Our human experience is of a dual nature. Therefore, we need to understand duality in order to navigate our Quest. Having a basic appreciation of how duality manifests, both in our external and internal realities has enormous implications on how we view the world and how we interact with those around us.
Life is a complicated endeavor.
In fact, it is so complicated that we have a particular word to describe the act of avoiding this complexity: duality.
Duality can take many forms. For example, when you are trying to decide whether you want a hamburger or pasta for dinner, you are experiencing duality. You want both spaghetti and cheeseburgers, but you can only have one. This dilemma is often referred to as “the choice between two goods.”
In the case of the spaghetti vs. hamburger conundrum, because there are so many ways in which those two goods are different, your brain has a harder time figuring out what you want and how to get it. You might feel torn, conflicted, or confused, which all add up to stress!
This stress comes from the fact that your brain is working very hard at making a decision, but it cannot make up its mind!