If bad is needed for good to exist, isn't bad then good?

[Maguru]

Originally Posted by wolfgang

Have you ever thought about the duality of light/dark. You need the dark to be able to say, this it light. But the thing is dark isn't anything but absence of light. Light makes dark go away, but dark does not make light go away.

Maybe this is how major dualities are with one side being light and desirable.

Pain and suffering is unconsciousness (absence of light) and is bad or undesirable and not needed in the sense of no need to experience it. Peace and joy is consciousness (light) and shines away pain and suffering.

Hi, dark still exists though doesn't it? It cannot be termed as nothing but absence of light. In the absence of light, there is dark.

[vimoh]

Originally Posted by Maguru

Hi, dark still exists though doesn't it? It cannot be termed as nothing but absence of light. In the absence of light, there is dark.

Ahh... But you do need light to define dark. That is the whole point.

[Maguru]

Originally Posted by vimoh

Ahh... But you do need light to define dark. That is the whole point.

Ahh, but don't you need Dark to define light? If a light is shone in an already brightly lit room, it wouldn't be visable. There has to be dark to experience light.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Dharma

Yes, everything just is. Good and bad are a polarity, which is a form of denial. Sweet and bitter would be another example.

What is denied? Knowledge of the third choice in any polarity. (If you don't see yourself as creator of all your experience, stop here)

...That's all made up, by us, and we forget that. We think it's some divine law or something. Nope, just our choice to align certain things under certain labels and pretend they mean something.
...Polarity kills magic and the unknown by placing limitations on my movement.

Dharma, this was a lovely post; thank you, I had missed it till now.

I'm with you. The judgement of "bad" or "good" is a brilliant and effective limitation, and it's all made up.

[vimoh]

Originally Posted by Maguru

Ahh, but don't you need Dark to define light? If a light is shone in an already brightly lit room, it wouldn't be visable. There has to be dark to experience light.

That is exactly what I am saying. Each is needed to understand the other.

[dali]

I am looking into the idea of "no separation" at the moment and find it makes sense.All the things that I have done "bad" in my life lead me ,when I look seriously at the impact they have on me, other lifeforms and the planet all lead to "good", so maybe as some have suggested they are both flip sides of the same coin. Like day and night, light and dark, male and female.The result seems to be "not separate but oneness". Whole and holy.If you get my drift.Ultimately the "bad" drops off as does the idea of "good" and we are left with something much more but I dont think I can come up with a word for it.And I dont think I really want to. We have got enough of them already and they always make us quibble.

[Erebos]

There's no such thing as good or bad. There is only opinion.

-Someone

[Evan]

Good doesn't require evil. If you wish to learn good martial arts I suggest you study people who are good at it not bad at it. You don't need to be poisoned to appreciate good food.

We perceive by contrast. The things contrasted need to be on a continuum in some sense - otherwise no comparison or contrast. The opposite ends of a polarity are opposites but also united (part of the continuum). This dynamic interplay of similarity and difference, opposite and contimuum, can have our heads spinning. It doesn't mean that either is untrue - the two (or more) things contrasted ARE both opposite and complementary.

This doesn't mean that reliable knowledge is impossible. It just can feel this way when we learn something new that changes how we see things. This happens when we pursue any path for a while. We look back at our understanding as beginners and ask how we could have been so deluded.

The whole or reality is no doubt more than we can understand and express but this doesn't mean we know nothing. The possible number of numbers may be infinite (which is well beyond my understanding) but this doesn't mean that one isn't smaller than two.

[vimoh]

Originally Posted by Evan

Good doesn't require evil. If you wish to learn good martial arts I suggest you study people who are good at it not bad at it. You don't need to be poisoned to appreciate good food.

We perceive by contrast. The things contrasted need to be on a continuum in some sense - otherwise no comparison or contrast. The opposite ends of a polarity are opposites but also united (part of the continuum). This dynamic interplay of similarity and difference, opposite and contimuum, can have our heads spinning. It doesn't mean that either is untrue - the two (or more) things contrasted ARE both opposite and complementary.

This doesn't mean that reliable knowledge is impossible. It just can feel this way when we learn something new that changes how we see things. This happens when we pursue any path for a while. We look back at our understanding as beginners and ask how we could have been so deluded.

The whole or reality is no doubt more than we can understand and express but this doesn't mean we know nothing. The possible number of numbers may be infinite (which is well beyond my understanding) but this doesn't mean that one isn't smaller than two.

Hey Evan! Great to run into you here.

To business. Poison is a bit extreme. But you do need to have tasted bad food to tell it from good food. Someone who has only ever had mushrooms will not be able to tell it from a burger.

Similarly, you will learn the way to fight well from someone who is good at martial arts. But by observing someone who is bad at it, you may learn the way NOT to do it.

As you said, "We perceive by contrast."

[selfimprovement]

Originally Posted by Erki

If bad is needed for good to exist, isn't bad then good?

There is no lesser or greater, it is what it is.

Bad and good are judgments and keep you in an consciousness that won't allow you to rise about whatever situation you may wish to change. Just know that there is a purpose and good for whatever it is.... If not, it wouldn't exist.

[writerros]

Bad and good are words that human beings have made up to describe what works and what doesn't. This perception changes over time.

For example, in the past, killing people was sometimes seen as a "good" thing, and making love was seen as "bad".

As someone in this thread has already said, it's all about opinion and perceptions - so who's to say what's good and bad?

Killing in cold blood might be seen as bad, whilst killing in self defence might be seen as good. There can never be any hard and fast rules. What is more important is whether you are being authentic and true to yourself and only we can know that about ourselves.

Ros

[ar81]

Darkness is the absense of light.
Evil is the absense of good.
Just like darkness, evil has not an essence by itself.