Life on Earth is paradoxical. Here, the whole nature of God, Source, or Consciousness (or insert your preferred term) is seemingly divided into parts. We are one of those parts, interacting with the others, but forgetting that we all fit together. The fact that we are connected is the wisdom of unity, nonduality, or oneness.
As a soul, we are timeless and spaceless. But on Earth, we are crammed into a mortal body that occupies space and time. Human beings are a walking contradiction. The reason we forget about wholeness is because our everyday experience through the senses makes us feel separate. Our senses measure the outside world, and we subtly distinguish between what is “out there” and what is “in here.” Most of us focus our awareness only on the external. Always looking out, we see everything else in relation to us—foreign and distinct. This is where paradox originates.
And so our outer reality reflects this assumption. Everything we see, hear, feel, taste, and touch in our world fits into this paradigm: divided into pieces but whole, living but dying, finite but eternal, afraid but full of love. There is a tension at the center of all of this.
Feeling conflicted becomes part of the human experience. We accept anxiety and fear as natural and unavoidable. But if the paradox is part of the design, how can we acclimate to it, and what is it here to teach us?
So many of life’s experiences are riddles wrapped up in ordinary occurrences. As life goes on, we begin to realize there are two sides to every story. We discover deep truths and circumstances that later change our mind. Our heart breaks, and then we love again. Time marches steadily on while the present moment stands still. The fact is, although we think in black and white, we live in the gray.
The first step to getting comfortable with the discomfort is recognizing it. When we start looking for it, we realize that paradox is not the exception; it is the rule. The natural world and the Earth herself demonstrate this well. Just watch nature with an open and honest perspective, and you will see the creation and destruction, the ebb and flow, the rise and fall, the hero and the villain.
After we see how universal the paradox is, we can start to appreciate the beauty in it. Maybe something you had wanted forever didn’t end up making you happy, and you realized you already have what you need. Maybe what sounded like bad news initially turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Maybe you find yourself laughing through tears. Encountering contradictions keeps us curious about the unfolding of life. In this Great Mystery, we carve our own path and also rely on the Universe to help us along. It’s exhilarating and humbling all at once.
Seeing the paradox in all its peculiarity and oddity inspires us to live authentically. If life can be so strange, why can’t we? Each of us is here to have an individual experience. We are meant to stand out and, in doing so, fit into a grander puzzle—one where each piece is necessary and uniquely suited for its place in the whole.
We are designed to be a paradox.
Viewing it from this perspective, we become awestruck at the genius of it all. We smile at the quirky solutions to life. And we begin to feel drawn toward contradiction because it feels more complete. It offers us more. There is an innate appreciation for the intricacy and magnitude of how perfectly twisted the Universe reveals itself to be.
Embracing life’s paradox is a lesson I’m still learning. I know how perfectly imperfect it is, yet I still have moments when I pull away from the discomfort it creates. I forget—then I remember. This process itself is a paradox. The softening in my heart comes from learning to love over and over again. I get lost only to find my way home. Each time I do, my memory grows stronger, and my longing becomes peace, understanding, joy, and a sense of wholeness.
Many Blessings,
tyler
