In this morning’s Quiet Time I was thinking about the how and why of opposing forces.

To have the experience of space and time, there have to be opposing forces. Right?

I can’t recall exact details, but I once spent two nights (offseason) at the Aspen Meadows Resort (Aspen, CO) where I have a memory of a connection I made between opposing forces and the Buckminster Fuller design of the Geodesic Dome. I think I was trying to make sense of how push and pull are happening at the same time. Tangential forces.

To have a physical experience, one has to exist within this push-pull energy…to hold shape, which allows the experience of space. Right?

This morning I was thinking of two things that are in opposition to one another, yet both are true.

It’s a big idea to hold opposing ideas. It’s allowing what is and what isn’t to be true at the same time. It’s also allowing different perspectives to exist and be true at the same time.

I was thinking of Simon Sinek’s ‘just cause’ that I have referenced in recent posts. Simon projects his desire to live in a world with others who wake up feeling inspired, move through the day with a sense of meaning and purpose, and go to bed feeling fulfilled. (reference The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek)

I was also thinking of Phil Stutz. (reference Stutz documentary on Netflix, also author of several books). Phil Stutz is a psychiatrist who recognizes his patients need tools to manage the discomfort of what they are experiencing. One thinking tool Phil offers is for one to accept that to live is to know and accept there will be pain, uncertainty, and constant work.

My thinking this morning was allowing for both to be true, because both resonate and make sense (to me).

I wake up inspired. I move through the day with a sense of meaning and purpose. I go to bed feeling fulfilled…

and,

I allow a knowing that to exist is to experience pain, uncertainty, and constant work.

The story I tell about the latter, is that pain/uncertainty/work exist at varying levels of frequency, intensity, and duration. But, they do exist. I tell the story. To experience discomfort, is to know comfort. To experience pain, is to experience joy. To the extent we know one, is to the extent we can know the other.

And yet, there’s this awareness of all of it. Is the space of possibility in the awareness? If so, we can’t really get it wrong (?)

Here’s today’s excerpt from something more. connecting to the pulse of a shared humanity…