I created topintegralthinkersontwitter.com (#TITOT) after seeing the rise of dualism in the form of the compteting “conservative” group #TCOT and it’s “progressive” nemesis, #PROG. It’s time to stop indulging ourselves in the battles such illusions afforded by dualism, and learn to synthesize and integrate the diversity that is life, retaining its omnidirectional richness and texture by observing with patience, love and practice. For dualism, this, from Wikipedia, is the definition I prefer. Formatting is my own:
… dualism can mean the tendency of humans to perceive and understand the world as being divided into two overarching categories. However that definition is considered a tad controversial. In this sense, it is dualistic when one perceives a tree as a thing separate from everything surrounding it, or when one perceives a “self” that is distinct from the rest of the world. In mystic traditions such as Zen or Islamic Sufism, a key to enlightenment is “transcending” this sort of dualistic thinking, without merely substituting dualism with monism or pluralism.
The opposition and combination of the universe’s two basic principles of yin and yang is a large part of Taoist religion. Some of the common associations with yang and yin, respectively, are: male and female, light and dark, active and passive, motion and stillness. The Tai-Chi in actuality has very little to do with Western dualism; instead it represents the philosophy of balance, where two opposites co-exist in harmony and are able to transmute into each other. The Taoist religion with its dualistic concept of yin and yang is related to the religions that are both dualistic and monotheistic such as Mazdaism in the sense that the underlying force of nature, the Way, or Tao, is the First Principle which manifests itself through the dual properties of the yin and yang. In the yin-yang symbol there is a dot of yin in yang and a dot of yang in yin. This symbolizes the inter-connectedness of the opposite forces as different aspects of Tao, the First Principle. Contrast is needed to create a distinguishable reality, without which we would experience nothingness. Therefore, the independent principles of yin and yang are actually dependent on one another for each other’s distinguishable existence. The complementary dualistic concept in Taoism represents the reciprocal interaction throughout nature, related to a feedback loop, where opposing forces do not exchange in opposition but instead exchange reciprocally to promote stabilization similar to homeostasis. An underlying principle in Taoism states that within every independent entity lies a part of its opposite. Within sickness lies health and vice versa. This is because all opposites are manifestations of the single Tao, and are therefore not independent from one another, but rather a variation of the same unifying force throughout all of nature.
