Balancing the Pairs of Opposites: Spring Equinox Reflections on the Middle Path

Happy Spring! So the equinox is a time of “equal” day and night, right? I’ve been thinking about the many “pairs of opposites” lately and specifically about finding the middle point among them all—what the Buddha called the “Middle Path.” For finding this “middle ground” is the only real way to find peace, both within ourselves and in the world.

Pema Chordon writes about the “eight worldly dharmas”—the four pairs of opposites—four things we like (pleasure, praise, fame, and gain) and four we don’t (pain, blame, disgrace, and loss).She explains how we can get “hooked,” or caught up in them and also how we can learn to more consciously choose our reactions to them.

“The point isn’t to cultivate one thing as opposed to another,” Chodron says, “but to relate properly to where we are.” For example, "inspiration and wretchedness complement one another. With only inspiration, we become arrogant. Without wretchedness, we lose our vision. Feeling inspired cheers us up…feeling wretched humbles us…softens us up, ripens our hearts. It becomes the ground for understanding others.”

In this sense, we can celebrate the many “pairs of opposites,” for they all have a purpose in our lives: day and night, sun and moon, yang and yin, Shiva and Shakti, male and female, white and black, up and down, happiness and sadness, joy and despair, success and failure, and so on….The key is to let them be what they are, to honor them for the lessons they offer, and to find our peace and center, our still, quiet place in the midst of it all….

Play Time: So for today, on this beautiful day of balance, I invite you, if you feel caught up in one emotion or perspective, to just take a moment to pause, and contemplate its opposite. You don’t have to do anything about it, just invite its presence into your life. And see if even just doing that helps you to feel just a little more balanced…..