Entertaining Opposites

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function."

-- F. Scott Fitzgerald

To perceive both sides is a function of the the 3rd eye.

To help get a feeling for simultaneously entertaining two apparently contradictory realities at once, practice going more and more quickly from the crone to the young lady until you can see them both at once. There are many of these drawings demonstrating the Gestalt figure and ground theory of visual perception which we can use for consciousness expanding practice.

In overcoming the limitations of either/or thinking, we get a view from a new perspective: inclusive, sympathetic, discerning but not judgmental, opening heart and mind to creative possibility. As Lao Tzu suggests, before good/bad, right/wrong, beautiful/ugly, simple/complex, difficult/easy, left brain/right brain, there is a unified consciousness, beyond words, complete-in-itself, yet ever-changing.