Waves are recurring cyclical phenomena where the oscillation phase fits perfectly into one cycle (360°).
Let’s trace the life cycle of every wave:
Start (0°),
Reaching the peak (90°),
Leveling out (180°),
Dropping down (270°),
Restoring (360°).
A 180 ° phase shift between two waves means that while one touches the sky, the other hits the bottom.
Now imagine not two waves in opposite phases, but one wave.
Think back to your childhood when two of you played on a seesaw. As one child soared upward, the other dove downward.
The parts (the kids) are in polar states, yet the system (the seesaw) is one.
The phenomenon is singular, but it manifests in ways so paradoxical it’s hard to believe.
Take heat and cold, for example. At first glance, they seem to have nothing in common. Or do they? Then why does an icy shower burn? And where would you place warm water—already hot or still cold? It's a single phenomenon - temperature — with many gradations.
Instead of opposites, we see an infinite spectrum.
Here’s another example: Neuroscientists have found that the brain’s centers for modulating pleasure and pain are in the same location, working like a balance—one intensifies only as the other diminishes.
What’s the value of this "seesaw," "wave," or "spectral" perspective?
It explains why:
Darkness isn’t the negation of light; it’s just its absence.
Any ideology pushed to its extreme flips inside out.
Conflicting sides begin to look more alike.
Love easily turns to hate—and vice versa.
To create is both to build and to destroy.
Opposing viewpoints can coexist.
Life is both a sprout and ashes.
In his work, The Emerald T, Hermes Trismegistus wrote:
"What is below is like what is above. And what is above is like what is below, to accomplish the wonders of the one thing."
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
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As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
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