Duality

Creation and destruction may both be considered as the juxtaposition of opposing forces and this duality exists throughout nature. The whole universe is conceivable only in terms of polarities, these giving the coordinates of space and time (left and right, vertical and horizontal, past and future). This duality is reflected in the brain, the two hemispheres performing different functions and controlling opposite halves of the body. Duality implies conflict, in the case of the brain of the logical versus the intuitive. IQ has even been defined as "the ratio of left to right brain hemispheric capacity" (Fischer and Rhead). Duality is seen when separate researchers may produce opposing hypotheses each of which is apparently valid in experience.

The concept of the [archetype]

also presupposes duality, in that it is, for example, conscious and unconscious, psychic and non-psychic. This "instinct's perception of itself" may be seen not in terms of opposites but of complementarity, and is the means of actualizing the archetype at both the objective (outer) level and in inner experience. Such duality precludes the necessity for considering mind and body as separate entities, and approaches such as [mentalism]

(when mind and body are considered separate and equal), [vitalism]

(when the mind is said to dominate the body), [epiphenomenalism]

(the mind being dominated by the body) and [interactionism]

(concerned with their mutual influence), are superseded.

Even the ultimate in non-duality, the awareness that this Atman (the essence of self or reality within) is that Brahman (the essence of reality without) can only be expressed in terms of complementary duality.