Law of Contradictions and Fixed Opportunities of Time

Today, let’s study the law of contradictions and the fixed opportunities. What is a contradiction? A contradiction is something that can be defined as contrary to something else. For example, black is contrary to white or blue is contrary to red. But a contradiction is not entirely the opposite of something. A contradiction can occur when someone wants to go out to eat and they can’t agree on where to go. It can also occur in our religious beliefs, way of dress, mode of living and habits. You might be Jewish and I might be Muslim and our way of life might not conform but we are still practicing a form of religion. A contradiction can also be a feeling.  I might not like that joke but you thought it was funny. America in all its diversity is full of contradictions where as other countries that have a uniform way of life may not seem all that contradictory. In a country like Iran for example, where all women where a veil and it is required, the sameness makes it less contradictory. But in a country like the US where there is freedom of all religion and not all things are alike, there may be more contradictions. Thus, contradictions that occur in our daily life are perceived notions of how we should look, feel, behave and act.

Physical contradictions are less distinctive than emotional ones. For example, there are all kinds of sickness in the world. But we can’t die of all the same thing but that is not considered a contradiction. However, our way of dress, style of clothing, way of life and preference for one thing or another is contradictory.  It is not a contradiction that someone should be in a wheelchair and the other person can walk. The physical aspects of our lives such as sight, smell, touch and taste are more uniform than the emotive side. We sympathize with our physical state but are discriminating in our tastes and lifestyle choices. Why is this so?

For example, someone might like to eat pancakes for breakfast and the other person might like eggs. They are both hungry and the act of eating is the same to satiate the hunger instinct, but the preference of one over the other is the contradiction. So when we are sitting at a restaurant and watching other people eating, we know it is based on choice. If someone eats something due to a restricted diet or weight consciousness that may not be a contradiction in itself but the preference to eat anything else would be contradictory. When we visit other countries, we might notice people drinking tea after every meal where other places may not have the same custom. The preference for tea whether it is abundant in that country or not, does not negate the desire that the act of drinking tea in a customary way and habitual way is in fact contradictory to everything else and to all places since drinking tea is a conscious choice. Hence, a contradiction occurs at a universal level when we engage in acts that are distinct. Tea drinking in Afghanistan may be customary and widespread due to people’s tastes and regional considerations but the overall act is contradictory if universal choice is considered. So bowing to your parents in India or China may be a religious modicum but it might not occur everywhere else. Hence, a contradictory behavior occurs when the universal choice is present.

That brings us to fixed opportunities. To look at it another way, consider a friend who likes cars. Your friend might like to drive a sports car rather than anything else but you might prefer to take the bus. A contradiction may occur when you see your friend driving the sports car when you are not too fond of it. But where sports cars are a trend or geographically sound, you might see everyone driving a sports car and the contradiction may seem less stark, but would still exist in your mind. Driving a sports car no matter if it is sufficient or a choice, does not negate contradictory behavior by itself. The choice to drive a sports car rather than anything else is still a contradiction in the perceived sense. Potatoes might grow in one place and may be consumed at a higher rate than carrots that grow somewhere else and define cultural food habits, but are contradictory in and of themselves. When we engage in contradictory behavior, we must realize that contradictions are important in our analysis of fixed opportunities.

The matter of choice exists precisely because we are given an opportunity to achieve uniformity in our actions. Communism, for example, is a form of government that promotes sameness or equality in all of our actions. Democracy, on the hand, enables choice. Both leave the law of contradiction open. When we strive to achieve uniformity in our actions that we all should dress the same way, or talk the same way, or greet each other the same way, we are working towards uniformity and hence the equality of contradictions. However, when our actions are contradictory to our overall good such as eating chocolate when it might be bad for our teeth, we are straying from the path of good and teetering on contradictory, negative behavior. Contradictory behavior is only accepted when it is working for our overall good. So when someone prays or goes to church and we are agreed that such actions are for our best interests it is no longer contradictory but universal truth. The more we can subdue our innate desires to achieve uniformity in our thinking and actions, the more we become less contradictory and more accepting in the eyes of others. So if the choice is present and we are charged with such a task, we must always think what is best and not what is most expedient.