Image by David Underland from Pixabay

The monad is the one term system - teaching us to remove the labels we attach to things and see them as they are. The monad empowers us to see more and experience more of the world around us. From the monad we begin to see the dyad or the two-term system of systematics. Where the monad concurs with the concept of Tao, the dyad is similar to the concepts of yin and yang or the firm and the yielding. When we see things for what they are we also have to begin to see things for what they are not. The background of what is observed become as sharply in focus as that which is being observed. They both form the same picture. The observed begins to reflect itself back to the observer. We begin to see the two folded nature of being and doing. The same thing is something and it does something.

The most valuable lesson was that I learned from the dyad was to understand and work with paradox and contradictions. Within our limited spread of consciousness there is often two direct opposing but perfectly valid views on the truth. This does not mean that the one is a lie and the other is truth. It simply means only that the point of view is opposite each other. As the Tao te Ching says: "Long and short define each other. High and low depend upon each other. Before and after follow each other" Bennett writes: "Every monad is a contradiction for it presents itself with a claim to self-sufficiency and yet it depends upon everything other than itself in order to be itself" While the monad increase our awareness that something might have more potential than we see at first glance the dyad makes us more aware of the possibility of purpose.

If we return to the example of an ordinary pen. The pen will see itself as disposing ink on paper but the writer sees himself using the pen to write a sentence of meaning. For every viewpoint of what something is there is a viewpoint of what that something is capable of doing. The dyad confronts us with the feeling of tension and the feeling of tension makes us aware of the power of force. The energy lies in the movement from one polar point to the opposite polar point. The frequency of movement these points allows one to begin to see forces ready to be tapped into to create transformations. The strength of the dyad depends on the level of complementarity between the two opposing points. It is important to note that the mere existence of these dyads makes it impossible to find a middle path for "by their nature the polar qualities of the dyad are irreconcilable and cannot be brought to balance. It is impossible to always follow a neutral or balanced path....as we engage with dyads we are flung from the one side to the other side...staying on one side means illusion. "If either side is overemphasized then the dyad disappears" So we learn to vibrate in accordance to the energies around us by being aware of the dyads.

The dyad is the source of momentum and movement...the start of life vibrating from within the source of the monad.