Have you ever watched Dr. Quantum’s Double Split Experiment? It’s a short cartoon that makes basic String Theory understandable for those of us who’d rather not get a Ph.D. in quantum physics. In it, Dr. Quantum explains how electrons can appear as both a particle and a wave, as both matter and energy.
Instead of finding this paradox of electrons a problem, String Theory embraces it and asks, “If matter can be both an object and a wave, what is it really?” This idea of one thing having the properties of two things can be a rather difficult concept to grasp.
“It’s a very human thing to say, ‘Is it this or is it that? Is it a planet, is it not a planet?” said Neil Degrasse Tyson on his StarTalk Radio Show on the subject of gravity (I highly recommend this podcast BTW). “These are false dichotomies. Something can be both, but our language forces us to require that it fit into one word or another…it is not a fault of the object or the concept, it’s a defect in our language. And if our thoughts follow language, we have trouble thinking of things that fit more than one category.”
This got me thinking of how we view our lives. Often we only see ourselves on one side of the spectrum. We’re either well rested or exhausted. We’re emotional or we are getting better. We are attractive or we are not. We are light or we are shadow. It goes on and on.
If our brains follow language and our words require we be one or the other, then it follows that our minds would have difficult times allowing our identities to be seen from both sides of the spectrum equally. Yet, if we take the time to get comfortable with the idea, we can view our existence from all places in the spectrum, accessing new levels of consciousness in the process.
What is between black and white is not “shades of gray.” Black is the absence of all color and white the combination of all color. Thus, what is in between are the colors themselves. The true power of life is the ability to hold the colors of our lives as equality as we would hold the black and white parts of our lives. To see ourselves as a culmination of all of our various aspects, and to appreciate each one equally. Imagine the confidence you can unlock within yourself, when you fully accept, honor and utilize that ”shadow” part of your existence!
It’s in the practice of embracing your full spectrum that one can experience the great range that life has to offer. The complete spectrum of life is here for us to enjoy! All that’s required of us is to wade into the experience, and keep our mind out of trying to label it one thing or the other.
What part of yourself would you rather not see? What’s one thing you can do today to embrace it just a little bit more?
