What is the Definition of Paradox?
What is a Paradox?
Just imagine you have been looking out your bedroom window for years at a statue in another yard. You have concluded that the statue is of a squirrel (whether it is or not.) Someone else is viewing the same statue from their window as well but to them it looks like a rabbit. The statue is what you make of it in your mind. To each person the view of the same object will be different but it doesn't make the object itself at all different.
A paradox is possible when two seemingly different and at times seeming opposite things are actually the same. Here is another illustration. There is a huge wall. In that wall is a door. On one side of that door is a prison full of depression, anguish and gloom. On the other side of the door is freedom, paradise full of happiness and joy. To the ones in the prison that door represents something good but to the other side it represents something bad. But it is the same door. In the Bible it says the same stone that sets the foundation of great salvation is that same stone that trips you and causes you to stumble. It also is stated that Lucifer and Jesus are both the bright morning star. Two conceptually different things are actually the same in the world of the ultimate.
People who have not entered the state of enlightenment use a dualistic approach for all of their answers. Everything has to be either this or that. But to the enlightened, good and evil are two sides of the same coin. In the world of "God" if I may, up/down, left/right, hot/cold and any other seeming opposite in the dualistic world are in actuality the same. Speaking of hot and cold, where on a thermometer does hot begin and cold end? Have you ever felt cold when someone else is hot? It happens all of the time. These are called preferences. We have been accustom to judgement for all of our existence of this dualistic behavior. Our attachments to the degrees of out preferences cause us to say "I am hot" or "I am angry."
To one who has reached the understanding, the impossible becomes possible. Just because you don't see other beings walking around you doesn't not mean they do not exist but the dogmatic will say otherwise. There is so much hate in this world due to the attachments to our judgments.
Paradox is realized. If you listen to the masters and follow the teachings of the wise, you will one day realize that opposites are only an illusion. When you do that, this world will become a totally new place. You will still interact with what seems to be the same people and environment but it will no longer be based on dualism but the oneness and unity of all that is.
