- The fourth Hermetic Principle
- “Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.”
- For example, heat and cold, although opposites, are really the same thing – just varying degrees of the same thing (temperature)
- The Divine Paradox / “The Law of Paradox”
- “While the Universe IS NOT, still IT IS. Remember ever the Two Poles of Truth – the Absolute and the Relative. Beware of Half-Truths” (Kybalion 49)
- “Absolute Truth has been defined as “Things as the mind of God knows them,” while Relative Truth is “Things as the highest reason of Man understands them.” And so while to THE ALL the Universe must be unreal and illusionary, a mere dream or result of meditation – nevertheless, to the finite minds forming a part of that Universe, and viewing it through mortal faculties, the Universe is very real indeed.”
- “To mortals, this Universe of Mentality is very real indeed—it is the only one we can ever know, though we rise from plane to plane, higher and higher in it. To know it otherwise, by actual experience, we must be THE ALL itself. It is true that the higher we rise in the scale—the nearer to “the mind of the Father” we reach—the more apparent becomes the illusory nature of finite things, but not until THE ALL finally withdraws us into itself does the vision actually vanish.” (Kybalion 53)
- “While All is in THE ALL, it is equally true that THE ALL is in All. To him who truly understands this truth hath come great knowledge.” (The Kybalion)
- “Spirit and Matter are but the two poles of the same thing” (Kybalion 95)
- “THE ALL and The Many are the same, the difference being merely a matter of degree of Mental Manifestation.” (Kybalion 95)
- “Safe and intelligent judgment on any question depends upon the knowledge of the opposite phase of the thing discussed . . . . If you are giving a learned discussion on the subject of Up, be certain that you have considered equally the problem of Down.” (Hall, Sacred Magic 37)
- “Every element in Nature has its opposite. In most cases the opposite of a thing is the lack of that thing.” (Hall Sacred Magic 37)
- “As we evolve, we form a triangle out of the opposites by lifting our own center of consciousness above the plane in which lie the two points of our horizon.” (Hall Sacred Magic 38)
- In Alchemy:
- Sulfur & Mercury
- Red King & White Queen
The Principle of Polarity
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