Law of polarity

Sir,

When we are dealing with the laws of the universe we are dealing with unchanging and unchangeable stuff. And this letter is on the law of polarity. This is one of the seven hermetic principles. Maxims and aphorisms of man have attempted to express this law in various ways thus; ‘there are two sides to everything’ – ‘it’s one side of the same coin’ – ‘there is a reverse side to every shield’ – ‘all truths are but half-truths’; ‘every truth is half-false’.

In every day language we speak of up and down, good and bad, love and hate, cold and heat, west and east, north and south, big and small, fat and slim, ugly and beautiful, rough and smooth, happiness and misery, etc. All these are but an expression of the same thing, the difference is only in degrees.

The Hermetic teaching on this law, as recorded in ‘The Kybalion’, states: “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.”

Wickedness

In the sixth century BC, in the new world, Lehi taught about this law thus: “For it must needs be, that there is anopposition in all things. If not so … righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.”

This is not just some universal law that finds no application in our lives. It is very much part and parcel of our lives in every sense of the word. The beauty of it is that we can learn of this law and use it to our benefit.

By understanding the law of polarity you will take a boy who is failing in life and put him with those who are positive and successful, the boy’s life will change for the better. By this law, a deteriorating marriage may be enlivened again.

M Nkambule