The Flexible Self vs Budo Purity
"The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time while still retaining the ability to function." F Scott Fitzgerald.
"There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment." Hagakure, Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Both Polarities are about Individuation
Pisces Into Aquarius
Pisces explores interchanges between two polarities:
Distillation toward Singularity vs Multiversal Expansion
Aquarius takes this into the next level.
It consists of the same elements in a different configuration.
O2H20
Discernment
Is it that 'both things can not be true' or that 'both things can not be true at the same time'?
The distinction can be resolved by acknowledging discernment.
Which is applicable, to this situation, in this moment?
Stepping back from either equation into a space where the harmony between them makes sense without a paradox of contradiction. From that perspective, Fitzgerald wins. Yet it is a hypocrisy because it does not resolve into a purity despite accepting both at once.
From the position of purity, Tsunetomo Yamamoto wins. Yamamoto's path is to cut the path of precision through direct right-action. It is a Yang discipline. It is real in the sense that only this moment which we call 'now' is real. The past does not exist. The future does not exist.
Fitzgerald asks us to live simultaneously in the past, present and future but not in the same way Yamamoto asks us to Be Here Now. Fitzgerald's equation encompasses the illusory and the aspiration, as well as the moment. He binds us to memory, to the ego-self which formed from experience. Yamamoto sheds that for a deeper presence.
Elemental Symbolism
Pisces represents Water, it is the domain of emotion: passion, feeling, intuition. The contrast is calm verses tsunami. Purity verses the raging torrent. Stagnation and refreshment.
Aquarius represents Air, it is the domain of mind: thought, wind, spirits. The contrast is stillness verses hurricane. Simplicity verses complexity and overload. Invigoration and toxicity.
Where these elements meet is both evaporation condensation. Temperature (warmth verses cold) is the catalyst. Fire is the key of change.
This blog post is in partnership with Fracturing Of The Self
AI was not used for this post.