CHAPTER VII The Resolution of Opposites
The last chapter dealt with complements, not contraries; it is important not to confuse these two notions, as is done at times through taking complementarism for opposition. What may give rise to certain confusions in this respect is that the same things sometimes appear as either contrary or complementary according to the viewpoint adopted. In such cases, it can always be said that the viewpoinc from which there is opposition is the lower or more superficial one, while that from which there is complementarism, with the opposition reconciled and already resolved, is the higher or profounder viewpoint, as has been explained elsewhere.[1] The principial unity in fact demands that there shall be no irreducible opposition [2]; accordingly, though opposition between two terms can indeed exist in appearance and can possess a relative reality at a certain level of existence, it is bound to disappear as such and to be harmoniously resolved, by synthesis or integration, when a higher level is attained. To deny this would be to seek to introduce a disequilibrium into the principial order itself, whereas, as was said before, all the disequilibriums that form the elements of manifestation, when they are regarded "distinctively", are yet bound to concur in the total equilibrium, which nothing can ever affect or destroy. Complementarism itself, which is still duality, must, at a certain degree, vanish in face of unity, its two terms being balanced and as it were neutralized when uniting to merge indissolubly in the primordial indifferentiation.
The figure of the cross may make it easier to appreciate the difference between complementarism and opposition. We
have seen that the vertical and the horizontal can be taken as representing two complementary terms; but obviously the vertical and the horizontal cannot be said to oppose each other. What do clearly represent opposition, in the same figure, are the contrary directions of the two half-lines from the centre which form the two halves of one and the same axis, whichever one it may be; opposition may thus be equally conceived in either the vertical direction or the horizontal. In the vertical two-dimensional cross we shall also have two couples of opposed terms forming a quaternary; the same will be the case in the horizontal cross, one of whose axes may moreover be regarded as relatively vertical, that is, as playing the part of a vertical axis in respect of the other, as was explained at the end of the last chapter. If the two figures are combined to form the three-dimensional cross, we get three pairs of opposed terms, as has already been shown in connection with the directions of space and the cardinal points. It should be noted that one of the best-known quaternary oppositions, namely that of the elements and their corresponding sensible qualities, can properly be disposed as a horizontal cross; in this case, in fact, what is involved is solely the constitution of the corporeal world, which is entirely situated at one single degree of Existence and represents only a quite restricted portion of that. The same holds good when we consider only four cardinal points, which are then those of the terrestrial world, symbolically represented by the horizontal plane, whereas the Zenith and the Nadir, being opposed along the vertical axis, represent an orientation towards worlds that are respectively higher and lower than the terrestrial world. We have seen that this is likewise true for the double opposition of the solstices and the equinoxes, and this also is easy to understand, for the vertical axis, remaining fixed and motionless while all things rotate around it, is obviously independent of cyclic vicissitudes, which it thus governs as it were by its very immobility, the latter being an image of the principial immutability.[1] If the horizontal
cross alone is considered, the vertical axis is there represented by the central point itself, which is the point at which this axis meets the horizontal plane; thus, in every horizontal plane, symbolizing a state or degree of Existence, this point -which may be called its centre since it is the origin of the system of co-ordinates to which every point in the plane can be referred-presents likewise an image of immutability. If this rule is applied, for instance, to the theory of the elements of the corporeal world, the centre will correspond to the fifth element, namely ether, [1] which is in reality the first of all in order of production, the one from which all the others proceed by successive cifferentiation, and the one that combines in itself all the opposing qualities that mark the other elements, in a state of indifferentiation and perfect equilibrium, corresponding in its own order to the principial non-manifestation. [2]
At the centre of the cross, therefore, all oppositions are reconciled and resolved; that is the point where the synthesis of all contrary terms is achieved, for really they are contrary only from the outward and particular viewpoints of knowledge in distinctive mode. This central point corresponds to what Moslem esotericism calls the "Divine station", namely " that which combines contrasts and antinomies " (El-maqâmulilahi, huwa maqâm ijtima ed-diddaîn [3]; in the Far-Eastern tradition, it is called the "Invariable Middle" (Ching-Ying), which is the place of perfect equilibrium, represented as the centre of the "cosmic wheel" [4], and is also, at the same time,
the point where the " Activity of Heaven" is directly manifested. [1] This centredirects all things by its "actionless activity" (wei wu-wei), which although unmanifested, or rather because it is unmanifested, is in reality the plenitude of activity, since it is the activity of the Principle whence all particular activities are derived; this has been expressed by Lao-tze as follows: "The Principle is always actionless, yet everything is done by It." [2]
According to the Taoist doctrine, the perfect sage is he who has arrived at the central point and abides there in indissoluble union with the Principle, sharing Its immutability and imitating Its " actionless activity": " He who has reached the maximum of emptiness," says Lao-tze also, "shall be fixed steadfastly in repose . . . To return to one's root (that is, to the Principle, at once the first origin and last end of all beings), [3] is to enter into the state of repose."4 The "emptiness" here in question is complete detachment from all manifested, transitory and contingent things [5]; by it the being escapes from the vicissitudes of the " stream of forms ", from the alternation of the states of "life" and "death" or of "condensation" and "dissipation", and passes from the circumference of the " cosmic wheel" to its centre, itself described as "the void (the unmanifest) which unites the spokes and makes them into a wheel "7 " Peace in empti-
ness," says Lieh-tzu, " is an undefinable state ; it is neither taken nor given; one comes to be established therein." [1] This " peace in emptiness" is the " Great Peace " of Moslem esotericism, [2] called in Arabic Es-Sakinah, a designation which identifies it with the Hebrew Shekinah, that is, the Divine Presence at the centre of the being, symbolically represented as the heart in all traditions. [3] This Divine Presence is in fact implied by union with the Principle, which cannot be effectively attained except at the very centre of the being. "To him that dwells in the Unmanifest, all beings manifest themselves . . . United with the Principle, he is thereby in harmony with all beings. United with the Principle, he knows all through general reasons of a higher order, and consequently no longer uses his various senses to know in particular and in detail. The true reason of things is invisible, ungraspable, undefinable, indeterminable. Only the spirit re-established in the state of perfect simplicity can attain it in profound contemplation. [4]
Placed at the centre of the " cosmic wheel", the perfect sage moves it invisibly, [5] by his mere presence, without sharing in its movement, and without having to concern himself with exercising any action whatever: " The ideal is the indifference (detachment) of the transcendent man, who lets the cosmic wheel turn. [6] This absolute detachment renders him the master of all things, because, having passed beyond all oppositions inherent in multiplicity, he can no longer be affected by anything: " He has attained perfect impassibility; life and death are equally indifferent to him, the collapse of the (manifested) universe would cause him no emotion. [7] By dint of search, he has reached the immutable truth, the unique universal Principle. He lets all beings evolve according to their destinies, and himself stands at the motionless centre of all destinies [8] . . . The outward sign of this inner state is imperturbability: not that of the hero who hurls himself alone, for love of glory, against an army in line of battle, but that of the spirit which, higher than heaven. earth and all beings, [9] dwells in a body to which it is indifferent, [10]
At the central point, all oppositions inherent in more external points of view are transcended; all oppositions have disappeared and are resolved in a perfect equilibrium. "In the primordial state, these oppositions did not exist. They are all derived from the diversification of beings (inherent in manifestation and contingent like it), and from their contacts caused by the universal gyration. [3] They would cease, if the diversity and the movement ceased. They cease forthwith to affect the being who has reduced his distinct ego and his particular movement to almost nothing. [4] Such a being no longer comes into conflict with any other being, because he is established in the infinite, effaced in the indefinite. [5] He has reached the starting-point of all transformations, the neutral point at which there are no conflicts, and there he abides. By concentration of his nature, by nourishment of his vital spirit, by re-assembly of all his powers, he is united to the principle of all births. His nature being whole (synthetically totalized in the principial unity), his vital spirit being intact, no being can harm him". [6]
This central, primordial point is identical with the " Holy Palace " of the Hebrew Qabbalah; in itself it has no situation, for it is wholly independent of space, which is merely the result of its expansion or indefinite development in every direction, and which accordingly proceeds entirely from it: " Let us but transport ourselves in spirit outside this world of dinensions and localizations, and there will no longer be need to seek the abode of the Principle ". [1] But once space is realized, the primordial point, while always remaining essentially " unlocalized" (for it cannot be affected or modified by anything whatsoever), makes itself the centre thereof (that is to say, transposing the symbolism, the centre of universal manifestation), as we have already shown. From this point start the six directions, which, as pairs of opposites, represent all contraries, and to it also they return, by the alternating movements of expansion and contraction which constitute the two complementary phases of all manifestation. It is the second of these phases, the movement of return towards the origin, that marks the way followed by the sage to reach union with the Principle: the " concentration of his nature", the " re-assembly of all his powers ", in the text just quoted, indicate this as clearly as possible; and the " simplicity" to which reference has also been made corresponds to the unity "without dimensions" of the primordial point. " The absolutely simple man sways all beings by his simplicity . . . so that nothing opposes him in the six regions of space, nothing is hostile to him, and fire and water do not harm him. [2] In fact, he stands at the centre, from which the six directions have issued by radiation, and on returning to which they become neutralized, so that at this unique point their threefold opposition ceases entirely and nothing that springs therefrom or resides therein can touch the being who dwells there in immutable unity. Opposing nothing, he can likewise be opposed by nothing, for opposition is necessarily a reciprocal relationship, which requires the presence of two terms and is therefore incompatible with the principial Unity; and hostility, which is only a consequence or an outward manifestation of opposition, cannot exist.
towards a being who is beyond all opposition. Fire and water, types of contraries in the "elemental world", cannot harm him, for in truth they no longer exist for him quâ contraries, since by balancing and neutralizing each other by a union of their apparently opposed but really complementary qualities, [1] they have re-entered the indifferentiation of the primordial ether.
For the being whostands at the centre, all is unified, for he sees all in the unity of the Principle. All particular (or if preferred, " particularist") and analytical viewpoints, which are founded only on contingent distinctions and which give rise to all the divergence of individual opinions, have disappeared for him and are reabsorbed into the total synthesis of transcendent know ledge, which is the same as the one and changeless truth. " His viewpoint is one at which this and that, yes and no, appear still in a state of non-distinction. This point is the Pivot of the Law; it is the motionless centre of a circumference on the rim of which all contingencies, distinctions and individualities revolve; and from it only Infinity is to be seen, which is neither this nor that, nor yes nor no. To see all in the yet undifferentiated primordial unity, or from such a distance that all melts into one, this is true intelligence". [2] The "Pivot of the Law" is what almost all traditions refer to as the "Pole", [3] that is, as has already been explained, the fixed point around which all the revolutions of the world are accomplished and which is itself the direct emanation of the centre, in other words the expression in the cosmic order [4] of the " Will of Heaven ".