"If we truly understand the nature of our mind, the

things that it does won’t bother us so much. The mystery

will go out of its babbling, and we won’t be interested in
paying it very much attention. You see, the mind (manas) is
only the vibration of the chitta (Consciousness); and, like all vibrations, it is
polarized in the form of a peak and a trough. For example,
when you produce the thought of up, you create at the very
same time its opposite, down, because one cannot exist
without implying the existence of the other. They are an
inseparable pair, for they give meaning to each other, and
cannot exist without the other.

Or, when you feel an attraction, a liking, along with

this attraction, you have unavoidably, inescapably, created a
repulsion, a dislike. Newton’s law that for every action there
is an equal and opposite reaction holds just as true on the
subtle, psychological, level as on the gross, physical, level.
Every feeling, every emotion, every thought, begets
(contains) its opposite. Knowing this, one is not so apt to be
dismayed when the mind is greatly disturbed by the sudden
loss of what you most love, or when evil thoughts crowd in
to disrupt your best intentions. For, by its very nature, the
mind, like the world, is made of duality, throwing up a
continual display of opposites, complementary polarities.

Here are some more examples to consider: if you

experience the deepest peace of mind, be sure that you are
bound also to experience the profoundest unrest—for you
can’t have the one without the other. If you accept the one,
you must also accept the other. Why be dismayed? It is
only natural and to be expected. They are inseparable
twins. If you have pleasure, look for pain around the next
corner. You welcomed the one; why all this fuss when the
twin shows up? Have you ever heard of birth without
death? Youth without old age? Happiness without sorrow?
Beauty without ugliness? Good without evil? Night without
day? No.

So, just as we can’t get attached to just the in-breath

and refuse the out-breath, we must learn also to remain
unattached to the waves of thought and feeling as well. For,
so long as this world of manifestation exists, every positive
will bring in its train a negative. The world, as has often
been observed, is made of duality. It is nothing but the play
of duality. And it is only by remaining aware as the
dispassionate witness to all these ups and down of the mind
that we can transcend the mind and remain aware of our
true Self, which is utterly unchanging and stable."

This sums daily life in just a few words.