more energy and force to live. It is a continual struggle.

The universe will continually try to guide us back to moving with the current…just as water acts – we can struggle against the current, but as soon as we relax or fall down and lose our balance the water will automatically put us back in its flow. Hopefully then, we can swim (or surf) with it, instead of drown under it.

Love/light = Gravity/Photons

Gravity (Love) has feminine symbolism.

Photons (Light) have masculine symbolism.

Love is that which awaits the reaching. It is Potential.

Light is that which does the reaching. It is Action of the Will.

The photon is the seed that projects forward impregnating the Aether to form matter and physical life.

The Mythological Birth of a Primeval Dichotomy

In our modern times we consider one and two as merely number quantities, not realizing they are symbols of basic facts of existence.

The Monad and Dyad were considered by the ancients to be not numbers but the parents of numbers.

Their mating, the fusion of the principles of one and two, point and line, unity and difference gives birth to all subsequent archetypal principles revealed as numbers, symbolized by numerals, and seen as shapes in nature.

Many mythic cosmologies include stories of creation using lovers, enemies, or twins – whose polar interplay generates the world.

Some of these include:

The Sumerian words for one and two are also those for man and woman.

The Navajo creation myth originates with a primal mother and father, earth and sky.

The Hindu story of creation involves an alternation of pulling on opposite ends of a serpent by devas (angels) and asuras (demons) churning cosmic milk [Aether] to generate the world.

The Hindu Vedic tradition of Purusha and Prakriti refers to “Purusha as the anthropocosmic, paradigmatic Man or Seed that projects Prakriti, the eternally enchanting Feminine, in order that her womb may give birth to his own embodiment in the world of form.”6

The Egyptian symbol of the nation’s unity, called sma taui, depicts the antagonists Set and Horus pulling on papyrus and lotus flowers, symbols of North and South Egypt which grow at opposite ends of the Nile.

The ancient Roman myth involves the twins Romulus and Remus, sons of the war god Mars who were suckled by a she-wolf. Romulus killed Remus during an argument, then founded the city of Rome.

The Hebrew story involves twin brothers Esau and Jacob. Esau fathered the Edomites; Jacob fathered the Israelites.

Twos

Two Realms – Physics

• space/time; time/space visible; metaphysical seen; unseen matter; consciousness

Two Geometric Reproduction Potentials

There are two distinct reproduction potentials in the sexual drive, Robert Lawlor tells us.  Each engages with two major geometric systems, 1: φ (The Golden Ratio) and 1: √2 (The Square Root of 2).

• 1: φ –  brings all the parts into proportional relationships, not only with each and every other part, but also with the principle of the original unity.  In contrast the ratio (1:√2) delivers all the parts and progressions in relationships to the power of infinite multiplicity.
• 1: √2 – serves as a biological, quantitative replication of the species type, generation after generation, with each separate organism having some-what varied minor characteristics.

Two Paths – Spirituality

• Positive – Service to the Greatest Good; Acceptance and Forgiveness of ourselves and others
• Negative – Service to Individual Good; Manipulation and Control of ourselves and others

“Embrace the Way [Tao] and the Way will welcome you, Embrace abandonment of the Way and abandonment will welcome you.” ~ Lao Tsu

Two Strands – Genetics

• 2 polynucleotide strands in a DNA double helix

Two Forces – Taoist

• Receptive – yin – Receiving
• Active – yang – Giving

Two Perspectives – Universal

• Subject; Object
• Subjective; Objective

Two Polarities – Geography

• North; South

Two Polarities – Magnetism & Electricity

• Positive; Negative
• North Pole; South Pole

Two Principles – Metaphysics

• Essence; Substance
• Consciousness; Matter

Two Regents – Alchemy

• King; Queen

Two Sides

• Left; Right

Two Tribal Types – Anthropology

• Settler; Nomad
• Farmer; Shepherd

Two Truths – logic

• Analytic – a priori
• Synthetic – a posteriori

Two Ways of Knowing – Religion

• Esoteric; Exoteric

Planetary Orbits

• Mercury
  • The day is exactly 2 of its years.
• Uranus
  • Orbital radius is 2 of Saturn’s.
• Neptune
  • Period is 2 of Uranus’s.
  

Binary Stars

• a stellar system consisting of two star orbiting around their center of mass
• It is estimated at least 80% of stars in the universe are binary – however the exact percentage is highly debated at this point in time, there could be more.

The Dyad Illustrates the All-Important Principle of Alternation:

We discussed alternation in Article 17 about labyrinths. We will review and add to that material here. It’s an important concept. It’s worth repeating several times.

Alternation – The Mathematics of Inversion

Alternation refers to alternate succession or repeated rotation.

It is a situation in which one thing repeatedly happens or exists after another, such as oscillation.

For example, electricity is a single fluctuation in the absolute value of an alternating current or voltage from zero to a maximum and back to zero, being equal to one half cycle.

Alternation is a major philosophical premise of ancient thought.

It is the foundation of reality – a model of “the pulsation of Cosmic Life” as Robert Lawlor states. All life and the entire universe progresses through alternation.

Alternation is a symbol of the primeval polarities of light and dark that interact to generate the world.

Each has a portion of its opposite within itself that drives it endlessly around in search of its complement.

This movement ‘endlessly around’ creates the toroidal flow.

Aether units fluctuate between the two states of existence and non-existence.

The wormhole (center of the spherical torus) is the bridge between the two.

Alternation relates to the constant interchange between consciousness and matter; between the visible and invisible; between time and space.

The Fluctuating Atom

“It seems as if an atom “exists” steadily for a certain amount of time. Instead it phases in and out, so to speak. It fluctuates in a highly predictable pattern and rhythm. It can be perceived within your system only at certain points in this fluctuation, so it seems to scientists that the atom is steadily present. They are not aware of any gaps of absence as far as the atom is concerned.

In those periods of nonphysical projection, the off periods of fluctuation, the atoms “appear” in another system of reality. In that system they are perceived in what are “on” points of fluctuation, and in that system also then the atoms seem to appear steadily. There are many such points of fluctuation, but your system of course is not aware of them, nor of the ultimate actions, universes, and systems that exist within them.” 7

Two States of Existence – Parallel Realities

Existence – Physical, visible reality

Non-existence – Invisible, metaphysical reality

Physicist Nassim Haramein explains, “The physical and the spiritual are interpenetrated, one within the other. They are two realities, the spiritual and the physical, that pour into and out of each other like an hourglass. There is a constant fluid-like exchange of the two.”

Ideas of Parallel Realities

• Dewey Larson: time/space and space/time
  • Time/space – the invisible energetic source reality (The “Cosmic” Realm)
  • Space/time – the visible physical reality (Our material realm)

• David Bohm: implicate (unseen, metaphysical reality) and explicate (seen, physical reality) order

• Conrad Ranzan & DSSU: realms of existence (physical) and non-existence (metaphysical)

• Tibetan Buddhists: Void and nonvoid
  • Void – subtle, indivisible, free from distinguishing characteristics – A ‘living Void’ pulsating in endless rhythms of creation and destruction.

Tibetan scholar John Blofeld writes, “In a universe thus composed, everything interpenetrates, and is interpenetrated by, everything else; as with the void, so with the non-void – the part is the whole.”

• Hindus: Brahman is the implicate order (illusion maker – the metaphysical); Maya is the explicate (illusion – the physical)  Do not get hung up on the word illusion. As Robert Lawlor reminds us, “One must not forget that the world is an illusion only in relation to its source or Creator…for most of the duration of our living and dying and for all of nature’s creatures, we are part of the “grand illusion,” and for us this world is not an illusion but rather our essential reality.”

• Hindu Vedas: Purusha (pure consciousness; the only source of consciousness) and Prakriti (the physical and material)

• Kabbalistic tradition: the concealed God and the revealed God

Leo Schaya says, “The entire creation is an illusory projection of the transcendental aspects of God.”

• Aborigines: Dreamtime as the implicate inner order

• Dogon people of Sudan: They “believe that the physical world is the product of a deeper and more fundamental level of reality and is perpetually flowing out of and then streaming back into the more primary aspect of existence. As one Dogon elder described it, “To draw up and then return what one had drawn – that is the life of the world.”8

1. http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/kyb/kyb04.htm
2. Schneider, Michael, A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe, Harper Perennial, 1994
3. ibid.
4. ibid.
5. http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/kyb/kyb04.htm
6. Lawlor, Robert, Sacred Geometry: Philosophy & Practice, Thames & Hudson, 1982
7. Roberts, Jane, Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul, Amber-Allen Publishing, 1972
8. Talbot, Michael, The Holographic Universe: The Revolutionary Theory of Reality, Harper Perennial, 1991