You can't have something without nothing.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that the existence of any positive or desirable thing is contingent upon the existence of its opposite or absence.
Alan Watts conveys a fundamental philosophical insight about duality and the interdependence of opposites. The quote indicates that in order to appreciate or possess something, such as happiness or success, one must also acknowledge the value and necessity of its opposite, which could be sadness or failure. This balance of existence implies that nothing can stand alone; rather, every experience or item is defined and understood by what it contrasts with.
In practice
In a discussion about the nature of happiness, one might say, 'You can't have something without nothing, as every joyful moment is understood through the struggles we face.'
Jesus Christ knew he was God. So wake up and find out eventually who you really are. In our culture, of course, they’ll say you’re crazy and you’re blasphemous, and they’ll either put you in jail or in a nut house (which is pretty much the same thing). However if you wake up in India and tell your friends and relations, ‘My goodness, I’ve just discovered that I’m God,’ they’ll laugh and say, ‘Oh, congratulations, at last you found out.
What we see as death, empty space, or nothingness is only the trough between the crests of this endlessly waving ocean. It is all part of the illusion that there should seem to be something to be gained in the future, and that there is an urgent necessity to go on and on until we get it. Yet just as there is no time but the present, and no one except the all-and-everything, there is never anything to be gained - though the zest of the game is to pretend that there is.
There is only this now. It does not come from anywhere; it is not going anywhere. It is not permanent, but it is not impermanent. Though moving, it is always still. When we try to catch it, it seems to run away, and yet it is always here and there is no escape from it. And when we turn around to find the self which knows this moment, we find that it has vanished like the past.
Many people never grow up. They stay all their lives with a passionate need for external authority and guidance, pretending not to trust their own judgment.
There are two specific objections to use of psychedelic drugs.First,use of these drugs may be dangerous.Howev er,every worth-while exploration is dangerous-climb ing mountains,testi ng aircraft,rocket ing into outer space,or collecting botanical specimens in jungles.But if you value knowledge & the actual delight of exploration more than mere duration of uneventful life,you are willing to take the risks.
The Godhead is never an object of its own knowledge. Just as a knife doesn't cut itself, fire doesn't burn itself, light doesn't illuminate itself. It's always an endless mystery to itself.
How much disgruntled heaviness, lameness, dampness, how much beer is there in the German intelligence.
Strange now to think of you, gone without corsets & eyes, while I walk on the sunny pavement of Greenwich Village. downtown Manhattan, clear winter noon, and I've been up all night, talking, talking, reading the Kaddish aloud, listening to Ray Charles blues shout blind on the phonograph
Where the statue stood Of Newton, with his prism and silent face, The marble index of a mind forever Voyaging through strange seas of thought alone.
All God's creatures are His family; and he is the most beloved of God who tries to do most good to God's creatures.
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.
Sometimes we don't even realize what we really care about, because we get so distracted by the symbols.
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